The British rapper Questlove thinks is “the most beautiful thing to happen to hip-hop”
The Roots drummer and bandleader Questlove is a true hip-hop aficionado. Not only is he a key member of such a pioneering group, but he’s also something of a scholar, too, having written extensively on the subject of hip-hop and popular music more broadly. It’s fair to say, then, he knows his stuff.
Questlove is deeply interested in the evolution of hip-hop, and, from his perspective, one figure above all others was especially important with regard to transforming the genre into what it is today. Slick Rick, born in London and raised in the Bronx, was key to hip-hop’s development.
“I mean, point blank,” Questlove remarked to Rolling Stone in 2012, “Slick Rick’s voice was the most beautiful thing to happen to hip-hop culture.”
Questlove reached for a rather dated compliment, comparing Rick in favourable terms to Bill Cosby. This conversation took place a couple of years before troubling allegations against Cosby had gained traction and become widely known, so Quest wasn’t to know his comparison would read so poorly in the years to come. But his broader point was that Slick Rick was “a master storyteller and deliverer.”
The emergence of Slick Rick, according to Questlove, was “one of those ‘a star is born’ moments in hip-hop.” His 1985 classic ‘La Di Da Di,’ which he made with beatboxer Doug E Fresh, was an especially important release, having since become one of the most sampled songs of all time.
“Every last line of ‘Da Di’ has been the anchor of many a hip-hop classic, and it’s no wonder,” said Questlove. “Rick is full of punchlines, wit, melody, cool cadence, confidence and style.”
Describing Slick Rick as “the blueprint” for the hip-hop artists that came after him, Quest argued that he was a truly innovative, unique figure who can never truly be topped. Despite all his imitators, there just isn’t anyone else quite like him.
“No one bragged like him,” Questlove said of Rick. “No one name-dropped like him, no one sang like him, no one was funny like him. Nobody.”
Literally decades after ‘La Di Da Di’ first dropped, Questlove believes no other figure will ever match Slick Rick’s contributions to hip-hop. Nobody, he insisted, “will ever, ever sound like him.”