Slick Rick + Wendy Day (Interview At Music Biz Conference May 2019)

Thank you.

My name is Dawn Braggard.

I'm the VP of Operations for Lyric Financial, and it is my honor to have these two legends on this stage. Wendy Day, I have been following her before I was like even working in the music industry. She is a woman with a heart for artists as big as the moon. She is my friend, my mentor.

Love her so much.

Really appreciate everything that she's done into my life. And then we have hip-hop legend, icon, Grammy-nominated, the man who pioneered the Golden Age of hip-hop, Mr. Slick Rick himself.

Hey, Slick Rick! Hi. Hi! How are you? This is so weird because he's my friend, you know? And I forget sometimes that you're a legend. You know when I remember what a legend you are is like when we walk down the street together and like the UPS trucks will swarm and pull over to step out and say hi to you and stuff. That's when I remember, oh yeah, he's Slippert. He's not just Rick.

Yeah?

Yeah. So rap started in the Bronx, and you're from the Bronx. So what was it like when you were coming up, like in the late '70s and early '80s? Like, what was that like?

Well, I came up with— I came to America in 1976 with Ava, and when I was going to school, hip-hop was just starting out, and everything they wanted to do was do it. It was like riding on the best and rapping, you know. It was like, I guess you could say like a strategic move to stop kids from doing graffiti on the walls and trains and stuff like that. So then hip-hop came about, which took the place of graffiti and stuff like that, and it gave the kids something to do. And we was all children, we was all into the background, that's why I did poetry, you know what I mean, and, you know, express myself that way, another way, you know. So yeah, some of us stood out, just like some of the kids that used to do graffiti stood out too, Some of them you wouldn't believe was like Rembrandts or Van Goghs on these trains, you know what I mean? Real. And some was just trash, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, so that's how secular they are, you know, you weed out the talent or whatever, like that.

So did you used to go to like park parties and stuff?

Yeah, back then, you know, they used to have parties outside in the street, like block parties, like big picnic type of situation or whatever, in like schoolyards and stuff like that. So that's Back then there was a group called the Cold Crush Brothers and people like that, like Flash and 3 Spot, those cats used to do all that type of stuff, you know, for the neighborhood children and stuff like that. And we would all gather around and hear the music, you know, the whole 2 turntables and the microphones and the, you know, the strategic dance steps, all that stuff. Yeah.

Well, when did you know you wanted to rap?

Um, when I was in school and I started getting recognition, you know, you know what I mean, as something to stand out, a niche. It became my niche. So, plus I had like an accent, and whites like to tell stories. You have an accent? Well, I used to have an accent, but I don't anymore. Okay. From English accent, cockney, you know what I mean. So, I would stand out in that urban, in the Black community, would sound crazy, you know what I mean. So, you stood out crazy. So, then you tell your stories in those few words, you go kid voice, and the accent and everything just Gave its own little lane, you know what I mean?

Wow, okay. So when did you go from just enjoying rap to like being a professional rapper?

Well, we was always playing around and they used to have these competitions. I used to come around to different neighborhoods, uh, $1,500 prize for whoever wins the rap battle of the entire area and, um, One of my friends was in it. He was like— Doug E. Fresh was a judge. He was already established at the time, so he was a judge. Oh, and my friends from high school was in the competition, and they invited me to perform with them. And then when we performed, we got even more recognition. And then Doug E. Fresh said, you should come with me, and the rest is history.

The rest really is history. So, um, which came first, Lonnie, Natty, or the show?

Lottie Dottie came first.

Okay, and that was not on Def Jam?

That was with Doug E. Fresh. Okay. Reality Records. Oh, okay. That was what they were recording on, Reality Records.

Okay, and then how did Def Jam scout you?

Well, after me and Doug E. went our separate ways, um, Def Jam approached me, you know what I mean? And, you know, they wanted me to be like a solo artist and stuff like that.

You were the third artist, right, with that band? Oh yeah, yeah, because I think it was T. LaRock was first with the Tours, and then they signed LL, and I think you came right after, right? Did, um, did Russell, Russell sign you, or did Leo? Leo did.

Okay, he knew me when mom stepped to me, you know what I mean? And he was like, you know what time it is. So you know what happened. There you go. Def Jam, right?

Right. And they were kind of like the, like the big dogs back then.

Yeah, yeah, biggest.

Yeah, they're the biggest hip-hop labels and stuff like that. Wow, that's kind of awesome. So how did you learn about the business side of the music industry? Because you're very much into the sound.

Well, as a young man, I thought that most of that time I spoke to the elders, like my mom, you know, my parents. So my parents pretty much made sure everything was co-esthetic, you know what I mean? And then she invested the money in buildings in the Bronx. So got 2 3-family homes in the Bronx from the very beginning of the game, you know what I mean?

You know, the '70s, '80s.

So, and you know, that kind of investments, you know, let's make sure that the stability is rock solid first, you know what I mean? Before you get all hyped up.

That's great. How old were you when you bought your first building? Um, and is that the building you live in today?

Yeah. Oh, I have to— that's awesome. Let me see, anywhere between, um, I say like 23.

Wow.

21, 23, somewhere around there.

I wasn't that smart at 23 at all.

Yeah, that's a beautiful thing.

So then, um, when you started making music for Def Jam, did you have a team around you? Like, did you have a manager, an accountant, a lawyer, or were you just like out there slippery by yourself?

Yeah, well, like I said, my mom's handling everything, so she had an accountant and attorneys and all that type of stuff, and I just did like the talent part, you know?

So pretty much like that. When did you start to really learn the business?

When I started getting robbed. Everyone's doing all the same, you know what I mean? It's like, when you get your first check, your first royalty check, and it says, um, negative, I'm like, what? I was like So it's like, you know, you know, that company. So it's like they— and they're an album platinum, you know what I'm saying? So I said, how? He's talking about when you have to spend money to make a video, you know, like videos.

So they never explained to you about recouping before they started spending the money?

You know, sometimes you got to watch for it, you know what I mean? Because like the contract says, the contract says like, make 3 albums with us. For some amount of money, but they got a small princess plus 3 more, you know, plus like 7 more, some slick sneaky stuff in there, you know what I mean, that, you know, you don't catch, you know what I mean. And you know, the whole industry is kind of, you know, so, so then you gotta just play the game, you know what I mean, and hope things work out for the better. Most of your money is made on tours though, you know, made from shows, right, and tours, merchandising and stuff like that. So most of my money that I earned came from touring and shows and stuff like that, I saw him in the buildings and stuff like that. It wasn't really— when I was with W, I got royalties from it, you know, because I wasn't really signed. He was signed, right? So when he got a check, he just gave me, you know, half or whatever like that. So, but when I got that check, I was like, yo, like, they consider that kind of the big dogs, you know what I mean? The wolves, you know? So, no, this, you know, you know, just how it is, you know what I mean? Go all the way to the top, you know what I mean? Then you see you're Satan. No, I'm just kidding.

It's the label system, um, and for those of you that don't know, when you sign to a record label, they pay you a small percentage of income, but you have to pay back everything that they spend on you out of your percentage. So if your deal is like a 12% deal or a 15% deal and they spend $1 million on you, then you have to pay back that million out of your 15% share of the income before you start making money. The joy of the music industry.

Everybody got a job to do, you know what I mean? So sometimes you think it's the person in front of you but it's somebody above them and then somebody above them, you know what I mean? It's just like, you know, so it's like that, you know. It's like when you watch that movie with Ice Cube when he was screaming at the, his manager, the Jewish manager, stuff like that, where somebody hired him and someone hired him and you think it's this cat, but it's somebody else and then somebody else, you know what I'm saying? Right. And it's just the way the system was orchestrated, you know what I mean? So You gotta be careful because then the next thing you know you hear people say, "What did you do with your money? You can't— you don't know how to manage money." It's not a criticism, you know what I mean, when things don't work out, which they were designed not to work out, you know what I mean? So you gotta be careful, take your little show money, buy your little properties, set up your life on retirement type of situation, you know what I mean? And then you're gonna deal with that money. That's what people always gonna say, well Why you so broke? You know what I'm saying? What do you have to show for it? You should have been smarter. Why you driving late model vehicles when you don't have a home? You know, you hear that all the time. There's always a lot of criticism to the minority community for this type of a situation that's orchestrated, you know what I'm saying, like that. Right, right.

And it's amazing because you rose above all that.

Yeah.

So you're the most sampled artist in the history of music.

Yeah. Jesus.

What a—

name all the songs.

I'm just kidding. It's like 650 or 700 times that you've been sampled, correct?

Yes.

I remember when, um, your wife Mandy is your manager. I remember when Mandy started to like compile all of that, like, to put that list together. It took like years and years to just uncover everything, right? You know, they probably haven't— there's probably stuff out there that hasn't been uncovered, right? Um, how do you, how do you keep track of all that in terms of, in terms of your, of your income? Is there a way to do that, or is that something that like the lawyers and accountants handle?

Well, most of the samples come from Body Body and the show that I make with W Fresh Comics, so He has a team and I have a team, so we both— whatever comes out, if somebody uses it, we split it 50/50. So if I don't catch it, he catches it. We'll set it like that, and then we just keep it moving like that. Gotcha.

And your teams work closely together?

So there's my wife, Wendy Day, and, you know, her peoples, you know, and then Lucky has his peoples, and then, you know, we just do it like that. Amazing. Yeah. Okay.

Um, so can you talk a little bit about The Great Adventures of Slim Rick? Because this is your anniversary. And obviously no one in the room has ever heard of it.

Well, Great Adventures was something I did after I did Doug E. Fresh. Um, you know, that was like the very, like, very roots of rap. So a lot of, you know, industry was more like, they was into like rock and country and maybe a little R&B or something like that, but rap was like new, you know what I mean? So we had to, we had to do a lot of stuff ourself, like, you know, the whole music, the beats, the melodies, chorus, the 12 songs to make an album, trying our best not to make album fillers, because now we went from like, it's easy when you make one single here and there, you know, you can make a smash easy. 1, 2, easy, done. Like, wadi gadi, the show, it's easy. One more, you take another year, do another one, you know what I mean? But when you got to make like 12 at one time, now it's like you got to train yourself to make it, to make a complete 12 albums. So that's what it was like. It was like trying to make a pie, a whole pie of substance. You don't want nothing really to be no hour jewels, but you know And the record label could only help me with so much because they're not really used to this new thing, you know what I mean? So they rely on what they feel is hot at the time. And a lot of times my stuff that I made myself was hotter than what they was giving me from producers, and they're experts, you know what I'm saying? So I had to try to make sure my stuff was powerful and whatever they gave would, you know, finish the 12, and then we put it out there. And then when we put it out there, the ones that I made by myself was the ones that carried me into platinum status, and the ones in neighborhood was just— no, it was good, but you know, it wasn't like— it didn't make too much progress like it was, you know, it wouldn't reach that—

see, that's the fanbase. Like, artists know their fanbase far better than you may ever could.

Well, yeah, if you have a— if you know yourself, you know, you have your, you know, you try to express yourself, you're legit, you come from this environment, you know what works and what don't work, you know what I mean? And then you put your your substance into your stuff, and then you see how it works, you know what I mean? So, same thing I would make a lot of yaki shabu. Once I knew a certain formula was a problem, I knew that 12 more is gonna be the same kind of problem. Especially if you got that young energy in you, you know, when you have, you got that childhood energy stimulation in you. How old were you? Um, let's say 19, 20, 21. Between 19 and 21.

Wow!

Yeah, you're so young. Yeah, but that, but that, like I said, that was like the energy of the urban community at the time, you know what I mean? It was, you know, drug infested, all that type of stuff, and then you got the hip-hop, the music, you know what I mean? So then, you know, if you good at music, you will stand out, and then you just make your mark, you know what I mean? And once I made my mark, all of us was working. It's just like Richard Pryor, that his jokes is working, or Red Fox News' jokes, or whatever, his jokes, Chris Rock, all his things that, you know, stick to a certain formula, right, you're good, you know what I mean? And that's pretty much like music too. You stick to a certain formula and you're good, right? You create your own lane and stuff.

And you keep it as authentic as possible so that it's about you.

Then you promote yourself. You invest back in yourself. That's what a lot of jewelry is about, you know what I mean? And cars and all that type of stuff. It's about— it's almost like investing back into yourself because you have like an image to promote. Even though you're not getting many much royalties, you still need to give your community a celebrity, something that looks like a celebrity. When we first came out, you see a lot of us with a lot of big rope chains and nice fancy cars and stuff like that. It was like you're promoting yourself, you're promoting success in the urban community, because remember, we compete with with drug dealers that got money to the roof, you know what I mean? And it's like, once they show you how to decorate a late model vehicle like a Benz or a Beamer or a Jaguar or something like that, you guys, you almost trying to keep up with them, you know what I mean? There's always good and bad. There's always good and ugly in everything, you know what I mean? Like, yeah, you know, we don't promote it destroy the neighborhood and drugs and stuff. But when you give certain people enormous wealth, when you give a poor person enormous wealth and you see what they do with it, on the good side of it, it inspires you to want to have the same objects and stuff like that. It's like a mating call, you know what I mean? Like if you got a mating call, you know, like we trying to get the same girl, you killing me because you got the car, the jewels, the this, the that.

Do that.

So I gotta try to keep up with you, so I gotta get in the car to do some of this and that. And then I also got the rap, which is swag, you know what I mean? So my little swag thing, you know what I mean? My little toys, my little toys, my little toys like they got. And then we keep it moving. Yeah.

So when did you get into fashion, or have you always been into fashion? Because you're swag.

Right. Fashion was also part of my environment that I grew up in, you know what I mean? It was like, you know, pretty much everybody wore the same thing. Adidas, Pumas, Clarks, sweats, the whole lot. Cool J sweatshirts, sweatsuits. And then you got the Jamaicans from Brooklyn with the cloaks and the suits, the slacks and all that. So we take from everybody. The gold teeth, the whole Manhattan, you know, Mahalo is close to Manhattan. That's where most of the Blacks is from. So the bananas downtown. Which were Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, all them cats. So when you see it sweep up into Harlem, when you see the Harlem kids dressing better than— you know, you take from everybody, you know what I mean? It's like when you watch that movie, The Spike Lee, when he was playing Malcolm X, where Denzel played Malcolm X, and he came from the South to New York, and they was laughing at his clothes, like, because they like Harlem cats, you know what I mean? They were like, your clothes is plain as lyrics, son, you know what I'm saying? So you gotta step it up. You ain't getting away. Your main core is weak, you know what I mean? It works in the South, but it ain't gonna work over here, you know what I mean? Like this, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, so like that.

Interesting, okay. Um, and you make all of your clothes now?

You style yourself? I have an outfitter that helps.

I just give him the ideas and then he sews it up.

Yeah, because I'm like, my environment is losing a lot of swag, you know what I mean? Back then, people were— it was like, it was like you can do whatever you want because, you know, that's why you saw like, guys with like baggy pants and stuff like that. And then this new chick, Miss Snoopy, came around, everybody's wearing these tight pants, you know what I'm saying? So it starts messing up swag, you know. Not everybody has this nice hourglass shape, you know what I mean? So you can't put tight stuff on everybody, you know what I mean? You got to know how to finesse it, you know what I mean? So it started losing the finesse, so I started having to go to stores and buy like 2 shirts and make 1 shirt, you know what I mean? Like if I go to the store and I want to buy something and it's— the size 9 is really a medium, you know what I mean? The 2X, the 3X is really a 4X, it's really like a medium. So you got to take like 2 or 3 of them to make 1. And it's the same thing for like Louis, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, all those spots. You gotta take like 2 of them joints to make one pop one, or make one, or, you know, swipe the logo or throw it on something else, you know what I mean? So it's sort of like, you know, we like that, we like that with Dapper Dan's Adidas, you know what I mean? Like that, that's where Dapper Dan came from, you know, with the Gucci and stuff. Gucci picked him up, you see what I'm saying? Because we was like moving faster than Gucci, and faster than Louie, and faster than Wally. They was moving slow, and we was moving faster. So we was like Where's your Gucci underwear? Come on, let's go! You know what I'm saying? We said that in 1985. Let's keep this up, you know what I mean? And stuff like that.

So you guys would make your own.

So we was making all this stuff like that. Exactly. But we was trying to be high-end, you know what I mean? It's all about success, you know. You're trying to climb a ladder of success, go to the high-end, which, like, fashion high-end is these stores. I'm telling you right here, you don't need a high-end. And then you want to grab from all the high-end labels and incorporate it upon yourself, and then you want it to be unique and fashionable and noticeable, you know what I mean? And sometimes the stores don't keep up, even though the label has extreme prestige. Sometimes, you know, it doesn't keep up, so you got to put you got to work, just like the Chinese do when they swipe your stuff and give you something for real cheap. You got to keep it moving. Your name carry prestige, your name carry weight. So you gotta, you know, stop trying to, trying to just sell to tiny, tiny, small European young— I don't know what that was going on, but it's just too goddamn small.

So, um, it was competitive back then too, right?

It served everybody. Yeah, so when you see like you see Rakim and R&B and a lot of people, you see a lot of people this way like that, the dancer, you know, you guys had to make it to fit us and stuff like that. I appreciate the high-end labels in your face. Right. See what I'm saying? They just had to get the car seats and everything. We just check. You know what I'm saying?

It would be like Gucci interiors in the cars. And, you know, we knew that Gucci didn't make the seats, you know, for the Benz and stuff. But you guys, like, your shit was just all tricked out amazing.

Hardly, man. That's how you're cool to downtown, you know what I mean?

Yeah, it was beautiful. So coming, coming back to the great adventures, do you have a favorite song?

Well, Children's Story did the best for me. It is the best.

It is the best to you, and that's understood.

Children's Story is the best, and Mona Lisa is also a close tie, you know what I mean? But Mona Lisa didn't get a lot of recognition like Children's Story because they didn't make a video, didn't really push it, you know what I mean? So like, if like I was in charge of Def Jam, you know what I mean, which is like your culture, you put your best records first, you know what I mean? Then I find, I would have to put Willie G, then put Thriller, and then, you know what I mean? But you want to squeeze, you don't put, like when they put my album on, they put Teenage Love first. What truth was there? That was like a slow love sappy song, man. I'm not, that's the thing, you know what I mean?

Did they involve you in that decision at all?

No, that was their decision. Okay. Yeah, so they put Teenage Love first, and then they put Children's Story, and then they put Hey Young Boy, Wendy Day, Children's Story, Mona Lisa, and then go down the line like that.

So, gotcha.

But it still, it still turned out for the best. So like, Mona Lisa is like an underground smash in urban communities, but it don't have a video. And it'll happen on me, my back there.

You just shot a video for them, didn't you? Um, you just shot a video for something.

We was on Michael Strahan's show. We did it on Michael Strahan's show.

Right.

And, you know, just having fun on there, you know, because he had a video of him and told us some good stuff.

You should shoot one now for it.

I mean, not right now. Yeah, we should work on one.

I love that idea, dude. That'd be cool. So you also do a lot of charitable stuff, and I can't not mention it because you just, like, of all the artists that I have relationships with, and I'm not just saying this because you're sitting right here with me, you're absolutely my favorite because not only are you just one cool motherfucker, but you also, you really give a shit. Like, you don't want to see anybody coming up under you bang their head the way you had to bang your head. Um, and I'm going to embarrass you a little bit, and I apologize. So, um, you can make me pay for dinner tonight for this. But, um, when 21 Savage got, um, got bagged up by immigration, um, Rick called me immediately and said, yo, I need to get to 21 Savage because I went through an immigration situation myself, and I think I can help him. And I thought that was so cool because who does that? Like, who reaches out and offers to help somebody coming up behind them that they don't know for free, for nothing, just because they care? And, um, I purposely didn't go into your whole immigration thing because you guys can Google it, you can read, you know, what he went through. But, um, he had to fight to stay in this country. He kind of went through what Tony Montana went through, but on a much bigger on a larger scale. But could you talk about some of the other philanthropic stuff that you've done?

Well, we do like stuff for like the community where I'm from in the Bronx. They have like, you know, Christmas dinners and stuff like that. And I roll with like the politicians in my area, you know what I mean?

Are you the mayor? No, I'm the Bronx.

Everybody has their lane, you know what I mean? Their lane is for politics and working around the community. And my lane is to just bring those celebrity status and, you know, whatever, whatever funds, whatever stuff, so we all like a big happy family type of stuff, right? Yeah. And also, also, we visited— you see Shine?

Shine from back in the Puffy days, right?

We went to Belize, you know, we went to Belize like twice, you know, and we hung out with Shine, you know what I mean?

You know, Shine also had immigration problems those of you, right?

We hung out with him a few times, you know what I mean? Like, he's working to be like, like, like, like, like him and his father have like political ties, so they're working to be like the mayor of Belize and stuff like that, you know what I mean? So we just move and shake with him, you know what I mean? Remind him of the good old days type stuff, you know what I mean? Just hang out a little, some, some, eat a little Belize food, you know what I mean? Chill. And then we bounce back on the cruise ships and stuff like that, you know what I And Rikers Island. Yeah, yeah, and they went to Rikers Island to talk to the people a little something something. We won't try to get too crazy, you know, too preachy, because that's not really our lane. Our lane is just to entertain and inspire. We let like the politicians do the other stuff, you know, where they, where they good at, you know what I mean? Like Kim Kardashian, you know what I mean? Like that, you know what I mean? She's doing her lane, we do ours. I'm Kanye, she's Kim. Except you're not nuts.

You don't respect the power. And then he also voiced, um, I wrote a book about how to get a record deal, and when Rick saw that I had written a book, he called me up and he's like, "Yo, can, you know, can I be the—

are you going to do an audio version of the book?

You know, can I be the voice of that?" And, you know, I passed out dead. It's like, what an awesome offer that is, right? Thank you for that. That was great. Thank you, Wendy.

That was just awesome.

So we're running out of time here. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you feel that I should have?

No. Okay. Thank you so much for doing this.

Thank you.

So if you guys want pictures or to come up here, just line up down the aisle. Katie in the pink shirt will take your camera.