2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Devin the Dude on Slick Rick

In celebration of VH1's Hip-Hop Honors show (which airs Monday, October 6 at 10 p.m. ET), Rhapsody talked to a variety of contemporary artists about this year's honorees. Here's Houston's Devin the Dude on Slick Rick.

Devin the Dude: When I first heard “La Di Da Di," it was a wrap. KTSU would play new hip-hop every Saturday morning. They were the first ones who played a lot of new hip-hop. I remember when it first came out, Jazzy Red and the DJs at KTSU like Marcus Love would get it while it was hot. ... The beatboxin’ from Doug E. Fresh [caught my attention] the very first time I heard it. I didn’t know what to pay attention to, the beatbox or the rap. When you tried to listen to the beat box, then Slick Rick hit this high pitched voice havin’ fun with the rhymes so it forced you to go back over to it. Every time you heard it, you laughed, danced, and at the end, it had a storyline. A lot of rap didn’t have storylines back then, but Slick Rick was real good at that. Anybody can just say they’re a story teller, but there’s an art to it and he figured it out. He should be credited for creatin’ a story that you can definitely see in your mind just by words. I was breakdancin’ at the time and I was considering rap, but he was one of the artists, if not the most influential, in [making me] say, “Hey, I want to do this.”

[Click the "Continue Reading..." link to listen to a playlist featuring the artists discussed in this post.]

Devin the Dude: I was waiting for [The Get Fresh Crew’s album] to happen and nothing happened. The next thing you know, Slick Rick came out with [The Great Adventures of Slick Rick] and I was like, “Wow, I wonder how this is gonna sound?” But when it came out, it was crazy. He’s the reason why I wear Kangols. I used to wear the furry ones like he did back in the day. It was the best rap album I ever heard up until that point. Well put together, and every song was kind of different, had a different meaning, and put you in a different state of mind. On “Kit (What’s the Scoop),” he’s talkin’ to his car like Kit [from Knight Rider]. That was crazy, but “Children’s Story” was one of my favorites off of that.

[When he was sent to jail in 1991 for a second degree attempted murder] I realized ... it doesn’t matter if you’re very talented at something, you still have to be responsible and I didn’t understand. I didn’t know what the charge was. I thought it was self-defense. I thought somebody tried to rob him. It was like, “Hey, why they f*ckin’ with him?” I wasn’t rappin’ at the time as far as a career, but I always was influenced by the rappers at the time that I was near to and dear to [as a fan]. I felt close to them and I felt hurt for him. I was like, “Man, this government is cold.” So , once I did start making a career out of what I did, I always put that in my mind, like, “Don’t get too ahead of yourself.” Somebody might love you across the street, like, “Don’t take him!” But you’re gonna have to get taken. [Listening to Behind Bars] felt like going to see him in jail ‘cause I knew it could be better. It’s hard to even try to discuss your feelings without probably crying, and knowing the shape they’re in, you don’t really know what to say. He didn’t have the people at his disposal to help with all that he needed to do to let people know that he still had it. He’s a man that fans can turn to when they’re feeling a certain way and throw on a Slick Rick album.

[By rocking so many chains] he had one of the trends that was so hard to follow in the ‘hood. You just can’t do that in the ‘hood. He had to be a kind of an arrogant kind of person in a way. Everybody had the dookie ropes, and a chain or two back in the day, but couldn’t nobody mess with Slick Rick as far as being draped up. Truck jewelry is what he called it.

I never met him personally. I never ran across somebody that was like, “Yeah, Slick Rick, that’s my partner, man.” But it would be real cool even just to chop it up with him for a minute or two. I love a whole bunch of rap and hip-hop artists, but he would definitely be in my top five. “La Di Da Di” is my favorite because it has a lot of humor. You can just see the old lady -- and then she starts beating him. I was so glad that [Snoop] respected rap and hip-hop enough to go back and redo the song. I always wondered why people are always redoing these old songs by Barry White or the OJs. Rap is so cocky -- and biting is another thing -- but to recreate a song lets you know the longevity of this genre. [Snoop] also intertwined what was goin’ on, because, during that time, there was still some static with East and West. He let it be known that he’s representing the West, but grew up listenin’ to this. It took a lot of courage to do that.

Further Reading:
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Killer Mike on Cypress Hill [PLAY]
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: DJ Drama on De La Soul [PLAY]
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Joe Budden on Naughty By Nature [PLAY]
2008 VH1 Hip-Hop Honors: Big Boi on Too Short [PLAY]

VH1's Hip-Hop Honors Blog [VH1]

Comments

[underground rap]

man... sometimes you get so caught up in the drama he going through you tend to forget his accomplishments... I'd like to see Rick surface somewhere BIG... he still has what it takes, Im sure.

[MrFan]

Peace to Devin. Go buy Landing Gear when it drops. Man, Slick Rick is truly one of the best. I just saw him live in Austin Texas not too long ago and he f*ck*ng murdered it!!!