Pretty Ricky is an American R&B/

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

group originating from

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. The group originally consisted of 3 brothers, Diamond (Baby Blue) Smith, Spectacular Smith, and Corey (Slick 'Em) Mathis, and Marcus ( Pleasure P) Cooper. Pleasure P was the group's main singer, while the other three members performed as rappers. After he departed in 2007 to embark on a solo career, the group shuffled through several replacement vocalists. The name "Pretty Ricky" was taken from a character in the sitcom ''

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

''. The group enjoyed its biggest success in the mid-2000s with their gold-selling albums '' Bluestars'' and '' Late Night Special'', and the platinum singles " Grind With Me" and " On the Hotline". Baby Blue, who appears on the show '' Love & Hip Hop: Miami'', pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to file at least 79 fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $24 million in forgivable PPP loans. Baby Blue used the loan proceeds to make "luxury purchases", including a Ferrari for $96,000.

History

1997–2003: Beginnings

In 1997, while performing together in

, Pretty Ricky was signed to Bluestar Entertainment by CEO Joseph "Blue" Smith. Supported by their father, Joseph Smith Sr., who also served as the band's manager and who is of Jamaican descent, the group developed their music under the name of "Pretty Rickie and The Maverix" before changing it to "Pretty Ricky", with the group being named after Miguel A. Nunez Jr.'s character on Martin. With the help from producer Jim Jonsin of the Unusual Suspects production team, Pretty Ricky began to gain desirable attention through their local performances. However, it was not until 2002 that the group encountered their initial success as their song "Flossin'" became a huge hit on Miami radio station Power 96.

2004–2005: ''Bluestars''

In 2004, Pretty Ricky released their first official single, " Grind With Me". It reached #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and was certified Platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). The single made its way to popularity on WPOW-Power 96, and station program director Ira Wolf (Tony the Tiger) sent the single to Craig Kallman of

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. After auditioning with Kallman, Pretty Ricky was offered a record deal on the spot. On May 17, 2005, Pretty Ricky released their debut album titled '' Bluestars''. It debuted at #16 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 56,000 copies in the first week, and within several months, was certified Gold by RIAA. On June 15, 2005, Pretty Ricky released their second single from the album, " Your Body", which charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at #12. In the summer of 2005 the group toured with

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, dancer and actor. He rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the boy band B2K, which was formed in 1998 and managed by record e ...

, Bow Wow,

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

, Bobby V, and other acts in the Scream Tour IV concert series.

2006–2009: ''Late Night Special'' and Pleasure P's departure

On November 9, 2006, Pretty Ricky released the first single off their second album, '' Late Night Special'', titled " On the Hotline". It peaked on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at #97 and was certified platinum by the RIAA. In January 2007, ''Late Night Special'' topped the ''Billboard'' 200 album charts with over 132,000 copies sold in the first week. The second single from the album, " Push It Baby", featured

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican dancehall musician. Paul's first album, ''Stage One'', was released in 2000. He gained international fame with his second album, ''Dutty Rock'', in 2002. Its single "Get Busy ...

but failed to crack the Hot 100, reaching only #109. Pleasure P later left the group after, and was replaced by Carl "Mowet" Lovett and soon after Christopher "4Play" Myers in 2007. In 2008, Pretty Ricky began work on a new album, ''Eighties Babies'', with an intended release date of October 14, 2008, but the album was shelved due to

leaking A leak is a way (usually an opening) for fluid to escape a container or fluid-containing system, such as a Water tank, tank or a Ship, ship's Hull (watercraft), hull, through which the contents of the container can escape or outside matter can e ...

and creative differences. 4Play quit the group in 2009 and was replaced by Emanuel "Lingerie" DeAnda. Pretty Ricky then split from Atlantic and signed with independent Atlanta label Big Cat Records, who released their official third album, '' Pretty Ricky'', in November 2009. It charted for only one week on the ''Billboard'' 200, at #97.

2010–present

In 2010, Pretty Ricky released the singles "Personal Freak" and "Cookie Cutter", neither of which charted. On August 10, 2010, they released an

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

titled ''Topless''. In December 2010, the group announced their fourth album, ''Bluestars 2'', was in the works, but the album was never produced. On August 12, 2011, Pretty Ricky released a mixtape titled ''Sex Music Vol. 1: Streets N The Sheets''. After a three-year hiatus, Pretty Ricky released the non-charting single "Puddles" on February 16, 2015. This marked the return of Pleasure P. In 2019, Pretty Ricky joined The Millennium Tour along with B2K,

Mario Mario (; ) is a Character (arts), character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Ja ...

, Chingy, Ying Yang Twins, Lloyd, and Bobby Valentino. On February 21, 2020, Pretty Ricky returned with a new single titled "Body", which is set to appear on the group's reunion album.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Mixtapes

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control Pop-rap groups American contemporary R&B musical groups 1997 establishments in Florida Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 2012 disestablishments in the United States Musical groups from Miami African-American musical groups