James Ambrose Johnson Jr., better known to the world as Rick James (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004) was a singer, songwriter, musician, and producer.
James hit his peak in the late 70's-early 80's, mostly thanks to his hit album Street Songs which produced his biggest hits, "Give It To Me Baby" and "Super Freak".
James' career faltered as the 80's wore on, thanks to a massive drug problem and a little musician from Minnesota named Prince proving to be tough competition.
The 90's proved no kinder for James. A bevy of legal troubles, most famously kidnapping and holding someone hostage, ruined what little reputation he had left and James faded into obscurity.
Then came 2004, when James was the subject of the famous Chappelle's Show sketch portraying the mischief he got into with Charlie Murphy. James became a pop culture icon once more before passing away from heart failure a few months later at the age of 56.
Discography
- Come Get It! (1978)
- Bustin' Out of L Seven (1979)
- Fire It Up (1979)
- Garden of Love (1980)
- Street Songs (1981)
- Throwin' Down (1982)
- Cold Blooded (1983)
- Glow (1985)
- The Flag (1986)
- Wonderful (1988)
- Kickin' (1989)
- Urban Rapsody (1997)
- Deeper Still (2007)
Tropes:
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Even during the height of his career and health, he had a tendency to commit crazy acts with enough motivation from his favorite drinks and some white powder. He would later in his life look back at this with quite a bit of Old Shame."Cocaine is a hell of a drug!"
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Fame and a metric ton of booger sugar meant James was an odd duck on his best days, and a raving loony on his worst.
- Intercourse with You: Obviously, considering his interests, many of his songs would involve this theme.
- I Was Quite a Looker: His crazy lifestyle sadly took quite a toll on his once charming looks and normal weight.
- Revenge by Proxy: After the couch-incident, where he had his legs battered by Eddie Murphy and Charlie Murphy for ruining a new and expensive couch, he wanted to get some payback on Charlie by inviting him, Eddie and a friend of Charlie named Fruity, for a game of ball. But since Charlie couldn't make it there, he decided to simply kick the balls of Fruity instead before driving off.
- The Rival: Prince. Rick and the Purple One were frequent competitors during James' peak, with several of James' band members noting how Prince had Rick working twice as hard to keep up with his skyrocketing success. The rivalry became increasingly one-sided as Rick's drug issues impacted his career in the late 80's.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As described during an episode of Tales From The Tour Bus, NFL legend Jim Brown caught wind that his daughter was at a party hosted by James. When James was informed Brown was there and looking for him, he made tracks quickly.
- Troll: If there was one thing he loved just as much as Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll it was finding new ways to fuck with Charlie Murphy, especially once he got either high or drunk. Though the two of them always had a good relationship as friends, Rick always tried to see how far he could push it. Examples include:
- Inviting Charlie and tons of other people to his place for a night of erotica together with his groupies, only to then announce through the loudspeakers of his home that if anybody offers sex to Charlie, they are fired.
- Punching Charlie's forehead with his ringed hand out of nowhere, imprinting the symbol of his ring onto Charlie's skin for at least a week.
- Constantly referring to him and Eddie as "Darkness".
- Slapping him across the face while serving drinks.
