Popping my piece with no probable cause

May 7, 2012 11:47 AM

Slaughter Rico, perhaps best known for a gritty and inspired (but very-much slandered) manic YouTube performance [lyrics] is a low-key rapper from Philadelphia who has cranked out some pretty amazing contributions to the underground hip-hop community [freestyle video].

He has garnered a local cult following that yearns for more material but does not wish to see him "go commerial." The subject matter is certainly familiar to his genre and the path is well-trodden, but the raw emotional expressiveness embodied within his execution of "Five Dolla Nigga" proves infectious for many a first-time viewer.

posted by lordaych (10 comments total)

Wow!
posted by Hoopo at 12:22 PM on May 7, 2012

Hot shit. I like his delivery.
posted by cashman at 12:29 PM on May 7, 2012

He seems pretty skilled at his craft, but after watching the three linked videos, I came back here looking for some article about Slaughter Rico or perhaps an interview, but realized the FPP contained none. :( I was also hoping to read more about the local cult following that wants to keep him from going commercial, because it is an interesting curse that spans musical genres. Nearly every underground band or musician with a cult following has to go through something like that before they can succeed. Many songs have been written about it, too (Tool's Hooker with a Penis is the first one that comes to mind).

And I don't mean that as a derail; I am actually hoping someone who actually knows the underground hiphop scene could drop some links for me, because I am now hungry for more.
posted by mysterpigg at 12:32 PM on May 7, 2012

Niggas try to stab me under the bridge like I'm cold cheeks, put a knife up undre my rib, but I won't bleed. It's your microphone junkie, that want me to OD from the country with broke thieves with a gun, but it won't squeeze. Punk please, if you're wanting to rumble me, don't leave.

Damn. Most couldn't write that.
posted by cmoj at 12:37 PM on May 7, 2012

I struggled with cohesively presenting a picture of the guy from authoritative sources that I'd be comfortable linking -- it says a lot that he doesn't have a Wikipedia entry yet :) Basically I gleaned everything from trawling through random hip-hop forums and whatnot, with a lot of noise to signal to work through (random haters, teenagers just being internet tough guys etc). I was going to have a "Multi Link YouTube" sort of disclaimer in here but winced at the notion shortly after thinking about it.
posted by lordaych at 12:44 PM on May 7, 2012

mysterpigg, he's here on twitter (though he's having some spambot issues), here on facebook, here on youtube and apparently he has some new shit coming out.

He did something over Kendrick Lamar's Rigamortis beat - Him Dead.
Also on YouTube - Yall Won't Do Shit and My Hood.

There are 4 tracks available at smashgroundmusic (linked from his YouTube) - Murda Mics/Slaughter Rico, Tomorrow, My Hood, Yall Won't Do Shit, You Know What I'm Talking About.

His sound is more polished on recorded tracks as can be expected, but "Yall Won't Do Shit" retains a good amount of the '5 dolla' grit.
posted by cashman at 12:48 PM on May 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Another interesting thing about him is that people just kind of assumed he was dead because he put a few videos up a few years back and that was that for quite some time. But based on my explorations through various comments and judicious application of my BS detector it sounds like he's alive and just not super prolific with this stuff, which I can certainly appreciate. I didn't read through enough stuff to bring myself to the present day and probably wouldn't be able to do him justice without flying out to Philly with an H4N and recording an interview :) So I just stuck with the videos.
posted by lordaych at 12:49 PM on May 7, 2012

Thanks, cashman. I had found his Facebook, and a couple of his more polished tracks, but it is interesting how little info is out there on this guy!
posted by mysterpigg at 1:00 PM on May 7, 2012

Rico is awesome. I don't care for his particular style of rap at all, but he is a good rapper nonetheless.

Sadly, because he's from the weird insular scene that Philly has developed, nurtured, and protected, I doubt he'll catch on outside of that scene. It's like a curse, and it's the only thing that explains Peedi (Crakk) Peedi never blowing up and Beans ending up as a third-tier Rocafella throwaway goon. Shit, the 2 State Property albums had some incredible stuff on them, but people only bought em for the Jay features.

Philly consistently does its own shit with anything relating to hip hop, and it rules. Philly graff writers are as different as Philly rappers are, and it really makes it feel like a weird alternate hip hop universe there.
posted by broadway bill at 2:07 PM on May 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is just beeeautiful! I got goose bumps. Recently I made some unfavorable comparisons between Death Grips and an offensive puppet that didn't go over too well here. I thought that mefi was filled with squares, but the poster shows you guys have good taste in hip-hop!
posted by shushufindi at 7:26 PM on May 7, 2012