Ricky Walters was born in London and immigrated to the Bronx with his parents when he was 10 years old. He met Dana Dane while attending La Guardia High School Of Music and Art and they formed the Kangol Crew. The duo battled around New York City and Rick eventually met Doug E. Fresh and began performing with him and Fresh’s Get Fresh Crew. This collaboration produced “The Show” and “La Di Da Di” in ’85, two seismic tunes that became rap classics and helped define the Golden Era of hip-hop. Rick went solo a few years later and signed to Def Jam. The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick was his debut album and it is to hip-hop what Kind Of Blue is to jazz; everyone has to acknowledge and own it. “Children’s Story” came from that album and it has been covered by The Game, Mos Def, Tricky and Everlast as well as being sampled by many. His sartorial dazzle with tons of gold jewelry is one of the roots of bling along with Big Daddy Kane long before ‘Lil Wayne, Puffy and others became known for shining. By ’90 Rick had rough times because of a shooting incident involving his cousin who had him shot and an innocent bystander. Before he went to prison for five years he recorded The Ruler’s Back. While incarcerated he recorded Behind Bars and was interviewed by Russell Simmons who had bailed him out initially for a documentary called The Show. He was released from prison in ’96 and recorded The Art Of Storytelling an artistically keen comeback. Since that time he was arrested because of a deportation law against felons and was held for 17 months. Rick was released in ’03 and New York governor David Paterson gave him an unconditional pardon in ’08. These days Rick still performs at various Old School shows and manages his real estate holdings.
