Hip-hop veteran Slick Rick makes his Killington debut

by Cristina Kumka

A lone compact disk titled “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick” of 1988 was wedged in between hip-hop albums of this decade, all nestled high on a rack at f.y.e. (For Your Entertainment) store at Rutland’s Diamond Run Mall Tuesday.

Flip over the bulky plastic case and you see the usual listing of song titles.
But this time, the titles are far from usual — so bold and eye-catching they nearly scream out at you.

“Let’s Get Crazy” and “Mona Lisa” are printed among other glaringly explicit titles, all followed by the smash “The Ruler’s Back.”

This Saturday, that’s just what the 43-year-old artist will be — back on stage — when he nears the top of the Killington Road at the nightlife institution The Wobbly Barn, debuting his old-school tracks under his own, old, and famous title — Ricky Walters aka “Slick Rick,” of late 1980s hip-hop fame.

Snoop Dogg copped nearly every word of his hit “La-Di-Da-Di” to make his own jam and Eminem sampled his stuff too.

He’s made one of the first hip-hop albums to go platinum.

And he’s been publicly honored by music channel VH1 despite gaining notoriety and street credibility for attempted murder and gun charges.

Slick Rick is one of the first hip-hop acts of 2009 to grace the mountain for a crowd of locals and visitors turned on by rhyme and rhythm — Monday night Wu-Tang Clan hit up the Pickle Barrel Nightclub and on Feb. 15, Naughty by Nature comes back to “Hip Hop Hooray” at Wobbly.

But for Slick Rick, his performance at Wobbly, which falls four days before the artist’s 44th birthday, is being touted as extra special by venue managers who say they want to make a unique weekend for concert-goers and the performer himself— just like they do for all the big name hip-hop artists that decide to perform in the intimate musical settings the Killington Road offers.

The high-altitude welcoming of Slick Rick is set to be just as glamorous as the blinged-out chains and eye patch the artist is known for and the performance signifies a push by some local business owners to get more diverse musical genres on the hill for all different kinds of people to enjoy.

“The genre of music is changing,” said Chris Karr, owner of the Pickle Barrel Nightclub and host to the Wu-Tang Clan this week.

“We started it with having Snoop Dogg here a year ago … there is a demand for that type of music, and it’s coming to us now,” he said.

Karr said Killington offers artists something not many other places can — a show and a mini-vacation.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Karr said the Wu-Tang Clan was “still in town, taking advantage of snowmobiling and boarding.”

A British-born rap innovator and father of two, Slick Rick may be a likely candidate for the kind of vacation the town offers its performers, after being musically stale without an album this millennium and legal troubles since 1991.

Rick pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder and eight weapons offenses in a New York Supreme Court in 1991, stemming from an incident where he shot his cousin and an innocent bystander, both of whom survived, according to a May 2008 article in the New York Times.

Before Rick was released from jail in 1997, he faced deportation by immigration authorities because of a statute that calls for the removal of legal resident aliens following a felony conviction.

However, New York Gov. David Paterson pardoned the rapper last year, preventing the deportation.

The artist’s criminal background notwithstanding, bartender Bobby Peterson of the Wobbly Barn said he welcomed the diverse crowd an act like Rick is sure to bring.
“There is a demand,” Peterson said.

“On president’s weekend we have Naughty by Nature … old-school rap is strangely enough becoming something people are enjoying and something we can afford to bring to the mountain.”

Peterson said the Wobbly’s reputation for offering a wide array of musical styles is supported by old hip hop acts becoming new again on the mountain.
The venue isn’t afraid to take chances on music, Peterson said, and for many locals it may be their only chance to hear urban-based rappers they’ve jammed out to on the radio for years.

“On any different weekend night, our guests could have whatever they want,” he said.

Tom Horrocks, Killington Resort’s communication manager, would seem a likely opponent to the genre of sound set to pervade the Wobbly as a member of the classically geared Killington Music Festival board.
But he’s not.

“Like the Killington Music Festival, you don’t have to go to a major metropolitan area to see classical music in the mountains,” Horrocks said. “This provides a wide genre of entertainment, a well-balanced and well-rounded community and resort experience.”

Further down the mountain, Dave Wuensch, the store manager of f.y.e., said he hadn’t heard about the coming of Slick Rick or sold any of his albums but he does know one thing — hip-hop and the cultural foundation that goes along with it is alive and well in the Rutland area.

“Akon, Lil’Wayne and Kanye West have all done well … among people anywhere from pre-teen age through mid-20s,” he said.

For more information on upcoming acts at Killington’s The Wobbly Barn, including Rochester, N.Y., reggae-afrobeat sextet The Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad on Jan. 15, call 422-6171 or go to www.wobblybarn.com.

Contact Cristina Kumka at cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com.