The English rapper, who is a magnificent bouquet of various rappers of the hip-hop Golden Period Slick Rick characterized by accurate pimpster stance. His approach is characterized by a gold chain and eye-patch, known for the recordings prejudiced against the femininity. Beginning the career in 1983 and gaining few more name as Ricky Dee and Rick the Ruler.

His debut album ‘The Great Adventure of Slick Rick’ in 1988 showed the promise of the rapper as a single of the album “If I’m Not Your Lover” picked up #2 rank on the prestigious chart. The promise was strengthened further as the rapper brought in another favorite for the music lover in the same year, releasing “Children’s Story” which earned #5 on the chart.

The followers and growing fan base received a jolt as their most wanted rapper were imprisoned for five years as he failed to resist from shooting as his cousin allegedly harassed his mother. But even then he did not withdraw himself from entertaining his fans and earned the title of the greatest storyteller in hip-hop with his narrative raps. Life has gone through some phases as he belongs to Britain and the EUnited States as well with dual citizenship.

The success could have been even more, but still, the storyteller had earned not less than 1 million dollars as his estimated net worth.

Early life

Slick Rick was born as Richard Martin Lloyd Walters on 14th January 1965 at Mitcham around south London, United Kingdom. Though his parentage is not known it is said that he grew in mixed Jamaican and English culture. Very early in his childhood, he met an accident and lost the right eye which made him feel shy going out so preferred staying back home engaging him in story writing. The rapper himself claimed that this had a formidable part to play in his rapping career later. In 1976 his family was shifted to Bronx, New York, United States of America. Slick was enrolled in the Fiorello H. Laguardia High School, and he started attending classes there. The real interest for rap has come up from this stage.

He forms a rap group The Kangol Crew with Dane Dane who also becomes an eminent artist later. The group does not bring out any record, but through the passage of time, he improved his rapping style. But once he met Doug E. Fresh at some talent show in 1984 he felt the urgency of bringing out his rapping form. Fresh was also impressed by his style and asked him to join their group Get Fresh Crew. From this time onwards his musical career started taking an upward move. The band was making a reasonable mark in the rapping arena in the locality. In 1985 August “The Show” was released and in the United States over half million copies were sold in no time. Next year one of well-known magazine hailed the single as ‘top rap single.’ In the singles chart of United Kingdom song reached #7. Subsequently, his “La-Di-Da-Di” also made a lasting effect on his career. Despite the growing success of the band, Slick felt the urgency to bring out a solo entity for himself with his style.

Career

The intense urge to gain popularity encouraged him, and with hard determination and sincere effort, Slick released his much-coveted debut album. It was the ‘The Great Adventure of Slick Rick’ in 1988 which gave him relief and brought in fresh air to strengthen his rapping career. His album made a different identity for the rapper who did not follow the prevailing pretended arrogant political parodies. His children to women multi-voiced internal conversations about sex and crime gave a new dimension to the music world. The album gave huge attention to the rapper. Rolling Stone surpassed all and gave huge compliment by calling Slick the incredible ‘master weaver’ of stories. The same year his “Children’s Story” made an enormous upheaval for the parents but gained 5th rank on the R&B charts. But the complaints of the parent did not make any hindrance from gaining massive popularity in the music world.

The immense success was not well capitalized by Slick as before releasing his second album he got into some confusion with Mark Plummer, his cousin. On 3rd July 1990, he chased with Lisa Santiago and injured Plummer and a bystander with his gun in New York. He was arrested and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. Although on bail the rapper recorded for his second album “The Ruler’s back” and the album was released which included his confession “I Shouldn’t Have done it.” The album did not bring a matching success as its predecessor, but still, his popularity was further elevated.

In 1994 he was with yet another album “Behind Bars” in which he honestly disclosed his legal matters. But his impressive strategic lyrics failed to gain any sympathy from the music lovers. His endeavors were influenced by personal substances.

Then after some period in 1999 Slick wanted to embark on his own “Art of Storytelling” and own the heart of music lovers. On the Billboard 200, the album reached 8th rank. It is featured by Snoop Dogg, Raekwon, Big Boi and more. Entertainment Weekly announced his way of rapping to be a ‘national treasure.’ But still, it can be felt that the rapper is failing to earn that popularity with which he had entered the musical arena. During his entire musical journey, he collaborated with many artists, which includes Jay-Z, Outkast, R Kelly, Missy Elliot, Jermaine Dupri, Aaliyah and more. He has the honor of becoming the most sampled artist ever in the hip-hop genre with an astonishing figure of over 600 times. His musical efforts had been sampled by TLC, Nas, Eminem, Kanya West, Miley Cyrus, Snoop Dogg, The Notorious B.I.G., Black Star, Mariah Carey and many more.

Personal life

Slick was known to Mandy Aragones, and the couple exchanged rings in 1996. He lives with Mandy until now. Somehow his legal problems were then perhaps disturbing him a lot. This is obviously acting as a detriment factor in the lowering of his focus on the rapping endeavors. Adding on to his pain he failed to gain citizenship in the United States. By guilty of a felony the US Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated deporting the rapper in 2001. His struggle of staying in the United States finally ended when he was granted the immigration in 2016 April.

It can be well mentioned that Slick along with musical talent is also shown his prudence in acting and music production. He had acted in some movies such as “The Show,” “Rhyme and Punishment,” “Whiteboys” and “Brown Sugar.” He had always extended to support the young generation in keeping them away from any violence. He also shows enough interest in visiting prisons and schools to make young people aware of the value of life with his own life experiences. He always felt to support the Bronx Youth Empowerment Program.

Quick summary:

Full Name: Richard Martin Lloyd Walters

Date of Birth: 14th January 1965

Birth Place: Mitcham, London, United Kingdom

Age: 53 Year Old

Profession: Rapper

Height: 6 Feet 2 Inches

Weight: 68 Kg

Net worth: $1 Million