| Slick Rick | |
|---|---|
Slick Rick performing live at the 2009 Fresh Fest concert in Los Angeles, California. |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard Walters |
| Born | 14 January 1965 London, England |
| Origin | keedie's world |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupations | Rapper, record producer |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Labels | Def Jam, Columbia, CBS Records, PolyGram, Universal |
| Associated acts | Doug E. Fresh, Nas, Prince Paul, Dana Dane |
Richard Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known by his stage name Slick Rick (also known as MC Ricky D and Rick the Ruler) is a Grammy-nominated British American rapper. He began his career in late 1983, in the hip hop genre, where he recorded a series of acclaimed recordings such as, "Children's Story", "La Di Da Di" and "Hey Young World." Walters is best known for his English accent and his storytelling innovations in this genre. His music has been frequently sampled and interpolated by other artists such as, TLC, Black Star, The Notorious B.I.G. and Snoop Dogg, with many of these songs later becoming hit singles. Slick Rick rose to stardom in an era known to fans as the Golden age of hip hop.
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Originally from South Wimbledon in South West London, England, Walters moved with his British Jamaican family to The Bronx in 1977 where he met Dana Dane with whom he later formed a hip hop duo known as the Kangol Crew. Walters received his characteristic eye patch after being blinded in the right eye by broken glass as an infant.[1] Once he gained a degree of wealth, Walters earned a reputation for wearing the eye patch over his right eye, and a significant amount of gold and diamond jewelry.
He first gained success in the rap industry by joining Doug E. Fresh's Get Fresh Crew, with the stage name MC Ricky D. He was featured on the single, "The Show" and it's popular b-side "La Di Da Di". "La Di Da Di" featured Walters' rapping over Doug E. Fresh's beatbox. Both tracks gained some mainstream attention. In 1988 Walters' solo debut The Great Adventures of Slick Rick came out on Def Jam Records. The album was very successful, reaching the #1 spot on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It also featured three charting singles: "Children's Story", "Hey Young World", and "Teenage Love". These are now some of Walters' best known songs.
In 1990, Walters shot a bystander and his cousin whom he had hired as a bodyguard and who later admitted to having Walters shot outside a club. Walters was indicted on two counts of attempted murder and pled guilty to all charges, which included assault, use of a firearm, and criminal possession of a weapon. He spent five years in prison, two for the second degree attempted murder charges he received for the shooting, and three for his struggle with the Immigration and Naturalization Services over his residency in the US. He was bailed out by Russell Simmons, head of Def Jam records. After being bailed out Walters recorded his second album, The Ruler's Back. The album got mixed reviews and wasn't as commercially successful as his debut. In the documentary film, The Show, Russell Simmons interviews Walters while he was a prisoner on Rikers Island.
Walters' third studio album Behind Bars was released while he was still incarcerated. It was met with lukewarm sales and reviews. After being released from prison in 1996, Walters remained with the Def Jam label and on May 25, 1999, released a fourth album entitled The Art of Storytelling. Generally considered the authentic follow up to his 1988 debut, The Art of Storytelling was an artistically successful comeback album that paired him with prolific MCs like Nas, OutKast, Raekwon, and Snoop Dogg among others. On October 6, 2008, Rick was honoured on the VH1 Hip Hop Honors show.
"La Di Da Di", "Mona Lisa" and "Children's Story" are among Walters most well known songs, with "La Di Da Di" being covered nearly word-for-word by Snoop Dogg on his 1993 album Doggystyle. Lines from "La Di Da Di" were borrowed by other multiple high profile artists. "Children's Story" was sampled by Montell Jordan for his 1995 hit, "This Is How We Do It", and rapper Everlast covered the song for his album Eat at Whitey's. Rapper Eminem also borrowed from the song extensively in his diss track "Can-I-Bitch". "Children's Story" was covered with similar lyrics by the MC duo Black Star on their 1998 album Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, as well as by Tricky on the album Nearly God. It was also paid tribute to by A Tribe Called Quest on their song "8 Million Stories". With a similar backing and very similar lyrics, rapper The Game also made a similar song which was named "Compton Story". "Compton Story" was on the Mixtape BWS Radio 5 made in 2008. The chorus of Notorious B.I.G.'s song "Hypnotize" is also derived from "La Di Da Di". The opening track on Jay Z's Blueprint albumn is also a cover of Slick Rick's "The Rulers Back" and borrows heavily from the original lyrics.
Slick Rick has been referenced in numerous songs:
Slick Rick’s style is commended by music critics. Music journalist Peter Shapiro says, “‘Children's Story' was important because of its narrative structure and Rick’s understanding of how crucial little sonic details—such as his use of a female voice and his yawning rap—were to hip hop style.”[2]
He is largely known for his story raps, such as ‘Children’s Story’ and ‘La Di Da Di'. Shapiro writes that he "largely introduced the art of narrative into hip hop… none of the spinners of picaresque rhymes who followed did it with the same grace or humor.”[3] Allmusic states that he has the “reputation as hip hop's greatest storyteller.”[4] In the book Check the Technique, Slick Rick says, “I was never the type to say freestyle raps, I usually tell a story, and to do that well I’ve always had to work things out beforehand.”[5] Kool Moe Dee comments, “Slick Rick raised the lost art of hip hop storytelling to a level never seen again.”[6] Devin the Dude notes that Slick Rick’s ‘Indian Girl’ is a good example of the type of humor that existed in hip hop’s golden era,[7] and Peter Shapiro says that “he was funnier than Rudy Ray Moore or Red Foxx”.[8]
Slick Rick uses very clear enunciation and raps with the “Queen’s English”.[9] O.C. states: “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick is one of the greatest albums ever… the stuff he was just saying on there, it was so clear… the [clear] syllable dude was Slick Rick for me”.[10] He is also renowned for his unique “smooth, British-tinged flow”[11] which contains distinct structures. In the book How to Rap, it is noted that on the song ‘I Own America’, he “puts a rest on almost every other 1 beat so that each set of two lines begins with a rest.”[12] Kool Moe Dee states that, “Rick accomplished being totally original at a time when most MCs were using very similar cadences.”[13] He has what is described as “singsong cadences”[14]; Andy Cat of Ugly Duckling mentions that Slick Rick uses a melodic delivery on the track ‘Hey Young World’.[15] Slick Rick is also known to extensively use punch ins, especially in his story rhymes as different characters[16]; Kool Moe Dee says Rick used “multi-voices to portray multiple characters.”[17]
Rumours suggested that Walters planned to release a new album, "The Adventure Continues," in 2007. However, in a recent XXL Magazine interview, he denied the claim.[18] Rick is supposedly "waiting for a market to open up for a mature audience."
After performing on a Caribbean cruise ship in June 2001, Walters was arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as he re-entered the United States through Florida. He was promptly told that he was being deported because he was a British citizen since he had been born in London and moved to the States as a youth. Rick was continuously refused bail, but after 17 months in prison he was released on November 7, 2003.[19][20] In October 2006, the Department of Homeland Security began a new attempt to deport Walters,[21] moving the case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit based in New York to the more conservative Eleventh Circuit. The court is based in Atlanta, Georgia but the trial was expected to proceed in Florida, where immigration agents originally arrested Walters.
On May 23, 2008, New York Gov. David Paterson granted Slick Rick a full and unconditional pardon on the attempted murder charges.[22] The governor was pleased with his behavior since the mishap. He has volunteered his time to mentor youths about violence.[23]
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. R&B | U.S. Rap | |||
| 1988 | "Teenage Love" | - | 16 | 8 | The Great Adventures of Slick Rick |
| "Children's Story" | - | 5 | 2 | ||
| "Hey Young World" | - | 42 | 17 | ||
| 1991 | "I Shouldn't Have Done It" | - | 50 | 2 | The Ruler's Back |
| "Mistakes of a Woman in Love with Other Men" | - | - | - | ||
| "It's a Boy" | - | - | - | ||
| 1994 | "Behind Bars" | 87 | 63 | 12 | Behind Bars |
| 1995 | "Sittin' in My Car" | - | 56 | 11 | |
| 1999 | "Street Talkin'" | - | 65 | 22 | The Art of Storytelling |
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. R&B | U.S. Rap | UK | |||
| 1996 | "I Like" (Montell Jordan featuring Slick Rick) | 28 | 11 | - | 24 | The Nutty Professor soundtrack |
| 1999 | "Da Art of Storytellin' (Pt. 1)" (Outkast featuring Slick Rick) | - | 67 | - | - | Aquemini |
| 2001 | "Girls, Girls, Girls" (Jay-Z featuring Slick Rick, Q-Tip & Biz Markie)* | 15 | 4 | 9 | 11 | The Blueprint |
| 2007 | "Hip Hop Police" (Chamillionaire featuring Slick Rick) | 101 | 76 | - | 50 | Ultimate Victory |