However, after the success of The Great Adventures, the musician was arrested for taking pictures at his cousin – a former bodyguard who had threatened the household after making an attempt to extort cash.
Rick pled responsible to a cost of tried homicide and spent 5 years in jail (he was given a full pardon in 2008).
During that point, he launched two albums recorded whereas on bail or day launch, however he usually glosses over them as unsatisfactory when discussing his profession.
That’s a disgrace, as they include some gems – not least All Alone, the heart-rending story of a younger single mom whose life “never goes the way she may have wanted it to”.
Full of empathy, it is the kind of track that led to Rick being referred to as the “gold standard” for hip-hop lyricists. It’s an outline he wears with delight.
“I think we took novels to the next level, we took writing to the next level, because we’re talking to people’s imagination visually,” he says.
Freed from jail in 1997, he rapidly received to work on his comeback album, The Art of Storytelling – that includes Nas, Snoop Dogg, Redman and OutKast.
But his authorized troubles weren’t over.
In 2002, he was seized by immigration officers in Miami. Threatened with deportation, he was held in jail for 17 months, with everybody from Will Smith to Rev Jesse Jackson petitioning for his launch.
Those experiences fed into the track We’re Not Losing – a standout monitor on final yr’s Victory Album – which takes goal at politicians who blame immigrants for America’s woes.
“That’s my way of venting about the errors we see in leadership,” he says.
“I feel like the world needs a moral compass, you know? A motherly [approach to] law and order, that shows compassion when she needs to, and sternness when she needs to.”
These days, Rick is a naturalised US citizen – however he is proud to be coming again to his birthplace for the Mobos, and he is assured the lifetime achievement award marks the begin of a brand new chapter, slightly than an epilogue.
So what retains him going, nearly 50 years after he stepped up to the mic?
“You know, the main thing is just that music enriches your existence,” he muses.
“Then you bring it to the marketplace and enrich others. But it’s really just about enriching your own life.”
