As one of the premier voices to emerge from eighties hip-hop culture, rapper Slick Rick has been influential from the moment he stepped in front of a microphone. Beginning rap as a hobby when he was still a sharp-tongued high school student, the emerging wordsmith verbally fought to be the best. Battling in the lunchroom with his friends, including future “Delancey Street” rapper Dana Dane, the immigrant kid named Ricky Martin Lloyd Walters, who hailed from Mitchum-Surrey, England, was a high school art major who was simultaneously learning to paint pictures with the words tumbled from his tongue.
Creating vivid narratives inspired by spectacle of his new surroundings in the Bronx, he began calling himself “MC Ricky D” and created a persona to fit his lush lyrics.
Setting out on the New York City rap circuit, Rick performed locally at school contests, on park benches and inside local holes in the wall.
It wasn’t long before he met Harlem based rapper Doug E. Fresh, who was the judge at a talent show that Rick entered. Noting Rick’s talent, Doug brought him on board as a member of his already established Get Fresh Crew.
