Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Slick Rick (Red)”?
Artist Statement
SLICK RICK RED Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 300
Summary
Slick Rick (Red) is a 2004 Shepard Fairey screen print published by Obey Giant in an edition of 300, measuring 18 x 24 inches and originally priced at $30. Part of a two-color release issued in both Red and Blue variants, it depicts the hip-hop artist Slick Rick using Fairey's high-contrast, poster-style portrait approach. The print belongs to Fairey's broader series of music-figure portraits rendered in his signature graphic vocabulary, translating a musician's likeness into the flat, propaganda-influenced screen-print language characteristic of his mid-2000s Obey Giant output.
Why It Matters
Slick Rick (Red) sits within Fairey's deep catalog of music-figure portraits, a strand of his work that connects his lifelong roots in punk, hip-hop, and DIY music culture to his visual practice. Depicting the pioneering rapper Slick Rick, the print honors a hip-hop icon using the same flat, high-contrast portrait language Fairey applied to musicians across his career, turning a cultural figure into an emblematic graphic image. The two-color release in Red and Blue variants reflects Fairey's habit of issuing colorways that give collectors a choice and create natural pairs within a single edition. At an original $30 and an edition of 300, the print kept Fairey's music portraiture affordable and widely distributed. For collectors, music-subject Fairey prints are among the most sought because they bridge two passionate fan bases, art and music, and Slick Rick's stature in hip-hop history adds genre weight. It appears to align with Fairey's broader project of elevating countercultural and music figures into the visual canon, treating them with the same iconographic seriousness he applied to political subjects. Its importance rests on that crossover appeal and on its place within his recognizable run of musician portraits.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals strongly to collectors who sit at the intersection of art and music, especially hip-hop fans drawn to Slick Rick's legacy. The Red and Blue colorways invite paired or comparative collecting, and many buyers seek to acquire both variants of a single subject. At 18 x 24 inches in an edition of 300, it frames cleanly and anchors a wall of Fairey music portraits. Its accessible original price made it a popular entry point, and it fits collections organized around music, portraiture, or the 2004 Obey Giant run. Display impact is highest when grouped with other Fairey musician prints, where the consistent portrait treatment turns individual figures into a coherent visual pantheon of music icons.
Historical Context
Slick Rick (Red) dates to 2004 and belongs to Fairey's extensive series of music-figure portraits issued under Obey Giant during his Posters and Propaganda phase. Throughout the early-to-mid 2000s, Fairey, whose own background runs through punk and skate culture, repeatedly translated musicians into his flat, high-contrast portrait style, building a recurring visual pantheon. This portrait of a foundational hip-hop artist fits that pattern of cultural homage. The era sits after Fairey's formative street-art period, rooted in the late-1980s Andre the Giant campaign, and before his 2008 national breakthrough. Within his arc, the print documents the music-portrait throughline that runs alongside his political and brand-driven work, showing how he applied a single iconographic language across genres.
FAQ
Who is depicted in this print?
The print depicts the hip-hop artist Slick Rick. It is part of Fairey's run of music-figure portraits, which translate musicians into his flat, high-contrast graphic style. The work falls under his Collaborations and pop culture themed output from 2004.
What variants exist?
The source lists this as a two-color release available in Blue and Red. This print is the Red variant. Issuing multiple colorways of a single subject was a recurring practice for Fairey, giving collectors a choice and creating natural pairs within one edition.
What are the dimensions and edition size?
It is an 18 x 24 inch screen print in an edition of 300, published by Obey Giant. The standard format and 300-print edition are consistent with many of Fairey's mid-2000s music portraits, keeping them accessible to a wide collector base.
What was the original price?
The source lists an original price of $30, reflecting Obey Giant's accessibility-first release model. That low entry price helped Fairey's music portraits reach a broad audience of both art and music fans at the time of release.
Related Works
About the Artist
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970, Charleston, South Carolina) is an American street artist, graphic designer, and activist, and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His 1989 “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker grew into the global OBEY GIANT campaign — an ongoing experiment in propaganda, obedience, and visual culture. He reached worldwide recognition with the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, now held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Across screen prints, stencils, murals, and collage, Fairey channels propaganda aesthetics toward themes of peace, justice, environmentalism, and civil rights. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and LACMA.