Everybody has a reason
to love Rick James. Whether it’s his celebrated musical legacy or his outspoken
nature. Hell, if you are media, his ability to generate headlines for living a
defiant rock star lifestyle is reason enough to praise him. Rick’s life
is one massive canvas that’s still being painted. In his past, he’s
blessed us with hits like “Super Freak (Part 1),” which does not begin
to quantify his legacy. He also served two years in prison after being convicted
of assaulting and kidnapping a woman. Similarly, his time behind bars does not
mark the totality of his legacy.
Recently, Rick
has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from ASCAP and spoofed
by comic Dave Chappelle, a different sort of tribute. AllHipHop.com talked and
talked and talked and talked with Rick. The interview will be presented in an
ongoing series, because frankly, its one of the most interesting dialogues to
be featured on this site. Remember: HE’S RICK JAMES, B***H!!!!
AllHipHop.com:
I would like to congratulate you, because it seems as though you are making
a comeback and you are all over the place now.
Rick James: Yeah,
I am definitely resurfacing in the world of entertainment. Back into the “bump
and grind.” I am very happy about that, it feels good. I am learning a
lot and I have matured a lot. I have a son, I have a family and I am taking
life a lot more serious now.
AllHipHop.com:
What are your plans? I know you have the movie coming out…
Rick James: Well
I have the movie we’re working on that’s coming out and the book
Memoirs of a Super Freak which is an autobiographical book. It was a great thing
for me to do the writing, and that happened when I was locked down so it was
very introspective, as far as my life is concerned. It gave me insight on musicians,
a business aspect, as well knowledge on drug addiction and all that stuff.
AllHipHop.com:
So you wrote it while you were incarcerated?
Rick: Yes I did,
I wrote it while I was in prison, got a chance to look introspectively at myself
and it was like therapy.
AllHipHop.com:
I want to speak a little bit about Dave Chappelle, because he has infamously
parodied you…
Rick: He is making
a lot of money off of me, that son-of-a-b***h…
AllHipHipHop.com:
He just resigned with Comedy Central for quite a bit of money [reports say $50,000,000]…
Rick: I know.
AllHipHop.com:
What did you think of the skit, I mean obviously you were part of it but…
Rick: I laughed,
I think it was funny, it was satire, and it was fun. You know people are too
serious about things nowadays. A lot of people were expecting me to get offended,
f**k no! Dave is a good friend of mine. So is Charlie Murphy, and I actually
lived that life and to look at myself now, and to look back on my life and see
how insane I was, is pretty funny to me. I used to do things like “I’m
Rick James b***h!” and kinds of stuff.
AllHipHop.com:
Oh you really used to say that?
Rick: Of course
I used to. “Show my your t*ts b***h” and all that stuff, it was
my world and I was the king of it. So if you lived in it, and you didn’t
do what I said, then get the f**k out! When I look back on it, the insanity
of it all; the drugs- when I made the statement about “Cocaine is one
hell of a drug”- cocaine – that was the foundation of our party atmosphere,
it was about that.
AllHipHop.com:
What about the whole drug scene, some rappers are experiencing those kinds of
problems…
Rick: One thing
about rappers that I have noticed is that most of them smoke blunts, and that’s
their big thing. But they smoke a blunt and they can’t remember their
rap. So that could probably be worse than cocaine. You don’t really see
a lot of rappers using cocaine; it is kind of a phased-out drug for them. Maybe
because they saw their mother and fathers go under or there is some kind of
psychological ramifications that they’re dealing with, but not lot of
rappers use cocaine.
AllHipHop.com:
Did you ever do crack or anything like that?
Rick: Crack is
for poor people.
AllHipHop.com:
There are some rumors that DMX is having problems with crack.
Rick: Well, I hope
that DMX is all right and I hope that it is just rumors. Basically, cocaine
is cocaine, and a drug is a drug. But people don’t realize that the biggest
drug in the world is alcohol, that’s worst than cocaine. This drug that
eats up 5-6,000-brain cells every time you take a drink, that do not replenish
themselves. There is a lot of money in that too. And tobacco, now those are
serious drugs.
AllHipHop.com:
Yes, but you are talking business now.
Rick: Yes, but
cocaine is business too…but if you want to talk about a serious drug,
alcohol that is the number one drug.
AllHipHop.com:
Right, I feel you on that. Business rules America.
Rick: The THC content
in marijuana eats away your endorphins; it trains your endorphins to act totally
different. So that is like not a good thing, alcohol kills thousands of brain
cells in a single drink, I mean we have billions, but still. Cigarettes destroy
your lungs. So if you think about it, you walking down the road and the guy
on the bus is smoking a pack of cigarettes, then what can you really do that
is healthy? I mean everybody is an addict for something, few of us will admit
it. I am not in denial about my addiction. I live it everyday.
AllHipHop.com:
As corny as this sounds, I am addicted to candy, personally. I drink juice to
get my sugar now.
Rick: Candy is
a horrible thing. Because of the sugar content there is a risk of diabetes and
all that you know.
AllHipHop.com:
Are you touring or anything? I know that you and Teena were going to tour…
Rick: Me and Teena
been on tour since November…
AllHipHop.com:
I thought it was a great thing when she got signed to Cash Money Records…
Rick: I don’t
know how great a thing that was. I think it gave Cash Money legitimacy that
I don’t think they had because Teena is a legitimate talent. But she is
very old school, she isn’t Missy Elliot or Beyonce and I don’t know
if Cash Money can necessarily produce her.
AllHipHop.com:
Her album in its first week sold more than Ghost Face Killah’s album did.
Rick: But her whole
album has not sold more than 180,000 records, so something is wrong somewhere.
AllHipHop.com:
It is very hard to get somebody over 30 on these music video channels.
Rick: Let me tell
you something, old school stations are the largest stations in the country.
There is a bigger window. When the Temptations put out an album it goes double
platinum, this shows you that people in their 30’s 40’s and 50’s
don’t give a f**k about rap. I mean do you think people in their 40’s
and 50’s go out and buy a Snoop Dogg album? Think about it. They are buying
Temptations, Miles Davis, and on and on. They are not going to go out and buy
f**king Eminem or Britney Spears. So there is a very large window out there
starting at 30 to about 60. That’s millions and millions of records. If
there wasn’t, I would give up and I wouldn’t be releasing this double
album. The album has a chance because young kids don’t run it, old school
stations do.
AllHipHop.com:
New Edition was on the radio and the program director came on the radio to say
why they wouldn’t be playing much New Edition, because their demographic
stops at 25.
Rick: New Edition,
I don’t consider New Edition an old school group. I mean New Edition opened
up for me. But I don’t consider them your quintessential old school group,
like the Commodores or the Ohio Players or Frankie Beverly. They come between
a very strange line. They never had giant record sales that could compete with
us. I mean we were selling stadiums out with this stuff, and that’s a
big difference. Bobby broke out for them, Bel Biv Devoe and on and on. The demographic
for New Edition would be very hard to assess. With Rick James it’s simple
if you like music.I make millions of dollars a year with not even recording.
AllHipHop.com:
Where does your money come from?
Rick: Mary J. Blige,
had a number one record last year with Ja Rule and Jennifer Lopez, Old Dirty
Bastard, Will Smith, LL Cool J. That’s where it comes from.
AllHipHop.com:
How much money did you get off of Hammer “Can’t Touch This”?
Rick: I don’t
know $30-40 million dollars. It was an 80/20 deal; it ‘s the largest selling
Rap record of all time. We sold like 100 million records.
AllHipHop.com:
That’s crazy…
Rick: Yea, but
it isn’t anymore crazy than opening a magazine and seeing Puffy Combs
or Master P are the richest young guys in the country. That’s insane and
these guys don’t know anything about music. Master P told me, “Ricky
if I had a fingertip of your talent,” I said, “N***er, you already
have 700 million dollars!” Puffy is sitting there not doing a thing, putting
his face on everything making $800/900 million. In our day, we couldn’t
release our record, and distribute them, we had to deal with the Mafia or major
companies. If we made $1.75 we were doing great, that’s why I charged
Motown one million dollars an hour. I was one of the first blacks to get a million
an hour. But that’s because I know that if they steal five copies, they
are going to charge you for such and then be part of RIAA. So I said if they
are going to f**k me, then I am going to make sure that I get paid. But it’s
a big difference now; these kids are sitting on 600/700 million dollars for
records that will never get recorded again. You think anybody is going to re-record
50 Cent? You think there is going to be a standard or something for Eminem?
Frank Sinatra has been here since I was 3 years old, he has to be about 80 years
old and he is still going strong [sales wise].
