Ric-A-Che'

Detroit rapper Ric-A-Che steers clear of gangsta violence and its accompanying appeal, instead channeling his rhymes and rants toward humor, romantic interests, casual socializing, and the hazards of accelerated street maturation while serving as a guiding influence for younger listeners. Known also as Rick Dennis, he abandoned high school during his junior year in favor of dealing drugs. Numerous friends fell to incarceration or gunfire—the bullets never striking the artist himself, which inspired his name from “ricochet”—prompting him to evade a similar fate by returning to his earliest passion, rap and hip-hop. As a devoted father juggling flower-shop deliveries and shifts at a chemical plant, he regularly visited Detroit’s renowned Hip-Hop Shop, where he caught the attention of Steve Rifkind, then head of Loud Records, leading to a 2003 signing. The following summer Ric-A-Che issued the single Coo-Coo Chee/Lil Bro, with his debut album Lack of Communication arriving in June.