SLICK RICK

Arriving on the hip hop scene when it was at its most fertile in the late eighties Slick Rick was soon hailed as a typically innovative and influential figure. Rick's originality stemmed primarily from his solo approach to rapping, with him mostly delivering a whole host of verbose narratives. Other than the robust structure of his wordplay and attention to detail in his stories, the most impressive aspect of his art is the versatility of his vocals. Eschewing all help Rick acts as a solo MC over the entire album and adjusts his delivery depending on the content of the lyrics. The narratives and self-referential monologues are reeled off quickly with a flat, detached style but Rick branches out by voicing the characters in the songs, cutting into the monologue and imitating a high-pitched whine for a woman (as will become clear, he far from bucks the trend for sexism and misogyny in rap). The highlight of "Mona Lisa", for instance, is the section during which his attempts to chat up a girl are frustrated by her rambling monologue which he then humorously intersperses with a seamless string of bored 'uh-huh's. Despite coming out of the New York hip hop scene Rick was actually born in London (which has more recently led to serious problems with the immigration authorities) and given he moved to the States ten years later his accent is rather curiously caught between standard American and a cockney twang. Although his delivery is certainly novel and influential it lacks the power of, say, Chuck D or Ice Cube and some of the songs do rather slip by. This is also undoubtedly down to deficiences on the musical side of things. It would be reckless to criticise such an important album too much, and it is nowhere near as sparse as some DJs at the time favoured, but the ideas of his DJ, Vance Wright, are traditional and unadventurous and only really the tinkling piano on "The Ruler's Back" and the tension-building descending riff on the superb "Children's Story" divert attention from Rick's rhyming. Although Def Jam's lauded Bomb Squad produce, they fail to repeat the explosive power they generated with their work on Public Enemy's classic albums. Still, Rick was always intended to be the star and most of the time he weaves a memorable web of sparkling wit and, indeed, slick delivery. The narratives do get noticeably bawdy at times, although two of the best tracks are the most explicit, with Rick joyously running through the x-rated narrative of "Indian Girl" (subtitled 'An Adult Story') and revelling in the caustic, bitter and rather uncomfortable misogyny of the opening "Treat Her Like a Prostitute", which became an underground hit rather than a mainstream one (for obvious reasons). Despite his horribly distorted view of women Rick is surprisingly moral on a few tracks with the preachy pair of "Teenage Love" and "Hey Young World" being disappointingly trite and flaccidly sentimental. Thankfully his sanctimony is more persuasive on the classic "Children's Story", with its cautionary tale warning against the slippery slope of petty crime benefitting from an impeccably concise delivery. It is not all tall stories, though, as another two excellent tracks appear in the self-aggrandising form of the playful "The Ruler's Back" and "Teacher, Teacher". Of course, as with the majority of rap albums there are some efforts that simply fail to ignite but this is one of the more consistent offerings within the genre. It might not instantly excite as much as some of his peers' efforts but, thanks to his masterful wordplay and subtle delivery, it is a collection that successfully promotes intelligence above mere impact.

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