Music

"I love bein' from da souf, I love bein' from da souf …"

Derricko Swink started singing this mantra one day while working at the Anniston Army Depot, and it echoed in his head all day. That night, while preparing to perform at a birthday party in Birmingham, he sang it for fellow rapper Royal Tee, of Charlotte, N.C. Immediately, Royal Tee knew his friend had hit gold and insisted Ricko pursue it.

"When I first said it to myself, it sounded stupid," said Swink, the 25-year-old Anniston native, who is better known as Ricko. "But … that song … it got me my meeting with Sony."

For this rising star, the South — and more specifically, his hometown — is everything. He's the self-proclaimed spokesman for Alabama, and he's says he can put the state on the map. And he's well on his way to doing just that.

"I think he's gonna go wherever he wants to go," said Andre Parker, aka the ILL Genius, Ricko's producer at PowerSource Entertainment in Atlanta. "He's like a freight train — he's gonna run and whoever can get on board should, because he's gonna keep running. He never gives up."

Ricko became interested in music after participating in choir at Oxford Middle School. A few years later at Oxford High School, he gained popularity for his endless rapping of Outkast verses. All this practice led to the realization that he could rap his own lyrics — and he did, writing his first song in detention when he was 16.

"A lot of people find this hard to believe, but when I was three, I knew that I would be some type of entertainer," Ricko said. "I didn't know what I was gonna be, I just knew I would be an entertainer. And that's what I always did."

Whether it was music or his other passion at the time, baseball, Ricko says he didn't depend on anyone but himself for success. He had a goal, and he was hell-bent on achieving it. After forming and dissolving a number of rap groups (Young Thugs in Training and Dirty All-Starrz, to name two), Ricko took it upon himself to fund and release an album. He signed to PowerSource Entertainment in Atlanta in 2005, and released Trademark last year. The initial pressing of 1,000 CDs has since sold out.

"It ain't a million, but I can say I did it," he said. "A lot of people today are gimme, gimme, gimme. Hands out. They don't want to work for it. You can sit around all day and be like, 'Nobody wants to hear me,' but the truth is, you're scared, likely. A lot of times, success is scary. It's easy to fail, just like it's easy to quit."

Ricko's not scared of the work, in fact, he seems to revel in it. He works a full- and a part-time job, hosts Mix-Tape TV on WJXS TV-24 with DJ Steen, runs his own music company and raises two children.

"I'm a professional," he said. "That's just how I am. I take the same mentality I had with baseball — practice, practice, practice, until nobody can touch you. Anything I do, I try and exceed it 10 times the next time. I feel like I haven't done anything yet — just started."

It seems that Ricko is always ready to take that next step. He recently released a mix tape, I Am the Anedote, chapters 1-7, which he sees as the beginning of a three-part series. He once heard Anniston called "the Antidote," but he doesn't know where that name stems from.

"I heard it a long time ago and just picked up on it," he said. "Why is my CD called 'I Am the Anedote?' Because I am Anniston. I'm so Anniston, but yet I'm not because I feel I'm more than just local. My thing is to be a universal local artist. I want fans of all races; I want everybody listening to my music."

And while he will never turn his back on his hometown, sometimes he's disturbed by what he sees.

"I look around, I don't see hope, I don't see ambition, I don't see anybody wanting to better themselves," Ricko said. "I feel like Anniston could be Atlanta, if it wanted to. I feel like we hold ourselves back."

But Ricko won't give up — he's got a plan for change in Calhoun County. He just needs the means to initiate it. He wants business owners to recognize the talent in the community and build a studio or venue to help promote that talent.

"It wouldn't take much; that's the sad part," he said. "You wouldn't have to sell your arm or nothing. All it would take is a few business people getting together, spending some money … It's a tax write-off anyway. If I were ever rich, I would just give back. It wouldn't be nothing. You know, teaching young kids how to do music, how to record in the studio. In Atlanta, I noticed they teach you to be a self-starter, an entrepreneur. Around here, they teach you to go to work, go home.

"I'm a big movement person, and I always like to be a leader instead of a fighter. I feel like I could take Anniston and just run wide open with it, and people would follow me."

You can hear some of Ricko's music on his Web site, www.rickoworldwide.com.

LNO Records, Young Hustler and Ricko

What: Hip hop show
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Model City Records, 11 E. 11th, Anniston
How much: $5
Contact: 525-0542