NEW YORK – June 20, 2016 – For the first time since 1990, world-renowned storyteller Slick Rick will take his stage show international, performing in Cologne, Germany July 31, as part of the Out4FAME Festival. His slated co-headliners are De La Soul, Method Man, Redman, Rick Ross and German rapper Sido.
“I am honored to have been invited to perform at the Out4FAME festival” said Rick. “And to be sharing a stage with my emcee brothers, at one the most highly-regarded hip-hop festivals outside of the United States will be unforgettable. I am looking forward to checking out the German culture, and performing my German fans. I will also be confirming more foreign dates in the very near future.
The announcement comes two months after the Grammy-nominated artist became an American citizen, following a 23-year protracted battle with the United States Department of Homeland Security. After having served three and a half years for the self-defense shooting of his troubled cousin (who was threatening and extorting Rick for money), and completing parole in 2000, Rick was granted a rare unconditional pardon in 2008, by then New York Governor David Paterson, recognizing his stellar conduct, rehabilitation and contribution to his community.
Slick Rick was still threatened repeatedly with deportation, and spent an additional four years in a deportation lock up, despite never having trouble with the law again. The British-born performer has lived in the Bronx, New York since age 11 and will maintain his U.K. sovereignty with dual-citizenship status, now labeling Rick the American-Brit. A special United Kingdom performance is being planned for Winter 2016.
Slick Rick is known as “Hip-Hop’s Greatest Storyteller”. Originally a member of Doug E. Fresh’s Get Fresh Crew, known then as MC Ricky D stepped on the scene becoming hip hops most enduring influential talent with the release of “Ladidadi” and “The Show” and then later pioneering what is referred to as the “Golden Age of Hip- Hop,” he released four solo albums on Def Jam Records– the landmark The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988), The Ruler’s Back (1991), Behind Bars (1994) and The Art of Storytelling (1999). Rick has collaborated with a range of musical icons, and his music has been sampled and interpolated over 650 times. He’s been a VH1 Hip-Hop Honors honoree; About.com’s “Top 50 MCs of Our Time,” ranked him #12; The Source magazine’s roundup of the “Top 50 Lyricists of All Time” placed him at #15 and Complex called him “The Best Rapper Alive”.
“OUT4FAME Festival and OUT4FAME Entertainment is excited to welcome Slick Rick, the legendary emcee and master storyteller to Germany for the first time ever. As true hip hop fans ourselves, we want to give festival goers a taste of hip hop history” states Mario DaCosta, manager of the festival.
Tickets for the Out4Fame Festival are available at www.ricktheruler.net or at http://bit.ly/slickricktickets
