The Source March 1995 issue featuring Slick Rick

Now that I think about it, Slick Rick was the first rapper in prison that everyone wanted freed.  Before DMX, Tupac, Cool C, Shyne and countless others, Rick was doing time ‘behind bars’ and he was never labeled a ‘thug’ once for trying to kill his own cousin.  And while prison helped Tupac’s image and work ethic, it practically destroyed Rick’s career in hip-hop.  I remember when Russell Simmons bailed out Rick to record two albums (The Ruler’s Back and Behind Bars) in ’91 (read that issue here – http://thimk.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/hey-young-world/).  He just wasn’t himself and his focus was obviously on his family and legal issues.  Yeah, he had rhymes but those albums were all over the place conceptually.  In ’95, he was still stressed in prison and fighting deportation.  It always pained me that his talent never fully blossomed because of his situation.  I mean, could you imagine Tupac locked away for years after his first album was released?

 

Some other highlights from this issue:

 

- Eazy E gets his own radio show on 92.3 The Beat in LA

- Casual and Saafir have a freestyle battle in San Francisco

- Big L with the hip-hop quotable for “Da Graveyard”

- Microphone Check with Dru Down, Red Hot Lover Tone, Three Times Dope, and Channel Live

- E-40 building his empire by the Bay

- A brief history of Cuba

- Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton carry Seattle to ‘regular’ season glory

- A first glimpse at Allen Iverson at Georgetown

 

Record Report:

 

New Jersey Drive OST (4 mics)

Big L – Lifestyles of Da Poor and Dangerous (4 mics)

Jemini “The Gifted One” – Scars and Pain (3.5 mics)

World Renown – Self Titled (3.5 mics)

Channel Live – Station Identification (3 mics)

Rondo & Crazy Rak – The Abused (3 mics)

Count Bass D – Pre-life Crisis (3 mics)

Rottin’ Razkals – Rottin’ to Da Core (3.5 mics)

Duce Duce – A Sip of the Duce (2.5 mics)

 

March 1995 issue

 

 

And here’s the March ’95 Fat Tape

 

 

~Vincent~