<\/p>\n
26 years after his last release and 37 years after his solo debut, Slick Rick is still telling colorful stories through rhythmic prose over tight beats. In June, the 60-year-old<\/a> released Victory, a visual album that aims to redefine storytelling, legacy, and the power of imagination with sound, style, and soul.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Slick Rick invited an intimate audience to the historic Westlake Studios in Los Angeles to screen the short film. Directed by Meji Alabi, who worked on Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s\u00a0Black Is King,\u00a0the project weaves narratives from different stages of the rapper\u2019s life and was filmed across Europe, the United States, and Africa. Guests excitedly grabbed the closest seat in the relaxed setting, as they patiently awaited the arrival of the style icon.<\/p>\n He also worked with photographer Jonathan Mannion and brand storytellers Equator Studios on the film. The music itself was mixed by Young Guru.<\/p>\n Slick Rick arrived with his wife and business partner, Mandy Aragones, right by his side. Ushered to the stage, he spoke with poet J. Ivy about the creative inspiration behind VICTORY and the work that went into bringing the album to fruition. The session ended with a standing ovation for the film and Slick Rick proudly at the center of it all.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you fulfill yourself, you fulfill others. So first job is to fulfill yourself, make sure you feel fulfilled in yourself, and then it\u2019ll resonate to others,\u201d he detailed to VIBE as the studio cleared out. \u201cPretty much, I\u2019m fulfilling myself, my hunger, my inner hunger, and then it goes out to other people, like a duplicate.\u201d<\/p>\n Executive produced by the Hip-Hop veteran<\/a> with Idris Elba, who also raps on \u201cBadman Generation,\u201d the project also features collaborations with Nas, Giggs, and a special contribution from Estelle. Additionally, VICTORY was collaboratively released by Idris Elba\u2019s 7WALLACE record label and Mass Appeal Records.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was just two kids having fun in the studio. It was just finding scraps, a melody that we liked, put a drum track to it, find a story that fits it and complements it, and then we just ran with it to entertain ourselves, and then bring it out to the rest of the world,\u201d explained The Ruler of working with Idris Elba. \u201cI knew he liked rap and I know he likes to DJ. Because he comes from my environment, I wasn\u2019t really surprised that he was good. We complemented each other, so we had fun. His TV celebrity, my little rap, and then we\u2019re off to the races.\u201d<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cNas is Mass Appeal, and he\u2019s family. We have known each other for a while and we always have fun together. Giggs is an English artist. I wanted to bring in some English artists, give it a little variety, so that was it. We have an English rapper and we have an American rapper and we give it a little nice variety, a nice little melting pot.\u201d<\/p>\n Described as \u201ca tale of fiction for the mind,\u201d VICTORY exists as a colorful, cross-continental homage to Slick Rick\u2019s roots and testimony to his existence as one of rap\u2019s freshest minds and most revered poets.<\/p>\n \u201cCollaborating with\u00a0Slick\u00a0Rick\u00a0The Ruler on his first album in 26 years was incredible. Being able to create visuals to such a\u00a0monumental piece\u00a0and with\u00a0a storyteller\u00a0and icon like\u00a0Slick\u00a0Rick was an experience,\u201d described Alabi<\/a> in a statement. \u201cI\u2019m going to cherish forever and can\u2019t wait for the world to see what he has in store for them.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch the VICTORY short film above and stream the album below.<\/p>\n More from VIBE.com<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Vibe’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 26 years after his last release and 37 years after his solo debut, Slick Rick is still telling colorful stories through rhythmic prose over tight beats. In June, the 60-year-old released Victory, a visual album that aims to redefine storytelling, legacy, and the power of imagination with sound, style, and soul. Earlier this month, Slick […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2080384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[344754,391007,22693,391006,367386,391005],"class_list":["post-2080383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-idris-elba","tag-j-ivy","tag-los-angeles","tag-meji-alabi","tag-slick-rick","tag-westlake-studios"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Slick-Rick-Talks-\u2018VICTORY-Visual-Album-And-Idris-Elba-Collaboration.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2080383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2080385,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080383\/revisions\/2080385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2080384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2080383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2080383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2080383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}