The legendary English-American rapper, now 60, and one of the most influential in the hip-hop’s history, returns with his first for 26 years (since 1999’s The Art of Storytelling) with a stylish, playful, talkative, narrative ‘visual’ LP featuring guests – notably the actor and sometime rapper-DJ Idris Elba, alongside Nas, Giggs and Estelle. Slick Rick aka Richard Martin Lloyd Walters, is best known for his signature eye patch look caused by being blinded in his right eye by broken glass as an infant, and rise to prominence as part of Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s, and with 80s hits such as La Di Da Di, he’s among the most sampled hip-hop artist in history. Unsurprisingly then, this a slick product indeed, harking back to the golden age of hip-hop, especially more that the early 1990s, with strong storytelling throughout, an evocative use of samples. scratching and great beats to match, his distinctive, fluid, clear, articulate delivery, and among others a character known as agent ‘008’. Highlights include Angelic, Stress (with Giggs), Documents (with Nas), Foreign (a nod to his Jamaican roots), the skipbeat energy of Come On Let’s Go, the reggae song Landlord, which unusually recounts the perspective from a troubled man with dodgy tenants, into the more skittish later tracks, We’re Not Losing and Another Great Adventure. Slick by name, slick by nature, a figure who enjoys some mischievous, witty braggadocio, but has still got all the chops with some sublimely playful hip-hop rhythms. A victorious return. Out on 7Wallace / Mass Appeal Records.
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