History Music / SlickRick

->- '''[[Music/EricBAndRakim Rakim]]''', on Slick Rick's storytelling skills.

* BlackComedy: "The Moment I Feared" has this in spades. See HumiliationConga for a quick overview.
* BoastfulRap: "Teacher, Teacher" is a notable one.

* DirtyRap: One of the architects.
* DownerEnding:
** "Children's Story". The song ends with [[spoiler: the teenage thief turning himself in, only to get killed by the cops.]]
** "Teenage Love" also ends with one.
** "The Moment I Feared" also ends with this, but is played more for BlackComedy.

* UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHipHop: Rick contributed to the start of it with "The Show" and "La Di Da Di" in 1985.

* {{Prison}}: The main subject of the album ''Behind Bars''
* {{Sampling}}: It's literally impossible to count how many other performers have sampled any his songs. Even ''Music/MilesDavis'' swiped a few lines from him on his album ''Doo-Bop''. It even goes full circle, as Rick was often prone to sampling ''himself!''

* HighSchoolSweethearts: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in "Teenage Love". The story initially begins by playing the trope straight, but as the song goes on, the more the couple's relationship falls apart, leading to their inevitable break up.
* HumiliationConga: From "The Moment I Feared": Rick is beat up at a [[Music/KRSOne Boogie Down Productions]] concert and robbed of his jewellery, despite telling the muggers it was actually fake. After that, he ends up getting seduced by Sarah, his best friend's girlfriend, and actually [[spoiler: winds up shooting said best friend after he attacks him when he walked in on them]]. And then Sometime after this, Rick is busted by cops for several drug charges, [[spoiler: and the murder of Sarah, who he killed to get the drugs in the first place. And just as if things couldn't get worse, Rick gets jumped by two inmates in jail, [[PrisonRape and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened next.]]]]

* {{Sampling}}: It's literally impossible to count how many other performers have sampled any his songs. Even ''Music/MilesDavis'' swiped a few lines from him on his album "Doo-Bop". It even goes full circle, as Rick was often prone to sampling ''himself!''

* StrawMisogynist: Let's just say if "Treat Her Like A Prostitute" and "A Love That's True" were released today, Slick Rick's career would go down in flames before it even started. Thankfully, this trope is strictly limited to his rap persona.

Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born 14 January, 1965 in Mitcham, London, England), better known by his stage name, Slick Rick, is arguably the most {{Troperiffic}} rapper there is. Hailed by many as the greatest story-teller in hip-hop, his unique Mid-Atlantic drawl and usage of narrative and tropes in his songs are virtually unmatched by any other rapper alive. He's also known for being one of the poster boys of "Parental Advisory": Nobody could push the envelope of the Parental Advisory sticker like he could, and even to this day, many of his songs can still give a media watchdog a heart attack.

* EyepatchOfPower: He's almost never seen without it. His left eye became blind after a childhood accident.

* AnAesop: In "Teenage Love", Rick warns the listener not to jump into love blindly, as the person you're with can turn out to be not quite what you imagined.

*** BrokenAesop: "Treat Her Like a Prostitute". While Rick does make some good points throughout the song, the title alone should tell you why the message falls flat on it's face.

** "Children's Story". The song ends with [[spoiler: the teenage thief turning himself in, only to get killed by the cops.]] "Teenage Love" also ends with one.

* HumiliationConga: From "The Moment I Feared": Rick is beat up at a [[Music/KRSOne Boogie Down Productions]] concert and robbed of his jewellery, despite telling the muggers it was actually fake. After that, he ends up getting seduced by Sarah, his best friend's girlfriend, and actually [[spoiler: winds up shooting said best friend after he attacks him when he walked in on them]]. [[UpToEleven And then]] Sometime after this, Rick is busted by cops for several drug charges, [[spoiler: and the murder of Sarah, who he killed to get the drugs in the first place. And just as if things couldn't get worse, Rick gets jumped by two inmates in jail, [[PrisonRape and it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened next.]]]]

* {{Sampling}}: It's literally impossible to count how many other performers have sampled any his songs. Even ''Music/MilesDavis'' swiped a few lines from him on his album "Doo-Bop". [[UpToEleven It even goes full circle]], as Rick was often prone to sampling ''himself!''

* NiceHat: If he wasn't wearing his crown, he could usually be spotted wearing a Kangol hat.

* {{Troperiffic}}: Perhaps the only person that rivals him in rapping is Music/ChildishGambino.

->- [[Music/EricBAndRakim Rakim]], on Slick Rick's storytelling skills.

[[caption-width-right:250:"Here we go..."]]

->''"[+You're about to witness something you've never witnessed before...+]"''

->- One of Slick Rick's many oft-sampled lines from "La Di Da Di".

* BlackComedy: "The Moment I Feared" has this in spades. See HumiliationConga for a quick overveiew.

* EyepatchOfPower: He's almost never seen without it. His left eye become blind after a childhood accident.

* DownerEnding: "Children's Story". The song ends with [[spoiler: the teenage thief turning himself in, only to get killed by the cops.]] "Teenage Love" also ends with one.

* {{Troperiffic}}: Perhaps the only person that rivals him in rapping is Music/ChildishGambino.
* YourCheatingHeart: He has several songs that involve this trope, and has him on different ends of the spectrum, so let's break them down a bit:
** "Treat Her Like A Prostitute: Rick [[DiscussedTrope discusses]] three potential ways how the trope can play out. [[spoiler: Going as far as to even ''invoke it himself!]]''
** "The Moment I Feared": Literally hours after being on the receiving end of a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown, Rick sleeps with his best friend's girl after she seduced him. [[spoiler: This culminated into said friend getting shot after he tried to attack rick when he saw them, and [[DisposableWoman the girl herself getting shot]] after rick steals the cocaine she was hiding in her appartment.]]
** "Teenage Love": The girl ends up cheating on her boyfriend by sleeping with another guy and word quickly spreads about it, leading to the boyfriend dumping her.
** I Shouldn't Have Done It": This time, Rick is on the receiving end of the pain. Once again, Rick gets seduced by another girl, and winds up stepping out on his girl. He initially keeps it under wraps, until somebody else inevitably ratted him out. [[spoiler: He comes home later to find out his girlfriend had [[DrivenToSuicide overdosed herself]] after she found out, and left a note implying that she was pregnant with their child ("I had it for you, but I guess you didn't want it").]]
** "Mistakes Of A Woman In Love With Other Men": Rick meets a new girl, and they hit it off pretty quickly. However, after several suspect instances, Rick begins to suspect that she's cheating on him repeatedly, but he doesn't actually confront her about it until it's painfully obvious. At that point she simply leaves him, and Rick [[{{Irony}} briefly contemplates suicide]] after she leaves.
** "2 Way Street": At this point, Rick has learned from his past lessons, and is put to the test at two different occasions. Despite his lust, he keeps himself in check and rejects the advances of two female groupies, citing his loyalty to his wife.

* FollowTheLeader: Once he established himself, many a rapper has tried to imitate Rick's accent and style of flow. Only [[Creator/WillSmith one other rapper]] has had more success than Rick by using his style.

Born and raised by a British Jamaican family in Mitcham, Rick was blinded in his right eye by broken glass as an infant, and wore his now-iconic eye-patch ever since. In 1977, his family moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he met Dana Dane, and would later form a rap group together called the "Kangol Crew".

After more than two decades of legal battles over his immigration status, [[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/slick-rick-granted-u-s-citizenship-after-decades-long-battle-160539/ The Ruler was finally granted American citizenship in 2016]], while also retaining his British citizenship. In 2018, he released his first single in nearly 20 years, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ2Vr1hphjs Snakes of the World Today]]."

* EyepatchOfPower: He's almost never seen without it on stage.

After that group ran it's course, Rick would gain nationwide exposure after joining Doug E. Fresh's "Get Fresh Crew" in 1985, under the name '''MC Ricky D'''. He was featured on the group's single "The Show", and it's B-side, "La Di Da Di", which became a cult hit, eventually earning Rick his first Gold certified single. Three years later, he was signed to Creator/DefJam Recordings, and released his solo debut ''The Great Adventures of Slick Rick'', which became a multi-platinum success, hitting number one on the Rap and R&B charts, and peaking within the top 40 of the ''Billboard 200''.

Richard Walters (born 14 January, 1965 in Mitcham, London, England), better known by his stage name, Slick Rick, is arguably the most {{Troperiffic}} rapper there is. Hailed by many as the greatest story-teller in hip-hop, his unique Mid-Atlantic drawl and usage of narrative and tropes in his songs are virtually unmatched by any other rapper alive. He's also known for being one of the poster boys of "Parental Advisory": Nobody could push the envelope of the Parental Advisory sticker like he could, and even to this day, many of his songs can still give a media watchdog a heart attack.

After that group ran it's course, Rick would gain nationwide exposure after joining Doug E. Fresh's "Get Fresh Crew" in 1985, under the name '''MC Ricky D'''. He was featured on the group's single "The Show", and it's B-side, "La Di Da Di", which became a cult hit, eventually earning Rick his first Gold certified single. Three years later, he was signed to Def Jam Records, and released his solo debut ''The Great Adventures of Slick Rick'', which became a multi-platinum success, hitting number one on the Rap and R&B charts, and peaking within the top 40 of the ''Billboard 200''.

* I Like (With Montell Jordan, and was featured on TheNuttyProfessor soundtrack)

* FollowTheLeader: Once he established himself, many a rapper has tried to imitate Rick's accent and style of flow. Only [[WillSmith one other rapper]] has had more success than Rick by using his style.

* TransAtlanticEquivalent: It's very easy to see where WillSmith got his early style of rapping from. Rick debuted in 1982, but didn't get his mainstream rub 'till around '85, the same year Will officially debuted under the name "Fresh Prince" with DJ Jazzy Jeff. However, Will would eventually switch up his rap style around 1991 when his album sales started declining, while Rick would keep using his story-telling flow for the rest of his career. Ironically, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNbND2y-nNs both would wind up doing a track together]] in 1999.

Richard Walters (born 14 January, 1965 in Mitcham, London, England), better known by his stage name, '''Slick Rick''', is arguably the most {{Troperiffic}} rapper there is. Hailed by many as the greatest story-teller in hip-hop, his unique Mid-Atlantic drawl and usage of narrative and tropes in his songs are virtually unmatched by any other rapper alive. He's also known for being one of the poster boys of "Parental Advisory": Nobody could push the envelope of the Parental Advisory sticker like he could, and even to this day, many of his songs can still give a media watchdog a heart attack.