Pretty Ricky is an American R&B/hip hop group originally made up of Diamond "Baby Blue" Smith, Spectacular Smith, Corey "Slick 'em" Mathis and Marcus "Pleasure P" Cooper.^{citation needed}

In 2008, Pleasure P left the group to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Christopher "Ambition/4play" Myers, who was later replaced by Emanuel "Lingerie" DeAnda.^{citation needed}

Musical career

They began performing together in 1997 in Miami, and were managed by their father, Joe "Blue" Smith. Joe Smith is the father of 3 out of the original 4 members (Baby Blue, Spectacular & Slickem). Only Spectacular and Baby Blue have the same mother, Darlene Braxton. All were born between 1984 and 1986.²

According to a 2005 story in The Miami Herald, the brothers "were originally called Pretty Rickie and the Maverix, until the country group the Mavericks objected, and the brothers decided 'y' endings are "more masculine" than 'ie'". ³

In 2004, they recorded "Grind On Me" which began to get heavy airplay on Miami radio stations. "Grind On Me" was the number one most requested record in the history of rhythmic radio station WPOW Power 96, which lead to a deal with Atlantic Records and international exposure. After signing the deal, the song was re-recorded with familiar titles, "Grind With Me" & "Ride With Me", less explicit versions of their hit single, which lead to their debut album in 2005, Bluestars. The band toured with Omarion, Bow Wow, Bobby Valentino, B5, Young Joc and other acts in the Scream Tour IV concert series.⁴

Their second album, Late Night Special was released in 2007, included the hit singles "On the Hotline" and "Push It Baby" which featured Sean Paul. The video for Push It Baby was shot in Progue, directed by Diamond Blue Smith with a Million Dollar Budget. ⁵

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

The group announced recently on 106&Park that they are currently in the studio working on a new album set to be released later this year. To promote the recently released self-titled album.

References

External links

• Official website
• Pretty Ricky at MySpace
• Pretty Ricky on Twitter