The Ruler's Back [PA]

Performer: Slick Rick
Engineer: Everett Ramos; Darroll Gustamachio; Rory Young; Thom Leinbach
Producer: Vance Wright; Mr. Lee; Slick Rick
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Rory Young (programming). Audio Mixers: Everett Ramos; Darroll Gustamachio; Thom Leinbach. Recording information: Acme Studios, Mamaroneck, NY; Battery Studios Chicago, IL; Battery studios, Chicago, IL; Chung King Studios, New York, NY; New York, NY; Power Play Studios, Long Island City, NY. Photographer: Jules Allen. It was easy to dismiss The Ruler's Back before it was even released, or to assume that there was no way it could live up to The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. Of course, it did not attain the same level of artistic success as that debut, and it certainly did not equal that album's commercial success, in fact seemingly passing beneath the radar of the whole hip-hop community, for the most part. At the time of its release, the album received mixed reviews and indifferent reactions even from fans of Slick Rick. That's another unfortunate, ill-fated aspect of The Ruler's Back, because, in truth, it is a strong, albeit uneven, progression from the debut and occasionally strikes a flawless note. To think of the album as anything other than a confused, transitional effort would be inaccurate, but it does not follow that it isn't an intriguing record. The messiness of its execution perfectly encapsulates the sort of turmoil Slick Rick was experiencing in his life at the time, and the music pulls the listener into that sort of tangled experience. Both Vance Wright's production and Slick Rick's rapping sound pressed for time, and they rush through the songs with a whip-lashing intensity. It can be a disorienting listen, but it is also a pure adrenaline rush. Slick Rick was going through a time of hurtling change, and the hurried breathlessness of the music captures that. The Ruler's Back is all over the map, lacking the thematic focus that held the first album together, but its frayed-threads, seams-showing immediacy is part of what makes it such an underrated album in the hip-hop canon. ~ Stanton Swihart

Considered one of rap's greatest storytellers, London-born/New York-raised Slick Rick got his start as a member of Doug E. Fresh's Get Fresh Crew. Going solo in 1988 with the hip-hop classic THE GREAT ADVENTURES OF SLICK RICK, he became famous for his extended narratives told via a leisurely yet precise flow, one which has influenced numerous MCs, most notably the equally languid Snoop Dogg. Slick Rick spent five years in prison following a 1989 attempted-murder conviction. He was released in 1996, and dropped THE ART OF STORYTELLING three years later.

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