Rick Da Don

Rick Da Don hails from Detroit Michigan, and has been emceeing for over 23 years. He's arguably one of the most creative rappers out today. His multiple college degrees both help explain his range as an artist, and ability to think outside the box. His musical influences include 2Pac, R. Kelly, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, The Temptations, Eminem, The Old Jay-Z, The Old 50 Cent, The Old Ludacris, Stevie Wonder, Music Soulchild, among others. His story is quite intriguing. In the beginning, he was a young hoodlum on the blocks of Joy Rd and Hubbell (i.e., Detroit neighborhood). On Joy Rd he had to pray, hustle, fight, sell, and stay strapped in order to survive the many challenges. It all started when he submitted a song to the local radio station in hopes of getting a little exposure. The song he submitted was "Can I Get Your Number", in which he spits hot 16's at a love interest. It was quite odd, yet unique to have such raw lyrics in the form of a love ballad. Following the meeting, Rick Da Don began to hear his music on the radio, but it was coming from artists other than himself. After all, he did give his CD to every A&R in the room that day. This spurned what would be one of the craziest, yet unheard of lyrical wars ever. Angry, broke, and frustrated, Rick Da Don churned out diss track after diss track sending them to every artist he heard using his lyrics. How did he do it? Well, what do you think Google is for. Essentially, he found their addresses, and mailed diss records to them (gangster right?). According to Rick Da Don, the biggest perpetrators were Lil Wayne, Yung Joc (Jz on my Feet was Rick first), Bow Wow, Rick Ross (Rick, get it?), Justin Timberlake, Timberland, among others. Determined to overcome this major setback, Rick Da Don released "Immunity a.k.a. I'm Better Than Lil Wayne" in 2011. It received high praise for it's gritty, and lyrical take on rap. “Immunity” takes aim at many rapper, thus proving that his hunger to make it is unquenchable. Binks, his music producer was so impressed with "Immunity" he demanded Rick Da Don do a collaborative album with him. Both emcees were students on the same campus, and both felt that many people had ignored their lyrical prowess. The album was called, “All State Press" signaling the great distance between Detroit where Rick Da Don was from and Grand Rapids where Binks was from. All State Press" was also well received by those who heard it. It featured an amazing contrast between urban and country inspired lyrics. It forced both emcees to embrace the other side of the genre. Upon the conclusion of both albums, Rick Da Don graduated from college, and married. He took a little break from rap, but knew that eventually he'd have to get back in the lab. He began to write his second album called "The Rick Da Don LP". "The Rick Da Don LP" was a much more mature take on the formula used in "Immunity". "The Rick Da Don LP" tackled such topics as losing a loved one, losing a girlfriend, money, murder, hypocrisy, and so forth. "The Rick Da Don LP" was also well received, and showed that Rick Da Don was here to stay.