Slick Rick leaves cell, anger behind

There is little that boosts a hard-core rapper’s credibility more than jail time. But influential rap veteran Slick Rick, whose 18-month detention by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and successful fight against deportation became a celebrated case in the rap world, is just trying to put that all behind him as he makes his new album.

“I just don’t have a bitter nature,” says Rick (real name: Ricky Walters), who was released last fall from a Florida prison after a judge ruled in his favor against INS attempts to deport him to England, where he was born but has not lived since he was 10. “You go through your obstacles and keep improving. That’s what life is all about -- to sit around and harbor on the past is not something I do.”

That should come as no surprise to fans of Slick Rick, among them Eminem (whose multiple-personalities approach is traced by many rap historians to Rick’s landmark, 1.2-million-selling 1988 album, “The Great Adventures of Slick Rick”) and comedian Chris Rock (who campaigned against the deportation attempt). Walters did time in jail before, serving five years for attempted murder in the 1991 shooting of a cousin and a bystander after a dispute, but barely addressed the matter on 1994’s “Behind Bars” (recorded during a work-release program) and 1999’s “The Art of Storytelling.”

“He went to jail so long and his perspective changed,” says Noah Callahan-Bever, senior editor of Vibe magazine. “He was so much more mellow and laid-back, where he was a bombastic, cocky character. I’m expecting that now he will bring his same narrative brilliance and flow back with an even more mellow, matured perspective.”

It was, though, that shooting conviction that led to the INS case when, in the wake of tightened immigration scrutiny following the 2001 terrorist attacks, he was detained on return from a weeklong engagement performing on a cruise ship in spring 2002.

“Maybe one track will focus on that,” says Walters, 39, of the album, which he hopes to have ready for release before Christmas from Def Jam Records. “Everyone knows the story pretty much. You want to keep it fresh, something that can enlighten or spark some humor.”

Walters’ mission now is to move into what he sees as untapped potential for hip-hop -- to be as relevant to people his age as it is to teens.

“Hip-hop is nearly 30 years old but still sounds like it’s in its teenage years, which is ridiculous,” he says, praising relative newcomers Jadakiss and Kanye West for popularizing a more considered, even spiritual tone in their music than many mainstream rappers do. “It’s about being allowed to branch out and show some maturity.”

Artists join project to aid Sudanese

With so many musicians focusing on the presidential campaign, Jeff Antebi, owner of the Los Angeles-based Waxploitation label and management firm, was afraid it would be hard to get the attention of artists for a project to raise funds to address current suffering in Sudan. Civil strife and warring ethnic factions have led to a situation the United Nations has termed genocide, and an official for the U.S. Agency for International Development recently said the death toll could reach 1 million in a worst-case scenario.

But when it came down to it, the response to requests for musical contributions to a charity album, “Genocide in Sudan,” was so strong that the real problem came in deciding when to cut them off. “I was dealing at one point with 100 artists and choices, and I had to let it go,” Antebi says. “There was a tantalizing thing where if I waited another week I could get some other great artist, or three weeks and get another one, but I had to close it now or else it could go on forever.”

The reason for haste was not merely for scheduling. “Every week we’re looking at several thousand people dying in the Sudan,” he says.

When he did close the project, targeting a November release, he had a varied and impressive lineup. That includes the first CD release from the Nightwatchman, the new solo project of Audioslave and former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

Also on board is a previously unreleased track by Yoko Ono (remixed by Craig Armstrong), and unreleased or extremely rare tracks from Kinky, Thievery Corporation, Angelique Kidjo, the Pretenders, Mark Farina, DJ Spooky, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra and a collaboration of Danger Mouse with Murs. Other artists donating previously released songs include System of a Down, Gorillaz, Jill Scott, Bad Religion, Jurassic 5, X-ecutioners and Tortoise.

All proceeds from the album will go to the British charity Oxfam’s Sudan Relief Fund.

A singing family get-together

Many pop fans know that the ‘70s TV series “The Partridge Family” was in part based on the real singing family the Cowsills. But the fictional family and the real one never collaborated on anything -- until now.

“Partridge” mom Shirley Jones will appear with the Cowsills at the El Rey Theatre on Sept. 13 in a benefit show to help with medical expenses encountered by the eldest Cowsill sibling, Bill, because of several illnesses and surgeries.

Jones will speak and introduce the Cowsills, who will make a very rare performance with all the siblings on stage, and may join in on a version of “I Really Want to Know You,” the only song recorded by both groups. And continuing the family-affair theme, the show also will feature the Bangles, whose guitarist Vicki Peterson married John Cowsill last year.

Brother Bob Cowsill is overwhelmed about Jones’ participation, especially considering that the Cowsills’ own singing mom, Barbara, died in 1985.

“It’s come full circle and we think it’s incredible,” he says. “When Shirley called me a couple of weeks ago and said she’d be there, that became a big thing for us as a family.”

The event will be emceed by KNBC Channel 4 weatherman Fritz Coleman, and there’s a possibility that at least one other “Partridge” alum, Danny Bonaduce, will also appear. More information can be found at www.cowsill.com.