Mike Tyson speaking on Rick James in his book.
"I was living this crazy dual life. One day visiting friends in their prison cells, the next day hanging out with Rick James.
I met him at a party for some new movie. We were at a big club, maybe a thousand people were there, but you’re going to notice Rick James. I didn’t know whether he was a celebrity, a musician, or a gangster. Right around then he had made a lot of money from Hammer sampling him on “U Can’t Touch This,” so Rick was back in business.
Next time I saw him I was in the lobby of a hotel on Sunset Boulevard. I was sitting outside with Ricky Schroder and Alfonso Ribeiro from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, just chilling. Ricky was probably 16 then and Alfonso was maybe 17. But we’re sitting there drinking, and I looked up and I saw a convertible Cornice Rolls-Royce pull up and Rick get out.
He was wearing a loud shirt with a tie, but the tie wasn’t tied and the shirt was unbuttoned. He came over to us, slapped me five, and then he looked at Alfonso. “Aren’t you an actor?” he said and then, boom, he hit him. “Gimme that fukking beer,” he said and grabbed Alfonso’s beer. “Rick, this is a kid, you can’t hit this guy like that,” I protested. He just took that bottle and swigged from it. He didn’t care if the kid had herpes. I’m sure Rick did. “What’s up, nikka?” he said to me."
Habitual line stepper