“I’m Lao and Mexican. My full name is Enrique Dominguez. I go by Ricky. ”
“Being Lao American, you're overlooked most of the time. Not many people know where Laos is.
Growing up in the Bay Area, we were influenced by Too $hort, E-40, Mac Dre, and others. Especially living in Fairfield, California, we dreamt about leaving the small town and aspired to be like them. Our way out was sports and music. I’ve always loved music growing up. My favorite genre is R&B, but i'm not a good singer. So the next best thing was to rap. Everybody in my neighborhood rapped.
I love all of E-40’s music, so if I had to choose one that motivates me it would be "707" which is also our area code. As for Mac Dre my favorite song from him is "Feelin' Myself" which gets me up and moving. My mom is a big Too $hort fan so she would occasionally play "Just Another Day", and because of that, it's my favorite song. Listening to those songs makes me want to tell my story too.”
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My family's from Luang Prabang, Laos. They escaped as refugees in the late 70's and arrived to America around 1980. I grew up not knowing my Mexican father, so my first languages are English and Lao. I taught myself Spanish, but can only understand it. My family is very close. It's always been family first. I love Lao food. Nam Khao, Khaopoon, and Sai Oua are my favorite lao dishes. My grandparents are Buddhists and when I lived with them I went to the temple with them. I didn't like it as a kid because I wanted to stay home and play games. Now that I'm older I should have cherished it more because now I don't spend as much time with them since I moved to Minnesota. “
“I knew my family wanted to see me finish high school and go to college. I eventually did all of that while working a normal 9-5, and making music. I dedicated my life to making sure others were good around me, and that’s something I incorporated into my music. Sometimes I like to rap about life and motivation. It really depends on how I am feeling that day.”
How I got my rap name was pretty simple. A girl in 6th grade wanted to give me a nickname that only she could use and she came up with "icky". I've been using it ever since.
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I'm different from the rappers. I don't often use Bay Area type beats. My music has a chill feel to it which gives listeners a peace of mind. My flow and sound is smooth like water. Since, I'm so heavily influenced by R&B I usually rap about love and combine it with a Bay Area flow. That's probably why people enjoy my style. It has a different feel to it.
When I was younger, I lacked confidence as a musician. That's why I wasn't able to go far and eventually gave up. I had to work on myself mentality and emotionally. As I got older, I became stronger both ways. Nobody can stop me but myself. My mindset became more mature and I feel unstoppable.
There has been successful Lao rappers and seeing that gives me a boost. Although, my style is different, we shared the same goal in representing our peoples at the highest level possible. I speak better in my music than in person. I hope y'all could feel me and my music.”
“Challenges I had to face as a rapper was building a fanbase. I didn't take the traditional route. I accidentally joined the Korean Hip-hop scene in 2017. A friend of mine invited me to a group chat full of rappers and producers from South Korea, and I met a local rapper from Busan, South Korea on Kakao Chat, which is the Korean chatting app. I couldn't speak Korean, nor do some speak English. It was hard to communicate, but music is universal.”
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We became great friends and he introduced me his friends who are also rappers. By late 2019, I befriended a guy named Junho Bae, who owns his own Kpop company,
BCY ENTERTAINMENT, located in Busan. We grew very close and rarely talked about music, instead we mostly talked about soccer and life. He eventually asked me to join his company as a rapper and a song writer. Ever since then I've been working non stop.”
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The fact that I didn't promote myself in America first was like a double edge sword. I told myself in 2020 I will promote myself in the United States. I emailed Thizzer, which is a Bay Area/Northern California music placement platform and I eventually got a couple of my songs on there. It's tough on me to decide wether my next song will have a California feel or Korean influenced. I go back and forth to see which will do better. Regardless, it's awesome knowing I have a fanbase in a country I’ve never been to.”
“I’ve always been a hard worker. Everybody around me knew I had something special, but I never saw it in myself. I was too focused on becoming successful, but I never had the time to reflect on how far I’ve come. ”
“Pressure is something I’m used to. I was built for this. Whatever is best for me I’ll do it.”
“In the next 3-5 years I still see myself rapping and writing songs for others. I've been doing this since I was 15, and now that I'm 24 I can't just give up. I made it this far so I have to keep going. Hopefully sign a major label or gain momentum independently. I hope to get signed by EMPIRE. It's the largest distribution label and I get to own all the rights to my music.”
“I have other goals besides music. Since I graduated college, I want to work with underprivileged kids and guide them to the right direction. I have lost people I was close to, and I know how hard it is to have limited resources. If I can use music as an outlet for these kids, it would mean the world. If they can see I did it, they can too.
Ricky’s story is part of The Lao Project, a collection of tales on being Lao in America.
My name is Vekonda Luangaphay and I started The Lao Project In light of Asian History Month of 2020 and Lao New Year in April. Click below to read more stories from The Lao Project.
