IN THE MAGAZINE

RICKY POWELL, Self-portrait, 1993

interview by amy kellner

Rappin’ With the Rickster is the best thing to watch late at night when you’re stoned and bored. It’s the best nonporn public-access show going (unless you’re on acid and you want to have a terrifying trip, in which case we recommend Mrs. Mouth—which is an upside-down guy’s face with eyes painted below his mouth and a little wig perched on his chin talking about I-don’t-know-what because it always freaks me out so bad I immediately flip back to the soothing intonations of Robin Byrd). On The Rickster, you can see the show’s host and creator, Ricky Powell, hanging around his apartment smoking blunts with his cat, wandering around Washington Square Park talking to old weirdos or rappers, or hobnobbing with New York scenesters who are in one way or another connected to the Beastie Boys and/or Sonic Youth. Sometimes there’ll be footage of basketball games or clips of weird movies thrown in too. And it’s often shot through a fish-eye lens. That’s his trademark.

Ricky is commonly referred to as “the fourth Beastie Boy,” and you know him from the famous lyric “Homeboy, throw in the towel/Your girl got dicked by Ricky Powell.” He’s been taking photos since the mid-80s and he plans on putting out a book of photographs soon, mostly photos of rappers like Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and of course his pals the Beastie Boys. He is the embodiment of the downtown New York scene in 1994.

Vice: Tell me what a typical day in the life of the Rickster is.
Ricky Powell: Oh, dip. That’s kind of personal. Naw, I’m just kidding. I’m fucking working for a pot delivery service, nothing big, just a little hippie service, and before that I was on the Lollapalooza tour with the Beasties. I’m fluctuating, alternating.

What about Rappin’ With the Rickster?
Of course, doing the public-access show, doing photo shoots. I’m hustling. Writing for Vibe magazine. I do a column called “What’s Up With That?”

What’s that about?
You know, just observations by me. Wisecracks. Kinda goofing on people. Like, what’s up with this dude, what’s up with that dude. Or I’m like, “Yo, homeless bums should be getting props on the whole retro-sneaker thing,” because they’re the ones that you see with the orange suede Converse and shit like that.

What was Lollapalooza like?
I had a great time. I was a luggage guy for the Beasties, but I got free rein to go around and take pictures of anything I wanted. There were some good groups, like Funkadelic. It was a good summer.

What’s the vibe like in New York right now?
It’s good. The t-shirt thing is jumping off. I just came out with my first t-shirt through X-Large of this husky dog that I used to walk. It’s a bit of a renaissance right now. The whole Grand Royal thing is in effect. It’s really percolating. But a lot of perpetrators are moving into New York now, infiltrating. A lot of New Jack fuckin’ jerkoffs are moving into New York and are just fuckin’ perpetrating, and the scene is getting diluted. There’s too many jerkoffs and I ain’t feeling that shit anymore. New Jack cornballs.

When did you start doing Rappin’ With the Rickster?
In August of ’90. It’s a culmination. It’s bringing my photographs to life. I have a diversity of people on the show, like Sandra Bernhard or just local bug-outs. I’m experimenting, you know, my format is making pause tapes. It’s fun making the show, I just get dusted and zooted and edit these shows late in the AM. I’m also really into the radio station WKCR and I make tapes of all the jazzy funk shows and incorporate those, play them over my footage.

There’s a lot of footage of you hanging out with your cat.
Ohhhhh shit! You’ve seen the show.

Yeah, man! Me and my friends watch it in our dorm’s TV lounge.
Yeah, I love getting zooted with my cat.

You like talking to weird old people.
Yeah, the old-timers in the Village. I’m stuck in the past, dude. Yeah, you know, all these New Jack cornballs coming in. I just saw Matthew Broderick, he was passing me by. He’s a kook. We grew up in Washington Square Park. He’s a year younger than me. He’s all shook. He’s very reclusive. We played on the same softball team, the Falcons, but he kinda stunk so he had to sit at the end of the bench. I mean, whatever, I don’t give a shit.

How long have you lived in the West Village?
I grew up in SoHo and near Union Square. I’ve lived on Charles Street between West Fourth and Bleecker since ’91. In the 60s, my block used to be all crazy Irish families. It’s still kinda funky but some fancy-shmancy people are moving in. Rich people are disgusting, they’re on some stupid Jappy high school shit. Wack, dude. Posers acting like they’re from here. It’s weird, it’s weird. But there are some cool celebrities I always see around here, like Garrett Morris passed me on the street the other day and it was exhilarating. I always see Willem Dafoe walking over here with groceries.

Have you ever gotten into any hairy situations with the cops, what with all your shenanigans?
Check it. I had just gotten back from Lollapalooza. I was doing a little pot drop-off in SoHo and on my home to the West Vil I cut through Washington Square Park. And you know, I wear a baseball cap and purple sunglasses. I look a little shady and I carry the pot in my camera bag. So I’m going through the park and all of a sudden shit got shut down, boom, and all these undercover cops start busting people. And I’m right in the middle of it and I’m like, oh shit, and I get off my bike and I walk through the whole carnage, people getting fucking tackled, boom boom boom, and I walk through it all waiting to get tackled ’cause I know I look like a pot-delivery dude, you know, I’m typical, and I go to the corner of the park where all the mothers are with their baby carriages and I just sit there with them until they opened up the park 20 minutes later.

Wow, you must be charmed.
Yeah, it reminded me of a scene from Little Big Man. Dustin Hoffman and this Indian chief, you know, they walk through a battle and they don’t get touched because the Indian chief goes into this mode. I was thinking of that scene and I was real grateful that I didn’t get popped. I bring this up because since I been on tour, I kinda forgot my street smarts. You know, I went from the glamorous touring life and back to the grime. It’s an interesting dichotomy.

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Comments

Anonymous, on Oct 31, 2009 wrote: i thought the artical was about the rapper...is it? i didnt bother to read it..vice articals are so avrage nowa days...
	DMc, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: Can someone please tell Sophia that I’m still waiting by the phone? She hasn’t called me back yet!
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: dondi. so awesome. love the specs.
	poozer, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: see? vice has been down with colt since they could crawl. love that shit.
	poozer, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: i think i had these same sunglasses. yeah, i looked like a tool too.
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: I KNEW that was Sofia Coppola from the thumbnail!
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: monks are allowed to play mortal kombat? that seems off-limits for monkdom.
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: Sandra Bernhard. Excuse me while I vomit.
	smokey robinson crusoe, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: taking sneaker cues from bums. see, this is the kind of fashion advice i need.
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: there is porn public access? i’ve been missing out!
	lowbrow, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: well he certainly looks like a beastie, fisheye lens and all.
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: Writing for Vibe magazine. I guess that’s not still happening, huh?
Anonymous, on Oct 13, 2009 wrote: YOUR GIRL GOT DICKED BY RICKY POWELL!