June 15, 2025
He says the album speaks to his mentality now as a 60-year-old man.
Slick Rick isn’t done telling his story over beats just yet. The English-American rapper has released his first new album of this century.
The Hip Hop legend released his fifth LP, a visual album called “Victory,” June 13. He told AP News that the album speaks to his mentality now as a 60-year-old man. It continues his career since his last project, 1999’s “The The Art of Storytelling.”
“You was a young adult, then a middled-aged man and now you’re an older man, so my mentality has to grow with it,” said Slick Rick.
Slick Rick, a formidable figure in early rap, got his start with Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. With his signature eye patch in tow, Rick became a household name for his 1985 hit “La Di Da Di,” also known as one of the most sampled songs in history.
Decades later, Slick Rick’s comeback shows that the emcee still has the chops to compete with the heavy hitters of hip hop today. While producing 95% of the album himself, he also leaned on new collaborators like actor and rapper Idris Elba. Additional features even include Nas, Giggs, and Estelle.
“Victory” took four years to make, while finding inspiration from his global upbringing with recordings in London and France. The accompanying visuals also added to this theme, taking place in the U.S., U.K., and Africa. He continued his conversation with AP about the journey toward making the album.
“It might’ve been a little hesitation, but you’re just having fun,” he told the outlet. ” We just bringing it to the marketplace and see what happens. There’s no pressure or nothing. We’re bringing it to the people to see if they like it. Feed them.”
The album also blends Hip Hop with multiple genres, including reggaeton and house music. However, he emphasized how Black people can connect to all types of sounds, wanting to further this point through this album.
He added, “It’s what Black people like. We’re not just Hip-Hop. We like reggae. We like house music. Let’s say like the Beatles or Barry Manilow. We go all over the place. Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross. We go places. We try to entertain ourselves in different areas of existence.”
Slick Rick’s artistry transcends time, as proven with his newest project. What impact he hopes to leave, however, is one that keep Black storytelling as an integral part of rap.
“It’s an open space. It hasn’t been filled, the whole storytelling thing. Before it gets too lost back into braggadocios, one frequency. Expand your horizons. You don’t always have to be rough. Be romantic…Be humorous. Be vulnerable. Go all over. Be a politician. Use your imagination. Go places, so we can take stories and give to our people’s imagination.”
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