Slick Rick, the original master storyteller that has inspired every hip-hop emcee worthy of his name, has released some extremely tight albums throughout the years - though way to few that his skills deserve. So although his album catalouge ain't all that, luckily Ricky D got a large amount of unreleased bangers from the early to mid-'90s that feature nothing but vintage Rick getting it in over bangers by people like Pete Rock, SD50s, Prince Paul, Vance Wright and more. Trust me when I say that I'm definitely going to do a proper Slick Rick compilation of the best of these type of joints sooner or later. But in the meantime I want to put a bright spotlight on a very unorthodox Japanese bootleg of two Ricky D joints that are as hilarious as they are rare. The two track 12" is simply called "Ricky D. Lost Tracks" and the songs, which was likely too strong in its language and storytelling that Def Jam had no choice but to cut them from the album. The LP in question I am pretty sure is 1994:s "Behind Bars" LP, the album that was released while Slick was still in jail and featured new remixes by artists like Pete Rock, Warren G, Epitome Of Scratch, and Large Professor of previously unreleased material a long with some never before heard songs. It could have been recorded for the previous LP however, 1991:s "The Ruler's Back" as the beat supplied by Mr. Philips' sound more like early '90s Pete if you ask me.
So how do I know that the absolutely brilliant "Sleazy Gynecologist" which appears on the A-side here is one of those rare Slick Rick/Pete Rock collaborations, more than the fact that it sound like an early Pete beat? Well after some research, I found a very illuminating post over @ RapOhneLizenz with a quote from the Younger Soul Brother, Grap Luva; "Grap was shocked to see [the bootleg 12"], confirming that it was in fact a Pete Rock beat ... He only knew the track from when he snuck into his brothers spot and dubbed it off a DAT" (SOURCE). Slick Rick and Pete Rock is always a magnificent combo for us true hip-hop heads, but Slick Rick himself is truly bringing his A+ game here; telling three magnificent verses where Rick shows why he's a true master emcee by doing one verse as the girl, one as the sleazy gynecologist and one as the boyfriend (who happens to be Rick himself, or so it seems). This is pretty hardcore too, as the sleazy gynecologist's last verse finds the doctor raping an unconscious underage girl under sedation before the cops bust in. It's an extremely well written joint, the beat is slamming, overall it's classic Rick though it's easy to see why no record label wanted to fuck with it at the time. Well, thank God for bootlegs.
The B-side to this rare bootleg is here listed as "Feels Like", but is listed as "The Nutty Professor" on various later tapes, like on J-Love's semi-official mixtapes, so it's safe to say that "The Nutty Professor" is the proper title for the song. Once again this sound like it could be a Pete Rock beat, but I don't have any confirmation for this - and according to the original bootleg both songs are produced by SD50's but we know that that's not the case with the A-side at least. Either way it's another powerful jam, however I have a feeling this was recorded a bit later as "The Nutty Professor" (the movie) wasn't released until early 1996 - and listening to the production (Pete Rock, SD50's or whoever) it's deifnitely a mid-'90s joint, no question). It's not as agressive or original as the A-side but it's a cool storytelling joint with some of Rick's trademark hilarious lines interspersed throughout the songs running time. Both songs needs to be heard by any Slick Rick fan that might have missed out, despite the shitty sound quality - remember this is a rip from a mid-'90s Japanese bootleg that have only surfaced on mixtapes since (with DJ shouts and all that not-so-good stuff). Enjoy peeps!
A1. "Sleazy Gynecologist"
B1. "Feels Like (The Nutty Professor)"
Re-up possible?
ReplyDeletere-up request!
ReplyDelete