Slick Rick

Slick Rick
Slick Rick performing in 2009
Born
Richard Martin Lloyd Walters

(1965-01-14) January 14, 1965 (age 59)
Mitcham, London, England
Other names
  • Rick the Ruler
  • MC Ricky D
Citizenship
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • songwriter
  • record producer
Years active1984–present
Spouse
Mandy Aragones
​
(m. 1997)​
Children2
Musical career
OriginNew York City, U.S.
GenresHip hop
DiscographySlick Rick discography
Labels

Richard Martin Lloyd Walters[1] (born January 14, 1965),[2] better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence as part of Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. Their songs "The Show" and "La Di Da Di" are considered early hip hop classics. "La Di Da Di" is one of the most sampled songs in history.[3]

In 1986, Slick Rick became the third artist to sign with Def Jam Recordings.[4] He has released four albums with the label: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988), The Ruler's Back (1991), Behind Bars (1994) and The Art of Storytelling (1999). His music has been sampled and interpolated over 1,000 times,[3][5] in songs by artists including Eminem, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Beastie Boys, TLC, Nas, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, MF DOOM, Czarface, Black Star, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, MC Ren, Montell Jordan, Tech N9ne, Lloyd, and Color Me Badd. In the process, Slick Rick has become one of the most-sampled hip-hop artists of all time.[6] Many of these songs based on Slick Rick samples went on to become hit singles. He was one of the first hip-hop artists to be covered, when Snoop Dogg (then Snoop Doggy Dogg) rapped Rick's lyrics from his record "La Di Da Di" almost in their entirety on the track "Lodi Dodi" on his debut album Doggystyle in 1993. At the time, it was uncommon for rappers to record covers of each other's material.[7]

Slick Rick has been a VH1 Hip Hop Honors honoree, and About.com ranked him No. 12 on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time,[8] while The Source ranked him No. 15 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.[9]

  1. ^ David Drake, Insanul Ahmed (October 19, 2012). "The 30 Biggest Criminal Trials in Rap History: The People of the State of New York v. Richard Walters (1991)". Complex.
  2. ^ Rose, Mike (January 14, 2023). "Today's famous birthdays list for January 14, 2023 includes celebrities Dave Grohl, Carl Weathers". Cleveland.com. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  3. ^ a b Michael Driscoll (May 22, 2019). "How 'La Di Da Di,' a B-Side From 1985, Became One of Music's Most-Sampled Songs". The Wall Street Journal.
  4. ^ "Biography of Slick Rick". Ricktheruler.net. Archived from the original on March 23, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  5. ^ Who Sampled Blog. "Top 10 All Time Most Sampled Records in Hip Hop". Archived from the original on April 20, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  6. ^ "Top 10 Most Sampled Songs of All Time". PixelVulture.com. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  7. ^ "Dana Dane Says Snoop Dogg's "La-Di-Da-Di" Cover Completely Changed Rap". hiphopdx.com. July 18, 2014. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  8. ^ "50 Greatest MCs of Our Time (1987 - 2007)". Rap.about.com. February 15, 1999. Archived from the original on April 5, 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  9. ^ "The Source's Top 50 Lyricists Of All Time ," Archived December 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Thisis50.com, July 7, 2012.