Slick Rick is a 60 year old MC from New York City by way of London, England, United Kingdom becoming the 3rd artist to sign with Def Jam Recordings over 4 decades ago. His debut The Great Adventures of Slick Rick became a golden age landmark cementing Rick the Ruler one of the greatest storytellers hip hop has ever heard. The Ruler’s Back would be received more moderately & Behind Bars was a dope venting session of his time incarcerated. It’s been over 26 years since his 2nd best work The Art of Storytelling fulfilled his Def Jam contact & has opted to sign with Mass Appeal Records for his long-awaited 5th LP overseen by actor Idris Elba set to appear in A24 Films’ upcoming TV adaption of Things Fall Apart. Couple more noteworthy things to get off my chest here & first is the announcement of Mark Kerr now to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in light of his upcoming biopic that I’m anticipating in the fall The Smashing Machine with Mark being played by 10-time WWE world champion, 2-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 5-time WWE Tag Team Champion, United Football League (UFL) co-owner, TKO Group Holdings board of directors member, co-founder of $7 Productions & the final boss of professional wrestling himself The Rock of The Rock ‘n’ Soul Connection with the current record breaking 17-time WWE world champion John Cena accompanied by the honorary WWE Hardcore Champion Travis Scott. Speaking of the UFL since I’m at it for the fuck of it, the last thing I wanna say before finally diving into the music is I hope my hometown team the Michigan Panthers defeat the XFL conference champion DC Defenders in the Championship game this upcoming Sunday.
After the intro, the first song “Stress” featuring Giggs has a vintage old school vibe to the beat talking about feeling lonely & needing to be consoled whereas the self-produced “Angelic” flexes the higher-ups still studying “La-Di-Da-Di” to this very day justified by how much it’s been sampled or covered. “Foreign” suggests you peep the home increasing on him & the amount of individuals sleeping on him since he’s been gone leading into the “I Did That” interlude.
“Come On Let’s Go” goes for a hip house direction instrumentally grabbing his coat in spite of him having to go to work in a few hours right when things were getting hot while “Landlord” explains the occupation of owning property in New York these days isn’t easy whatsoever. After the “Mother Teresa” interlude, “Spirit to Cry” briefly discusses those wanting his soul to meet it’s demise just before “Documents” featuring Nas talks about being watched as if they’re top agent shoguns.
The piano-driven boom bap flare of “So You’re Having My Baby” suits it’s concept of getting a woman pregnant with her saying it’s his child while “Cuz I’m Here” gets back on the hip house tip observing all the honeys who came out to have fun. After the “Matrix” interlude, “We’re Not Losing” advises to keep it moving like him when taking Ls with the beat reminiscent to RZA’s production work 3 decades ago & “Another Great Adventure” produced by Q-Tip ends with a funky homage to his 1988 debut.
Reflecting where the Ruler’s been this past quarter of a century & where he’s going hereon out, Victory kicks off the Legend Has It series by reintroducing a pioneer to this next generation of hip hop fans who can still rock the mic like he did on his Who Made the Sunshine? appearances at the beginning of the decade. The production palatably blends hip house, funk, boom bap & hip hop’s golden age to backdrop Slick Rick’s themes of perseverance, storytelling, imagination & evolution.
Score: 7/10
