''Behind Bars'' is the third studio album by the

British-American British Americans usually refers to Americans whose ancestral origin originates wholly or partly in the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and also the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and Gibraltar). It is prima ...

rapper

Slick Rick Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born January 14, 1965), better known as Slick Rick, is an English-American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence as part of Doug E. Fresh & the Get Fresh Crew in the mid-1980s. His songs " The Show" and ...

, released in 1994 on

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The l ...

. ''Behind Bars'' peaked at number 51 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and number 11 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

chart. The album spawned two singles, " Behind Bars" and "Sittin' in My Car", which made it to number 12 and number 11 on the

Hot Rap Singles Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio statio ...

, respectively.

Production

The album contains production from Vance Wright,

Pete Rock Peter O. Phillips (born June 21, 1970), better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapping, rapper. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time, and is often mentioned along ...

Large Professor William Paul Mitchell (born March 21, 1972), better known by the stage name of Large Professor (also Extra P. and Large Pro), is an American rapper and music producer. Based in New York City, he is known as a founding member of the underground ...

Easy Mo Bee Osten S. Harvey Jr. (born December 8, 1965), better known by his stage name Easy Mo Bee, is an American hip hop and R&B record producer and DJ, known for his production work for artists such as Big Daddy Kane and Miles Davis, as well as his a ...

, and

Warren G Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and DJ who helped popularize West Coast hip hop during the 1990s.Steve Huey"Warren G: Biography" ''AllMusic.com'', Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. ...

. Doug E. Fresh,

Nice & Smooth Nice & Smooth is an East Coast hip hop duo from New York City that consists of Gregory O. "Greg Nice" Mays (born May 30, 1967) and Darryl O. "Smooth B" Barnes (born August 3, 1965). The duo released four albums between 1989 and 1997. Their firs ...

, and Warren G make guest appearances on a few tracks. Like ''

The Ruler's Back ''The Ruler's Back'' is the second studio album by British-American rapper Slick Rick, released in 1991 on Def Jam Recordings. Upon its release, ''The Ruler's Back'' achieved notable chart success, peaking at number 29 on the ''Billboard'' 200 ...

'', Rick recorded the album while on furlough from prison, and the music was constructed around his vocals—on some tracks, years after being recorded. Part of the album was also recorded during a 1993 work release period.

Critical reception

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' wrote that the album "touches on the live-from-inside chill of an

Iceberg Slim Robert Beck (born Robert Lee Maupin or Robert Moppins Jr.; August 4, 1918 – April 28, 1992), better known as Iceberg Slim, was an American pimp who later became a writer. Beck's 1967 memoir, ''Pimp: The Story of My Life'' sold very well, ...

novel in the title track, but otherwise doesn’t mention ick's incarceration... Rick doesn’t seem very connected to the music, but his complaints ring with the rancid air of preoccupation by someone with too much time to obsess about his frustrations." ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

'' thought that "Rick's legendary street brilliance and sparkling, charming wit can even be distilled from behind bars." ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' praised Rick's "worldly, laconic delivery and freewheeling, unexpurgated tales of everyday B-boy tribulations." The ''

Spin Alternative Record Guide The ''Spin Alternative Record Guide'' is a music reference book compiled by the American music magazine ''Spin (magazine), Spin'' and published in 1995 by Vintage Books. It was editing, edited by the rock music, rock critic Eric Weisbard and Crai ...

'' opined: "When the fantasy and reality collapse into one another ... the effect is a hip-hop revelation, opening a new space in the black male autobiographical narrative."

Track listing

Personnel

* Slick Rick - performer, producer * Warren G - performer, producer, remixing * Nice & Smooth - performer, producer * Doug E. Fresh - performer * Vance Wright - producer * Prince Paul - producer * Pete Rock - producer, remixing * Large Professor - producer, remixing * Easy Mo Bee - producer * Al "Purple" Hayes - bass * Joe Quinde - engineer, mixing, mixing engineer * Yianni Papadopoulos - engineer, mixing * Darroll Gustamachio - engineer * Doug Wilson - engineer * Mike Glowik - assistant engineer, mixing assistant * Leroy Southwell - assistant engineer * Rich July - remixing, mixing, mixing engineer * Djinji Brown - remixing, mixing engineer * Greg Geitzenauer - remixing, mixing engineer * Epitome of Scratch - remixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

''Behind Bars''
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1994 albums Slick Rick albums Def Jam Recordings albums Albums produced by Easy Mo Bee Albums produced by Pete Rock Albums produced by Large Professor Albums produced by Warren G