The Great, and Only Slightly Mangled, Adventures of Slick Rick

(There's a lot of misinformation out there, but it's worth the sifting through! Youtube version is here.)

Slick Rick's "The Ruler's Back" ...The Forgotten Demo Version?

(You all remember Slick Rick's crazy cut "The Ruler's Back," but here's a rare, older version you probably don't remember.  Youtube version is here.)

Raheem Knocks Slick Rick Out the Box?

What? To posts about Raheem in a row? No, no, no. That post was about Raheem of the original Ghetto Boys, not to be mixed up with Rahiem from The Furious Five, Lil Rahiem from the Boogie Boys, Raheem from Jazzy Jay's crew or Prince Raheem from Miami. This is Raheem the Dream, who added to the confusion by dropping the "The Dream" part of his name later in his career. He started his career recording some cool, mid-80s single with underrated producers Mike Fresh and DJ Toomp. But he pretty quickly struck out on his own, recording single after single and album after album all on his own. Meaning, in addition to the rapping, he produced and wrote all his own stuff, and released it all on his own label, RTD (get it?) Records. He eventually renamed his label to Tight 2 Def... yup, he's the guy behind Dem Franchise Boyz, The Dream (who just left Def Jam earlier today) Young Dro, etc.

So Raheem is pretty expert at pimping our little music industry; but I've never been too into his stuff. Very typical Miami bass kinda stuff (though, strictly speaking, he's from Atlanta)... with lots of gimmicky pop-chasing dance songs. The only other single I have by him is "Short Shorts" (which is exactly like you think it is) because it featured the return of MC Shy D after the whole Luke Records disaster, and I was more than curious. He's not terrible and his success over many different hip-hop eras says a lot; but generally speaking, he represents the kind of bass music that makes me want to tell people "there's more to the scene than just that!"

Still, I had to pick up "Knock 'Em Out the Box." Why? Because, as its title makes pretty clear, he's flipping Slick Rick's classic [and I realize I can be guilty of over-using that word, but it absolutely applies here in every sense] "Children's Story."

This 12" was sorta rare, back before Serato and the consolidating power of the internet made every record with a pressing of over 200 copies cheap as chips. It comes from a little dip in his career, after his initial come -up, but before he achieved some bigger dance hits later in the 90s, and it's taken off one of his least known albums, the Straight From the G State EP. But as far as I'm concerned, if you have this 12", there's no need for the EP.

So, the song starts out with a familiar Ricky D sample being cut up, "As we go a little something like this." Then the beat kicks in, which is the "Children's Story" instrumental, except with a deep, deep bed of thundering bass drops laid underneath.Raheem doesn't work too hard on this one, but he comes off well enough, just kicking generic raps about girls, "rolling with the fellas" and his status in the rap game. No complex or clever rhymes or anything, and he throws in lots of empty lines like "Kriss Kross made you jump, but I'ma warm it up." But his voice sounds real cool over Rick's track and he delivers some basic lines in some fun, creative ways. Couple that with some nice cuts by his DJ Fly Ty, and you have a song that may look like a tacky knock-off on paper but in reality just works. It's fun. And the bassed up version of "Children's Story" is just dope.

The B-side here is "Drop Them Draws" (also from G State), which is utterly predictable; but still well produced and fun. It's every cliche in the book, including samples and percussion you've heard a million times before on a thousand other songs just like it. But it's certainly a well crafted and catchy example - this Raheem is undeniably a pro even if he isn't elevating anything.

Round that out with a clean edit and instrumental (or "Bass-A-Mental") version of "Drop Them Draws" and you've got a pretty neat little 12". "Knock Em Out the Box" is obviously no threat to the original; but it's a really fun regional variant that I think anyone who's a serious enough head to be reading this blog will be surprised how much they end up digging it.

Rick Slicker Without Canibus

(Youtube version is back where it belongs.)

Slick Rick Kills

(Youtube version is here.)

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Eight

My series that started in April 2007 and was last heard from that September is back! Though this time it's a little different. In all the previous entries we unearthed previously released Slick Rick releases that J-Love used for his barely mixed mix-CDs and called "Unreleased." But this time we're hit with a double LP that came out after the mix-discs (I think I prefer that term better) - it's brand new.

So, yeah, A.K.A Ricky D: The Further Adventures of Slick Rick is a just-released double Slick Rick LP featuring a boatload of rare/unreleased tracks. It comes in a picture cover (see image) and the track-listing is as follows:

A1. A LETTER
A2. CAPTAIN CAVEMAN
A3. CAN’T SHAKE US FEAT. SPECIAL K (KENNY DOPE MIX)
A4. FEELS LIKE

B1. WOMEN LOSE WEIGHT (ALCHEMIST REMIX)
B2. SLEAZY GYNACOLOGIST
B3. GAMBLING

C1. TROUBLE (J-LOVE REMIX)
C2. SAMPSON
C3. WORLD RENOWN (PETE ROCK MIX)
C4. GET A JOB

D1. IT’S A BOY (LARGE PROFESSOR REMIX)
D2. WOMEN LOSE WEIGHT (MORCHEEBA SPARE TYRE MIX)
D3. STAR TREK
D4. PRACTICE OVER AT CHILL WILL’S CRIB (1984)

So the first thing you should notice is that "Captain Caveman," "Trouble (J-Love Remix)" and "Practice Over At Chill Will's Crib (1984)" are first-time vinyl releases [edit: Whoops! Actually, the "Trouble" remix is from the earlier white label 12", so only the other two are first timers]. So, that already makes this a must-have. And, yes, these are all the full, unmixed songs... even the J-Love remix is free of J-Love's name tag being shouted all over it.

The sound quality, like the Ricky D EP, is a bit of a mixed bag. It sounds like a lot of post-production filtery-type work was put into making some of the poorer quality tracks sound clean, which makes the volume levels on stuff sound a little low or distorted. Some of the tracks sound perfectly fine (and they ALL sound better than on those mix CDs), but a couple tracks, like "Feels Like," do suffer.

Some of the titling is also borderline misleading... calling "Can't Shake Us" the "Kenny Dope Mix," while accurate (it was indeed produced by Kenny Dope), kind of suggests that this is a rare remix by Kenny Dope. But, actually, there's only one version of this song, which was always produced by Kenny Dope, and this is the exact same one that was on the original 2002 12". The same can be said for the "Pete Rock Mix" of "World Renown"... I defy you to find me a non-Pete Rock version. And just to clarify, both of the "Women Lose Weight" remixes on this album were on the original Morcheeba 12".

But the nicest surprise I found is that the "Star Trek" included here is actually the Large Professor remix that was featured on Legends 2.2; and not the original version as heard on the Ricky D EP. So rack up another exclusive for A.K.A Ricky D (and also a reason you'll need to hang onto your Ricky D EP).

Now there's still a few tracks I wish were on here, namely: "He Kills," the Marley Marl remix of "Kit, What's the Scoop?" and the unreleased version of "I Own America." And I'd've happily forgone the perfectly common stuff - like the "It's a Boy" remix, which has already been released and rereleased several times over, and the Morcheeba remixes - in their stead. But I can't pretend that I'm not very happy to finally have "Captain Caveman" and Extra P's "Star Trek" remix on wax... and that Chill Will practice session is a fun, vintage exclusive. Good times.

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Seven

Apparently J-Love is back again with another version of his Slick Rick: Legends vol 2 CD, this one dubbed 2.2. And so, too then, must this blog series rise up out of the grave like a Grave Riser Outer in response. Here's the latest cover and renovated track-listing (thanks to Fecam at the DWG forums for bringing this to my attention):

1. Women Lose Weight Rmx Produced By J-Love 04:02
2. Moses 02:47
3. Lick The Balls 03:31
4. I Own America Rmx (Unreleased) 03:37
5. Treat Em Like A Prostitute Feat Doug E Fresh Live 03:49
6. Reggae Chat Feat Doug E Fresh (Unreleased) 00:50
7. La Di Da Di Feat Doug E Fresh 04:48
8. The Rulers Back 03:33
9. Whats The Scoop Marley Marl Rmx (Unreleased) 04:12
10. Indian Girl 03:06
11. Its A Boy Large Professor Rmx 02:50
12. Dont Come My Way Feat Common 03:27
13. Star Trek Large Professor Rmx (Unreleased) 03:09
14. Art of Story Telling Feat Outkast 03:59
15. Just Another Case Feat Cru 03:13
16. Tonto 03:01
17. I Run This 03:56
18. King 02:27
19. Cant Shake Us Feat Special K (Unreleased) 04:01
20. Pimpin Anit Easy Feat Dana Dane 03:13
21. Get A Job 02:34
22. Cuz Its Wrong 02:48
23. 2 Way Street 03:11
24. Sampson (Unreleased) 03:22

So this new track-listing kinda makes it clear why he reworked the CD the first time around (see here)... this version seems to be intended as more of a sequel to the first one (specifically the redux of the first one), rather than a replacement; and the strange decision to remove "Sampson," for example, now makes perfect sense since it's been added here.

Now, I haven't heard this yet, but you can see on this 2.2, we've got a couple new remixes (including his own remix of "Women Lose Weight"), "Reggae Chat" with Doug E. Fresh (I'm guessing another clip from a live performance? It's under than a minute long, whatever it is), and the only new "Unreleased" song he's added to the mix: "19. Cant Shake Us Feat Special K (Unreleased) 04:01." As with most of the ones on his previous entries, this song actually has been released, and if you want to hear it without the radio blends and J-Love's name all over it, it's pretty easy to find.

The original release of this song comes from the Special K 12" "Can't Shake Us" b/w "Nobody Loves Me" (which doesn't feature Slick Rick; just an unnamed R&B singer on the hook) on Never Knew Records from 2002. Produced by Kenny Dope, the instrumental is a pretty simple break with a chop of the main sample from The Crash Crew's "On the Radio" on permanent loop. It's an ok song, though the production on both tracks sounds a bit tinny, with Slick Rick kicking a short opening verse, then passing the mic to Special K for the rest of the song, only returning to provide the hook.

So, once again... we're treated to another episode of frustration via a third selection of great Slick Rick tracks that continue to never get proper releases. Why can't this stuff get pressed onto a proper slab of vinyl with some halfway decent sound quality? Large Professor remixing "Star Trek?" I need that on 12", man. But also once again, at least there's not so much new material as J-Love claims, and most of these songs are otherwise available.

Update 9/4/7: Ok, I've heard it now. That "Reggae Chat" is indeed just a clip of what sounds like a live performance... The sound quality on this 2.2 is a bit of a step-up from his older CD, but still not great (and the name-drop samples over every song is super annoying... these mix-CDs aren't press promos - despite disingenuously having "for promotional use only" written right on the cover, they're clearly commercial products produced only to be sold to paying listeners). The remixes are all a bit underwhelming... I actually preferred the original to the Large Professor remix of "Star Trek," the Marley Marl remix is cool (it sounds vintage), and the J-Love remix of "Women Lose Weight" is pretty worthless. The loop just doesn't match with the song and ESPECIALLY doesn't when the hook comes in (he should've taken a hint from The Alchemist's mix). I'd still like to see the remixes (except the "Women Lose Weight;" he can keep that one) get a proper release, though, along with all the genuinely unreleased tracks from the older discs.

Tags: Slick Rick, Special K

NOT Slick Rick

Did eight blog entries in a row make you a little tired of reading about Slick Rick? Yeah, I don't blame ya; I kinda feel the same way. Well, how about a Slick Rick record that's not by Slick Rick?
There's no date printed on this record, but I'm gonna guess it's from '82 or '83. This Slick Rick's "Summertime Rap," released by Havana Productions is classic old school. The instrumental is provided by a live band - there's a lot of sax, piano, guitar... plenty of solos - though the only credit given is "Musical comment by: Sesy," whatever the heck that means. Is this record really from Havana?
There's very little info to be found about it... this Slick Rick isn't any of the three(!) Slick Ricks to be found on discogs.com, and there's nothing from Havana Productions in the Freddy Fresh book. Probably nobody ever bothered with this record, since it's pretty obviously not Ricky Walters.

It's in English, though, and he hasn't got an accent or anything (unlike the real Slick Rick... heh). The lyrics are primarily a medley of previous rap hits. He kicks verses from "The Breaks," "The Message," "Christmas Rap" and "Rapper's Delight," even to the point of saying, "well, my name is Wonder Mike and I'd like to say hello." The music will sometimes switch up to immitate the songs he's covering, too; but still keeping its own beat. He does, at one point however, kick his own verse:

"Throw your hands in the air,
And wave 'em around like you just don't care.
'Cause I'm Slick Rick, and I'm on the mic,
And I shock the house like dynamite.
I said a one, two... three, four;
I said get... your woman... out on the floor."

This is just a great, really fun old school, true school, gold school... whatever you wanna call it - record that you can't help but get into and enjoy. Don't let the fact that this guy was never a part of The Kangol Crew keep you from checking it out; it'd be your loss.

Unreleased Slick Rick, Epilogue

So, that's about it. Though, if you're keeping score, you probably noticed that still leaves a handful of undiscovered "Unreleased" Slick Rick tracks. Specifically:

1) "Captain Caveman" - I've yet to find this one, which is a shame because it's a fun one; but bbatson on the DWG forums reckons, "i remember one at armands in philly years ago. It had sleazy on one side and captain caveman on the flip and was just titled Ricky D." Considering the version of "Sleazy Gynecologist" on the "Lost Tracks" 12" is specifcially dubbed the "Triple X Version," could that mean there's also another version of "Sleazy" out there? A clean version, maybe? Perhaps this was an earlier 12" which only had access to a radio edit. Who knows. When I find it, I'll make a post all about it. :)

2) "He Kills" - (shrug) Still lookin'.

3) "I Own America (Unreleased Version)" - A mix different than either version included on his The Art of Storytelling album. I made a post about this on the Vinyl Exchange boards a few years ago... sadly, that post is long gone (thanks a lot, spam botters!), but someone replied remembering they used to hear it on UK radio... or something. Sadly, my memory is pretty vague, but radio shows winding up with exclusive DATs isn't so unheard of in hip-hop (for example, the Godfather Don tracks that Bobbito had, which were finally just released as the Slaves of New York EP about 10 years later... or Ahmad's "Ahmad is Like" - one of his best songs, and the only copy is a master DAT in the hands of the Wake Up Show guys)... Still, in the case of a soon-to-be-album track of a major label artist like Slick Rick, it's hard to imagine Def Jam didn't keep copies as well, and probably distribute them to various people.

Of course, J-Love went about this quest the easy way. It's my understanding he just goes to the artists (or their management)and gets all this exclusive material handed to him (and guess who keeps 100% of the profits). As he explained himself in an interview on his site, "Shit, I mean some artists, if it wasn’t for the mixtapes they would be dead. The radio only plays like 30 to 40 songs a day; in 24 hours you gonna hear the same 30 to 40 songs – so that means that’s 30 to 35 artists, depending if a certain artist has two songs in rotation. So what can the rest do? They have to look for other outlets and mixtapes supply that avenue. The music game is very corny right now so a lot of artists are stuck and don’t know what to do."* It is a sad state. Hopefully someday, artists like Slick Rick will take their profits into their own hands and put out proper releases of their own music, and we won't have to listen to DJs without the talent or inclination to make creative or original mixes (see my Prologue) keep saying their names over our favorite songs.

*Before I sign off, let me just leave you with more fun (if you enjoy irony) quote from J-Love (also from an interview on his site), describing the current mix-tape scene, "DISGUSTING ....... EVERYONE IS A FOLLOWER OR JUST DOING WHATEVER TO GET MONEY... NO ONE ( EXCLUDING MYSELF) TAKES TIME AND CARES HOW THERE CDS COME TOGETHER JUST ABOUT MAKING A QUICK NAME OR BUCK FOR THEM SELEVS ALOT OF THEM CATS PLAIN OUT SUCK AND LEAVE ME DISGUSTED."

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Six

Now we really hit the pay dirt. This Japanese EP on Arm Your Beats features five unreleased Slick Rick tracks and, oddly, one album track off of Behind Bars ("Get a Job"). Like the "Lost Tracks" 12" (see: Chapter Four), not much is known of its origins, like when it was released. And also like the "Lost Tracks" 12", these songs are better than much of his commerical material.

So, like I said, we don't know much about where this EP came from, but we can make some educated guesses about the actual songs. Russell Simmons always said in interviews when Slick was locked up that he was holding onto heaps of recordings he'd made before he went to prison... the plan was to slowly release them over time, so that while he was incarcerated, he would still be releasing albums on a semi-regular basis. But then Mr. Walters kept getting allowed out to record new music (he worked on The Ruler's Back while out on bail and Behind Bars while on work release, though he's said both were rushed and compromised), so a lot of the "on file" verses went unused.

As I said, that's partially a guess, but I do know that the third song on side A, "Gambling," was intended for the Behind Bars LP. The Pete Rock produced track was apparently included in press copies, and even named specifically in The Source review. ...Pete Rock also produced "World Renown," which had to have been produced while Rick was in prison. Pete even starts the record by saying, "we're counting the days until you come home." The vocals seem a bit low, and you can kinda guess that Slick Rick wasn't actually rapping to this instrumental when he recorded it, but the production is hot... among Pere's best work.

"A Letter" is kinda cool, with some familiar but still engaging samples including a flute loop for the hook. And "Samson" (a dope track J-Love curiously decided to remove from his mix the second time around) features a fresh harmonica on its hook and a biographical story rap that feels like it could've come right off of The Ruler's Back, alongside "Moses" and "Bond," but it doesn't quite have that over-produced quality that hampered that album a little bit.

The best track for me, though, is "Star Trek." This is definitely vintage Slick Rick - it would sound most at home on The Great Adventures LP - with a modest but addictive beat, and Slick humming the original Star Trek theme for the hook. It tells a story of the crew of The Enterprise discovering a planet filled with beautiful women, who they immediately offend with their crass, sexual comments.

"Now, in a matter of secs, she went poutin'...
The master came and everybody start bowin'.
'I trust you know it's punishment for your words of lust.'
Said, 'welcome to Earth;' and Spock, 'Aliens-R-Us,'
F'in' around, 'so don't play me like you're deaf''
Couldn't eat no animal, and no sex until we left.
Said, 'who cares? It's better than having your ass had.'
'And don't eat nuthin' from The Tree of Good and Bad.'
Everything back to norm, nice weather, no storm;
Even fed a nigga veggies and made me feel warm.
Time passed peacefully, but how long would it last?
Scotty said, 'I want a hamburger and some fuckin' ass!'"

This might've just gone unreleased for copyright reasons... It's not hard to imagine Paramount Pictures objecting to a Mr. Spock who says, "let's rape the hooker!" But fortunately, this and the other tracks found their way onto a vinyl release eventually. The Ricky D EP is a must-have for any Slick Rick fan, more so maybe than even some of his official albums. Thank God for the hip-hop heads in Japan.

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Five

Like I said in my last entry, it seems J-Love lowered his standards between the first and second version of his Legends vol. 2 CD as far as what can be considered "Unreleased." The second time around he included "The Sun," with Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and RZA as an "Unreleased" track.
 
"The Sun," along with another song that doesn't feature Slick Rick called "Good Times," was originally slated to appear on Ghostface's 2002 album, Bulletproof Wallets. Both were eventually removed from the final release version of the album, but not before the clean promo copies were pressed and released to the public.

Okay, so that sounds pretty worthy of being labelled "Unreleased," right? After all, it was only put on the clean, radio version of the album that wasn't really made available to the public. That was the thinking, I'm sure, when Archives Inc. rereleased this on vinyl one year later on their Ghostface Killah EP (which also features "Good Times" and one or two "original mixes" of songs that were different on the clean promo than the funal album).

So, now it's been released twice. Once as a promo-only vinyl pressing (though it's not terribly rare... you can still score copies of this online for less than the original sale price), and once as an independent (bootleg? just how legit are Archive Inc.'s releases, anyway?) vinyl EP, which is still easily available... pick it up from ughh.com if you're interested. But that's still pretty "Unreleased" as far as the average consumer is concerned. I mean, it's not like this was put out on a mainstream vinyl and CD release that's still in print and available wherever new music is sold, right?

Oh, wait. Actually, this song was included on Ghostface and Trife da God's double album, Put It On the Line, two years later. Go ahead and order it new or used from Amazon; it comes with a bonus DVD of a Ghostface stage show recorded live. Now, I don't know how much more released a song can get than all that.

The song itself is just OK. The beat and hook are kind of monotonous and most of the lyrics are a bit goofy, with each MC rapping about the sun. Ghostface says, "Yo, the sun can never be pussy; he always come out. He'll sit right there, even if you pull your gun out." Slick Rick steals the show with easily the best delivery; but lyrically, it's still album filler quality. And frankly, they should've removed RZA's bit all together.

And actually, in 2004, Wu-Tang producer/DJ Allah Mathematics released a mixtape called The Next Chamber with his own remix of "The Sunn" (as he spells it), where the instrumental - if not the lyrics, which are naturally unchanged - is far superior. So, really, there are a lot of other buying options for this particular song, all of which are preferable ...if you think it's worth bothering with at all.

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Four

Ok, on the second version of Legends Vol. 2, Slick Rick's "Women Lose Weight" has been added as an "Unreleased" song. This song really isn't very unreleased... "Women Lose Weight" is a guest appearance track he did on Morcheeba's Charango LP, on Reprise Records (2002). It was also released as a single that same year. In general, J-Love seems to have loosened up his standards for what can be labelled "Unreleased" for this second mix.

To be fair, J-Love doesn't use the album version, but the impressive Alchemist remix, which is featured on every version of the single, but not the album. I've included a picture of my copy, with the sticker cover; but there's also a more commercially available picture cover featuring the Morcheeba logo over a shot of a subway car interior.

If you're not familiar, Morcheeba's kind of a funk sorta band, with two guys playing various live instruments, and a female vocalist (at the time of this song, Skye Edwards; but she's since been replaced by Daisy Martey), much in the vein of The Brand New Heavies. They've done a couple other songs with rappers, including Pace Won and Biz Markie, and the results have been consistently good. A lot of their songs feature guest instrumentalists as well... For "Women Lose Weight," band member Ross Godfrey (on guitar and keyboards) is joined by Richard Harrison on bass, Dan Goldman providing additional keyboards and Miles Bould on percussion. Skye sings the hook and Slick Rick provides all the rest of the vocals (it's really a proper Slick Rick song, not a single verse drop in). But all that live instrumentation is stripped away for a more traditional hip-hop track in Alchemist remix's... even Skye Edwards is replaced with various scratched vocal samples by Mobb Deep, Brand Nubian and MC Lyte (it's actually rather Premier-like), leaving no Morcheeba at all on the record.

It really is a great song, with Slick Rick at the top of his game. It's a funny, twisted first person narrative, where Rick decides his wife has gained too much weight and wants to leave her for his secretary... but since there's "laws which enforces divorces," he has to kill her.

"Screamin', 'who done took my heart?!' Acting shookin' up a lot;
At the funeral, thought everyone was lookin' at me odd,
Like I did it. Like I was the reason my mate's slain,
Murmuring, 'I heard he was displeased with her weight gain.'
While my secretary, sort of a sexy blonde, can’t cook -
All she does is order from restaurants.
'All of the sex you want'
I doubt could address: clothes not washed proper, and house look a mess.
And talkin' to detectives that was waitin' outside,
How I took a long lunch break day the wife died...!"

As with a lot of the best Slick Rick songs, he ends with a break from the narrative for the final verse, speaking as himself to tell us the moral: "desire is important... so watch your weight, it'll keep your mate smitten; it's a given. Though, lookin' back, I realize: I didn't have to kill her!"

There's actually a rarer, "Women Lose Weight (Spare Tyer Remix)," which keeps the original hook and sticks with original, live instrumentation. It's featured only on one, more limited 12" version from Reprise, and would've been much more deserving of the "Unreleased" title. I'm not sure if it's quite as good, though (I'd say it's about an even tie with the LP version... though the music is fairly different, and really all three are worth having), so you can't really blame 'im for going with the more common version. But I like how it gives the same vibe as all the old Sugarhill records, with the band and all. Certainly, if you're going to pick this up, it's worth holding out for the version with both remixes.

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Three

Well, I already had the first version of J-Love's mix CD, but when I saw the second one had a track called, "VANESSA WILLIAMS ( UNRELEASED )," I had to hear the second version as well. I'd never heard of that one!
Upon hearing it (thanks, chr!s), I discovered it actually wasn't anything I didn't already have in my collection. See, back in the early 90's, a guy named Gregory Moore used to advertise in the "Tapes" section of The Source magazine. He sold 60 and 90 minute cassettes of old school live performances... here's a scan from the August, 1994 issue:

You sent away for the list and he had, I dunno.... maybe 50 live tapes (he later added almost a hundred more), of live performances like DJ Hollywood performing classic raps and mixes at Club 371 in 1976, the entire infamous Kool Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee battle (the full show, including performances by the Cold Crush, Force MC's, and even the separate amateur battle event that came first), or a tape of LL Cool J's birthday party, with performances by Ultramagnetic MCs and Afrika Islam. Dude had everything.

Eventually, in 1996, a commercial album was released (on Sounds of Urban London Records, co-produced by Moore) of his tapes, entitled Rap Archives vol. 1, which was made pretty widely available (I got mine on cassette at the Wiz here in my NJ hometown). It featured clips of performances by Run DMC, Master Don, Biz Markie & Big Daddy Kane, and a whole bunch more. One of the performances was Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh at the Lincoln Project, NY 1984, performing "La Di Da Di" and "The Show."

Now, the highlight of this performance is when, at the end of "La Di Da Di" as we all know it, they announce they're going to "finish it," and Slick Rick bursts into an all new verse about what happens next in the song. And that's what "Vanessa Williams" on the Legends mix is - just a short (1 minute and 15 seconds) snippet of that exclusive verse.

J-Love's listeners might've found it a bit confusing, since he has it come randomly after "Captain Caveman." So, they didn't hear it in the context of the rest "La Di Da Di," where it makes considerably more sense. Here's the end of the classic verse we all know and love...

"I said, 'Cheer up!' and I gave her a kiss.
I said, 'You can't have me; I'm too young for you, miss.'
She said, 'No, you're not,' and then she starts crying.
I says, 'I'm nineteen...' she says, 'stop lying!'
I said, 'I am - go ask my mother.
And with your wrinkled pussy, I can't be your lover!'
And now the new material begins:
"She didn't hear, 'cause I said it kinda low;
And then I broke out because I really had to go.
I saw Miss America - she got millions!
Talkin' about that ho named Vanessa Williams.
She saw me, MC Ricky D.
She came up close and she grabbed my body..."

Unfortunately, I don't believe Mr. Moore is selling tapes from his catalog anymore, but at least Rap Archives vol. 1 is still pretty easily found on CD... Amazon has a couple copies up for about $7. Sadly, there was never a vol. 2.

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter Two

Ah, now we're getting into the goodies... This 12" hails from Japan, land of many alluring and exotic bootleg records. "How?" we ask, "when?" But I don't think we can ever truly learn the answers to these questions. They just exist... and when there are no original presses to be had, we are grateful.

We're offered two never before released Slick Rick tracks on this 12", better than most of the material on his later LPs. These are real treats.

The bulk of "Sleazy Gynecologist (Triple X Version)" (delightfully spelled "Gynacorogist" on the label), is a first person narrative of Slick Rick as a... well, sleazy gynecologist (not entirely unreminiscent of some Dr. Octagon lyics). Each verse is an increasingly dirty story of R.D. taking advantage of lady patients. In the first one, he gropes the breasts of a woman who comes in complaining of chest pains:

"'I hope it's not cancer, or I'll flip out.'
A pity. Well, lie on this couch and whip out your titty.
Let me see. With both hands startin' ta...
'Shouldn't you have some kind of gloves on, docta?'
No. And I do not do this for liesure,
Although it may appear an unusual procedure.
Now, relax and stop riffin'.
Meanwhile carressin' her nipple as they both start stiffin'."

In the second verse, a woman comes in complaining of hemorrhoid problems (at this point, one begins to wonder if Slick Rick is entirely clear on exactly what a gynecologist is, but never mind)... you can imagine what that might lead to. And in the third, he finally loses control with an underaged girl:

"Still pokin' in her poom-poom... what an easy score for me.
Until I heard, "stop, Rick; get off of me! Get off of me!'
Couldn't stop now; still poundin' in the stuff of her.
The police even found it hard to get me off of her.
Life. It ain't a sign to follow this.
Me, R.D., one sleazy gyneocologist."

Yeah. Like Kool G Rap's "Hey, Mister Mister," it's not hard to imagine why this song might've had a difficult time finding its way onto one of Rick's commercial releases. Finally, in the fourth verse, thie song reveals it's true nature, as SlickRick (now, presumably, as himself) tells his girl he doesn't like her seeing a male doctor: "I don't want no other man touchin' my girlfriend's bum up; unless some emergency of some sort come up." Not a lot of rappers have what it takes to pour their own insecurities so openly into a dope song like the Rickster.

The b-side, "Feels Like ~," is what J-Love titles "The Nutty Professor" on his disc. It's easy to see why, as the story of the song follows Jerry Lewis's plot pretty exactly, even down to the name of the character he transforms into, Buddy Love. But of, course, this version's told in Slick Rick's utterly unique style. No production credits are given for either track, but this one sounds decidely Pete Rock produced to me. Both tracks = much fun, and this 12" is definitely a must-have for any Ricky Walters fan, bootleg or no.

Unreleased Slick Rick, Chapter One

Note: if you haven't already, please read my intro post first. :)

Ok. The first unreleased Slick Rick song we're going to look at really isn't so "unreleased." Don't get me wrong, most of the tracks marked unreleased are some real hard-to-find or genuinely never-before-released tracks that'll give any digger a struggle scratching off their want lists. But not this one.

"Why You Doing That" is straight off of Mix Master G-Flexx's We Shine album. It's a compilation album of all new collaborations with him producing tracks for various hip-hop artists (the single was a track with Mad Lion), that received a very wide commercial release. Out here in Jersey, it was in every store at both my local malls (Sam Goody's, The Wiz, etc). You can buy it off Amazon for a penny.

This song was released again, in 2003, on Mix Master G-Flexx's Platinum Sounds album, on the admittedly pretty obscure label, LoveCat Music. That album's more of a career retrospective for G-Flexx, I guess, and features many of the same songs as We Shine. Eight, in fact. You might feel a bit jerked buying one if you already have the other, but anyway, you can get Platinum Sounds directly from the label's site, lovecatmusic.com or from CDBaby.com.

I'm guessing what happened here is that J-Love stumbled onto this white label 12" single (pictured), and not knowing about the G-Flexx album(s), thought this was otherwise unreleased. The label is certainly bereft of useful information, not even telling you the name of the artists featured. In any case, it's a really great song. It's got a pretty mellow, understated track with a nice horn sample on the chorus, and Slick Rick, in full earnest-examination-of-his-relationships-slash-storytelling mode, is at the top of his game, lyrically:

"Up against the wall, minding my biz at the Roxies',
Then I hear a reggae joint - nice jingle,
Slow grindin' on me like a motherfucker's single...
A model! That's all she wrote.
I was this close to shoving my tongue down the bitch' throat:
'Luh luh luh luh!'
Anyway, actin' like we screwin',
And her sis come, askin' how my girl doin'.
(You know) we broke up, sorta, and ignored her."

I mean, how many rappers will drop lines like, "My girl stayed home; what a bummer! Now when the phone bill come, I gotta hide that shit from her." That right there is why Slick Rick needs to come out with a new album! And not overload it with high profile guest stars and irritating skits this time. ...But I digress.

The B-side to this 12" is Brand Nubian - "Comming [sic.] Thru (Main Mix)." Don't get too, "oh wow; I never heard of that one before!" though (like I did when I first picked this up), because it's actually just a mis-titling of "Straight Outta Now Rule" from their Foundation album (that's the one where Grand Puba reunited with the group).

If you want the 12" (the sound quality is good, but there's only "Main Mix"es included for each), it can still be found pretty easily... I guess a lot of copies were pressed up. As of this writing, there's at least one copy for sale at gemm.com.

Ok, that's it for today. Next time, will be a more fun and obscure one. :)

Unreleased Slick Rick, Prologue

(Note: this particular blog entry is, essentially, just a very long "intro" to the next several Unreleased Slick Rick entries to follow.)

I only have one mix-CD by J-Love, but as far as I can tell, he's not much of a DJ. The CD I have is Slick Rick - Legends vol. 2. Three things separate this "mix" CD from any generic, half-assed mp3-made CDR kids make to clutter the internet with:

1) A super short "Intro" (specifically, it clocks in at 24 seconds), with J-Love saying something over a Slick Rick instrumental... I can't tell you exactly what he's saying, because the vocals are mixed far too low and so are completely washed out (and for the record, yes, I own an original copy of this mix-CD, not a dub or downloaded copy).

2) Some super lazy radio blends between songs... apparently doing the bare minimum to say, "yes, look, this is an original MIX; not just a bootleg; please don't sue me!"

3) J-Love annoyingly name dropping himself over various tracks, so other DJs can't steal the tracks for their own mixes. Another DJ might protect his work by making a top quality mix, full of creative blends, beat juggling, cutting & scratching, and maybe even a few freestyles to make his mix instantly recognizable as creatively hsi own. But J-Love isn't that kinda DJ... he falls less on the side of DJs like Q-Bert, Babu, Battery Brain and Dr. Dre, and more on the side of Craig G, S&S and DJ Clue. To put it another way, he's less on the side of musically talented hip-hop DJs making a significant musical contribution, so much as making money by selling illegal copies of other artists' music.

So, why on Earth would somebody actually pay money for this crap? Well, two reasons, depending on the listener. For the more casual Slick Rick fan (assuming they don't mind supporting the piracy and who also haven't, for whatever reason, mastered the art of downloading for free), it's because Def Jam has yet to release an official "greatest hits" LP, so mix-CDs like this are a cheaper alternative to buying his full albums. For most of us, though; it was probably because of this: "********** 11 UNRELEASED SONGS **********" printed across the front cover. Holy cow! Eleven never before released Slick Rick songs? I'm sold!

Which brings us to the point of this blog and the ones to follow (no, it's really not to bash on one particularly hapless phony DJ following a long tradition of talentless phoney DJs who've been giving a terrible name to the art form for over a decade... though I have to admit, it's super easy and kinda fun hehe). The unreleased songs. Here's the track-listing for his CD, where he helpfully notes for us which are the ones he considers "unreleased" (all spelling, punctuation, etc. is exactly as he has it printed on the inside cover):

1. INTRO 2. THE SHOW FEATURING DOUG E. FRESH 3. MONA LISA 4. I SPARKLE 5. WORLD RENOUN FEATURING PETE ROCK (UNRELEASED) 6. CHILDREN'S STORY 7. A LETTER TO (UNRELEASED) 8. VENUS 9. HE KILLS (UNRELEASED) 10. STAR TREK (UNRELEASED) 11. CAPTAIN CAVE MAN (UNRELEASED) 12. THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (UNRELEASED) 13. GAMBLING (UNRELEASED) 14. THE MOMENT I FEARED 15. LA DI DA DI FEATURING DOUG E. FRESH 16. SITTIN IN MY CAR FEATURING DOUG E. FRESH 17. I OWN AMERICA (UNRELEASED VERSION) 18. WHY YOU DOIN THAT (UNRELEASED) 19. SLEAZY GYNECOLOGIST (UNRELEASED) 20. SAMPSON (UNRELEASED) 21. MOSES 22. HEY YOUNG WORLD 23. TREAT HER LIKE A PROSTITUTE 24. I SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT

That CD came out in 2004, by the way. A little internet searching shows he's rereleased the CD more recently with a different track-listing (and artwork), including some more unreleased stuff:

1) INTRO 2) TROUBLE - PRODUCED BY J-LOVE 3) WOMEN LOSE WEIGHT ( UNRELEASED ) 4) SITTIN IN MY CAR 5) I SPARKLE 6) THE SHOW FEAT DOUG E FRESH 7) MONA LISA 8) MONA LISA PT 2 9) CHILDREN'S STORY 10) IOWN AMERICA ( UNRELEASED VERSION ) 11) I SHOULDN T HAVE DONE IT 12) VENUS 13) HE KILLS ( UNRELEASED ) 14) A LETTTER 2 ( UNRELEASED ) 15) STAR TREK ( UNRELEASED ) 16) WORLD RENOWN ( UNRELEASED ) 17) CAPTAIN CAVEMAN ( UNRELEASED ) 18) VANESSA WILLIAMS ( UNRELEASED ) 19) WHY YOU DOING THAT ( UNRELEASED ) 20) MEMORIES 21) HEY YOUNG WORLD 22) THE SUN FEAT GHOSTFACE KILLAH,RAEKWON,RZA ( UNRELEASED ) 23) MOMENT I FEARED 24) GAMBLING ( UNRELEASED ) 25) SLEAZY GYNECOLOGIST ( UNRELEASED ) 26) NUTTY PROFESSOR ( UNRELEASED )

So there it is, our starting reference point. In the next few entries, I'll be examining these unreleased tracks... where they're from, where you can get them "unmixed," etc. Join me... won't you?
Oh, p.s. - Did I mention the sound quality really sucks on this CD? Because, yeah. It does. :-P