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RICK JAMES R.I.P.

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Drudge is reporting...

― dean? (deangulberry), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

CNN: Singer Rick James was found dead in his home Friday by his caretaker, a Los Angeles police department spokesman said.

― dean? (deangulberry), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

FUCK

― retort pouch (retort pouch), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

He was Rick James, bitch!

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh dear.

R.I.P.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

?????
RIP

― Barry Bruner (Barry Bruner), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

wow, that totally sucks. RIP Rick.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

RIP , on my birthday no less
( will we ever hear the 300 songs he wrote in prison? )

― kephm, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Out of L-7 for good. RIP.

― briania (briania), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

cocaine's a helluva drug

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

LOS ANGELES (CP) — Police say funk singer Rick James has died of apparent natural causes.

― Huck, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:21 (twenty-two years ago)

cocaine's a helluva drug

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:22 (twenty-two years ago)

So, does the Chappelle mockery become flattering now? or ironic? or ironic flattery? or morbid?

― dean? (deangulberry), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

What would "natural causes" BE for Rick James. Surely not the "natural causes" that mere mortals die from.

Anyway, RIP, Rick. You were one cool cat.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

countdown to "RICK JAMES IS DEAD, BITCH" style andre the giant stickers

― Red Panda Sanskrit (ex machina), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

On 99% of internet messageboards the Rick James RIP threads will only exist BECAUSE of the Chappelle mockery

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

So, does the Chappelle mockery become flattering now? or ironic? or ironic flattery? or morbid?

How about the fact that the rumored biopic starring Chappelle now has a clear ending?

One of the most weird and wonderful moments in my learning-about-music life was hearing just how he sang "coming home in-tox-i-CA-ted!" in "Give It to Me." Indeed, RIP.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Funk Singer Rick James Dies in Los Angeles


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Aug 6, 3:25 PM (ET)


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Funk singer Rick James, best known for the 1981 hit "Super Freak," died Friday, apparently of natural causes, police said.

James, 56, died at 9:45 a.m. at a residence near Universal City, said Officer Esther Reyes, a Police Department spokeswoman.

"He died apparently of natural causes. We learned of his death after responding to a radio call," Reyes said.

After his big hit, James' fame began to fade as he became embroiled in legal problems and health troubles.

James was convicted in 1993 of assaulting two women. The first attack occurred in 1991 when he restrained and burned a young woman with a hot pipe during a cocaine binge at his house in West Hollywood. He was free on bail when the second assault occurred in 1992 in James' hotel room.

James was sentenced to more than two years in state prison.

In 1997, he released a new album, but a year later he suffered a stroke while performing at Denver's Mammoth Events Center, derailing a comeback tour.

In 1998 he also underwent hip replacement surgery.

― dean? (deangulberry), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:26 (twenty-two years ago)

maybe he killed himself after hearing that comedy central was going to pay Chappelle 50 million dollars for the next two years of mockery

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Funk singer Rick James, best known for Super Freak, dies in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Funk singer Rick James, best known for the 1981 hit Super Freak, died Friday, apparently of natural causes, police said.
James, 56, died at 9:45 a.m. at a residence near Universal City, said Officer Esther Reyes, a police department spokeswoman.

― Huck-As-It-Breaks, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

but the chappelle biopic was probably being planned as a comedy

― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I know comedians do dramatic roles from time to time to show of their acting chops...but the Rick James story needs to be a comedy.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

So what is the essential Rick James. Does a listener need more than some sort of Rick James best of? Or: do I, specifically? Since I'm not really into funk very much, but I do like "Superfreak" and I thought there was something else I liked by James, but what?

― Rockist_Scientist (rockist_scientist), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

That whole album is awesome.

― Huck, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

There's always the Mary Jane Girls' "My House", as fine a piece of electro-nothing as you're likely to find.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:33 (twenty-two years ago)

the one to have is Street Songs. Cold Blooded is pretty good too. And Michael Jackson - hack that he is - totally lifted the bassline for "Thriller" from "Give it to Me"

also see: Mary Jane Girls! "In My House" = mm hmm good

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

It's a sad day for funkateers across the globe.

I always liked "Give It to Me" and "Mary Jane" way more than "Superfreak."

― Monetizing Eyeballs (diamond), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:36 (twenty-two years ago)

See also ODB's cover of "Cold Blooded"

― Huck, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"He had so much left to give"

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Side 2 of "Fire it Up" is the definitive cocaine orgy set.

― sexyDancer, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Eddie Murphy's "Party All the Time"

― JaXoN (JasonD), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah, yes. Rick in his mightily attractive "Blonde Phase"...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 6 August 2004 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

S: "You and I" was a good 2-3 years ahead of its time.

D: his collaboration with the Temptations, which reduced them to glossy backing vox on their own record c. 1981

If Chappelle terminates the routine in light of this, CC's gonna want their money back ...

― Joseph McCombs, Friday, 6 August 2004 18:56 (twenty-two years ago)

"All Night Long" is one of the best things ever.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 6 August 2004 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

S: Big Black's cover of "In My House" (included on a flexi-disc with the VHS version of Pigpile)

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 6 August 2004 19:45 (twenty-two years ago)

"I'm Resting In Peace, Bitch!"

erm, was Rick James really known for using the b-word a lot or is that just a Chappelle-ism?

― Joseph Pot (STINKOR™), Friday, 6 August 2004 20:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Ask Charlie Murphy. It's his story.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Friday, 6 August 2004 20:02 (twenty-two years ago)

No one's yet mentioned his duet with Smokey Robinson, "Ebony Eyes," that really REALLY deserved to be a big hit. I've only heard it once in the last 20 years. :(

― Joseph McCombs, Friday, 6 August 2004 20:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Mm, I was thinking of that myself but while it was well intentioned, I dunno if I would call it one of the great songs...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 6 August 2004 20:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Cold blooded.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 6 August 2004 21:26 (twenty-two years ago)

WTF!!!

I thought this was a joke.

― H (Heruy), Friday, 6 August 2004 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

so that mynah birds reunion is out of the question then?

― smudger (smudger), Friday, 6 August 2004 22:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Sad, sad, sad...

― Kent Burt (lingereffect), Saturday, 7 August 2004 00:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Do not mourn Rick James, bitch! This is a CELEBRATION!

― ACelebration, Saturday, 7 August 2004 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Fox News about to mourn Rick James (bitch). Should be, um, interesting.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 7 August 2004 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

O'REILLY: "Unlike this filthy hip-hop, Rick James spoke to the true artistic temperment among us, when he regretted he could not copulate with a young woman because she was only seventeen."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 7 August 2004 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I liked "Bustin' OUt" more than anything. 's been so long since I heard it...

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Saturday, 7 August 2004 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Sucks. R.I.P.

Some of the better early 80s dance recordings there.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 7 August 2004 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

shock!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 8 August 2004 00:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Honestly, I'd feel worse if this guy hadn't served time for tying a woman up and burning her with a crack pipe. I mean, the guy lived life to the fullest.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Sunday, 8 August 2004 05:01 (twenty-two years ago)

has geir reformed? he is being unusually sensible lately.

― ||amateur!st|| (amateurist), Sunday, 8 August 2004 05:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Of, that Rick James bith stuff is really funny!

I mean, really!

― Turb Ramrod, Sunday, 8 August 2004 21:48 (twenty-two years ago)

"I want Paul McCartney white boy money!"

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 13 August 2004 07:58 (twenty-two years ago)

one month passes...
Oops.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death was accidental.

"None of the drugs or drug combinations were found to be at levels that were life-threatening in and of themselves," coroner David Campbell said.

Drugs found in James' system at the time of his death included cocaine, methamphetamine and prescription drugs Xanax, Valium, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Vicodin and Digoxin.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Does he have any Vikes left?

― adam. (nordicskilla), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:46 (twenty-two years ago)

WELLBUTRIN????????

― Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Friday, 17 September 2004 18:46 (twenty-two years ago)

You'd be depressed if your drug problem was as vicious as his..

― still bevens (bscrubbins), Friday, 17 September 2004 19:00 (twenty-two years ago)

three years pass...

I like "The Flag" album. He's done it to me again. I can't stop. I have to have every single album now. I'm on a mission.

― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Saturday, 2 August 2008 07:42 (eighteen years ago)

I'VE ALMOST GOT ALL HIS ALBUMS NOW

― Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You, Saturday, 2 August 2008 07:51 (eighteen years ago)


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