Slick Rick - The Art Of Storytelling

Most people know Slick Rick for his mid-to-late 80s hits like "La Di Da Di" and "Children's Story." The easy assumption to make is that a 1999 comeback album would be a halfhearted attempt to prolong his former glory, but that is far from the case. The only problem is that too many people made that assumption (or didn't even know it existed) and Rick hasn't put out an album since.Slick Rick's flow evolved a LOT between 1989 and 1999. Where he used to rap in a very fly but also very 80s old-school style, mostly in goofy storytelling form, now (1999) he is a punchline rapper with a cadence unlike anyone else I've heard. He packs his lines with internal rhymes and ends every line with a punchline. He became the type of rapper who almost never spits a syllable that doesn't rhyme with something else, but unlike most who try to do that, he does not sound like he's trying at all. He doesn't spit, he breathes. Sometimes he almost whispers, like he's so fly he doesn't even have to speak up to be heard. Often you get the feeling that Rick is really just humming to himself, except that his humming rhymes. The album is uneven, I'm sorry to say. Some of the less-than-inspired beats and guest appearances make it drag, and it could have used a bit of a trim. But the tracks that hit are among the smoothest slices of hip hop ever offered, and I think it's a shame so few have heard this shit. "Street Talkin'" with Big Boi and "Unify" with Snoop Dogg are good funky singles, but it's the solo tracks like "I Own America" and "Trapped In Me" and the few-and-far-between story tracks that really shine. Yes, Slick Rick still tells stories, and they are still hilarious. He still plays multiple characters right in the middle of his verses, letting their reactions rhyme with his quips effortlessly. "Who Rotten Em" is the story of a young slave to an Egyptian pharoah, who entertains the court with his amazing rhymes. "2 Way Street" is hilarious as Rick continuously almost hooks up with groupies before suddenly remembering he's married, and "Adults Only" is the funniest (and grossest) hip hop ode to anal sex I've ever heard with it's chorus "ain't no way to put it subtle when I want the butthole". For real, for just as much (well-deserved) praise is loaded on the 1980s version of Slick Rick, the nineties version deserves perhaps even more accolades, as one of the most clever, smooth, articulate mc's ever to dip the mic in drawn butter.