Slick Rick
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Template:Cleanup-date Slick Rick (born January 14, 1965) is an East Coast rapper, known for a series of hip hop recordings during the 1980s. Born Richard Walters in South Wimbledon, London, England, he was blinded in the right eye by broken glass as an infant and took to wearing an eyepatch from an early age. Rick moved with his family to the Bronx in 1975.
Charlie Rock of Harlem World crew was instrumental in bringing Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh together when Doug requested an introduction after he had seen him win local MC battle contests. It was at an MC contest at the 369 Armory on 142nd street in Harlem, given by promotion partners Ray Chandler & Charlie Rock, The Rick & Doug were formally introduced by Rock.
As a 20-year-old in the summer of 1985 he scored his first big hits, "La Di Da Di" and "The Show." Once he gained a degree of wealth, Slick Rick also gained a reputation for regularly wearing an enormous amount of gold jewelry, including many large necklaces with giant pendants, bracelets, huge rings on each finger, and gold teeth. 
Slick Rick released The Great Adventures of Slick Rick in 1988 while living in New York City. "Children's Story", which appears on The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, is one of the most famous songs in rap and hip-hop and has been covered by Black Star (comprised of Mos Def and Talib Kweli), Black Rob, Everlast and Nearly God [Tricky]. The album attained platinum status, but Rick was unable to exploit this due to an arrest for attempted murder. He shot his cousin and a bystander, accusing his cousin of extorting money. Russell Simmons, head of Def Jam records, bailed him out and Rick quickly recorded The Ruler's Back before spending five years in prison. "La Di Da Di", "Mona Lisa" and "Children's Story" are among his best known songs, with "La Di Da Di" being covered nearly word-for-word by Snoop Dogg on his 1993 album Doggystyle.
When Rick was released in 1994, he immediately recorded Behind Bars. On May 25, 1999, Slick Rick released his fourth album entitled The Art Of Storytelling on the Def Jam label. The album featured Nas, OutKast, Raekwon from the Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, Kid Capri, Canibus, and Doug E. Fresh. In June 2002, after performing on a Caribbean cruise ship, Rick was arrested by the then INS as he re-entered the United States through Florida. He was promptly told that he was being deported because he was technically a British citizen; he had been born in London to American parents and moved to the States as a youth. In 1996, a law was passed which called for foreigners convicted of violent felonies to be deported, a ruling which was more vigorously enforced amid heightened security concerns after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Rick was continuously refused bail, but after 17 months in prison he was released on November 7th 2003. He also has a cameo in Ludacris's music video for the single, "Number One Spot"
Rick's music was often criticized for perceived misogyny; however, his lyrics are relatively tame compared to those of his successors.
Children's Story was featured in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Discography
Great Adventures of Slick rick(1988)
Tracks:
1. "Treat Her Like a Prostitute" (Walters)
2. "The Ruler's Back" (Walters)
3. "Children's Story" (Walters)
4. "The Moment I Feared" (Sadler/Shocklee/Walters)
5. "Let's Get Crazy" (Houston/Sadler/Shocklee/Walters)
6. "Indian Girl (An Adult Story)" (Walters)
7. "Teenage Love" (Sadler/Shocklee/Walters)
8. "Mona Lisa" (Walters)
9. "Kit (What's the Scoop)" (Sadler/Shocklee/Walters)
10. "Hey Young World" (Walters)
11. "Teacher, Teacher" (Johnson/Sadler/Shocklee/Walters)
12. "Lick the Balls" (Sadler/Shocklee/Walters)
The Ruler's Back(1991)
Tracks:
1. King
2. I Shouldn't Have Done It
3. Bond
4. Moses
5. Tonto
6. Mistakes Of A Women In Love With Other Men
7. Venus
8. Ship
9. It's a Boy
10. Top Cat
11. Runaway
12. Slick Rick-The Ruler
Behind Bars(1994)
1. Behind Bars
2. All Alone (No One to be With)
3. Sittin' In My Car
4. A Love That's True(Part 1)
5. Cuz It's Wrong
6. Let's All Get Down
7. I'm Captive
8. Get A Job
9. A Love That's True(Part 2)
10. It's A Boy(Remix)
11. Behind Bars(Dum Ditty Dum Mix)
The Art of Storytelling(1999)
Tracks:
1. jail Skit
2. Kill Niggaz
3. Street Talkin'
4. Me and Nas Bring it to Your Hardest
5. I Own America, Pt.1
6. Bugsy Radio Skit
7. Who Rotten 'Em
8. 2 Way Street
9. King Piece in the Chess Game
10. Trapped in Me
11. Impress the Kid
12. Q-Tip and Peter Gunz Skit
13. I Run This
14. Frozen
15. Why, Why, Why
16. Adults Only
17. Memories
18. Unify
19. Bugsy Radio skit
20. I Own America, Pt. 2
21. Ceo Outro
22. We Turn It On
23. La-Di-Da-Di(LIVE)
24. Show(LIVE)
External links
- All Music Guide's biography
- MTV's mirror of the above
- Release of Slick Rick
- Slick Rick fan site
- Slick Rick Lyrics