Slick Rick Sprung

Slick Rick has beaten a bum rap.

The legendary hip-hop figure, in a Florida lockup for the last 17 months on what supporters called trumped-up charges, was released Friday, a week after a New York judge ruled that the government mishandled the rapper's immigration case and falsely imprisoned him.

"I am fine," the rapper told the Associated Press after getting sprung. "It feels good, fresh air, a new beginning."

The 38-year-old, whose real name is Ricky Walters, said he plans on heading back to his New York home to be with his wife and two kids, ages 12 and 13.

"They weren't certain they were going to see me in this country again," he told the wire service. "It's been pretty stressful."

Last week, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Kimba Wood said that the Board of Immigration Appeals erred when it overturned its own decision that declared the British-born Rick was a legal U.S. resident. The immigration board's reversal allowed authorities to arrest the rapper last year in the Sunshine State and attempt to deport him.

Earlier this week, Rick's attorney, Alex Solomiany told E! Online that Walters had been feeling "anxious" about his release.

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office was not available for a comment.

Slick was in Bradenton, Florida, in the spring of 2002, returning to port after a weeklong gig aboard a cruise ship, when agents with the Immigration and Naturalization Service swooped in and took him into custody using a 1996 immigration law that calls for the deportation of any foreigner convicted of a violent felony.

The feds felt Walters--a London native whose family migrated to the Bronx when he was 11--fit the bill.

The hip-hopster, famous for wearing an eye patch and Mr. T-style necklaces, served six years in the slammer after a 1991 conviction for attempted murder for shooting his cousin and a bystander. At the time, he claimed his cousin tried to shake him down for money and threatened his wife and two children.

While Rick never became a U.S. citizen, the INS in 1995 issued him a 212C waiver, allowing him to stay in the country based on "his recording career, property ownership, family ties, remorse and rehabilitation and charitable work."

But in 1997, the Immigration Board overturned the waiver and elected to deport him. He was detained in Miami in 2002 for supposedly being a flight risk.

Following his arrest, several celebs and politicians came to his aid and called for his release, including Chris Rock, Will Smith, the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Michigan Representative John Conyers.

Judge Wood ruled on Friday that INS essentially denied Rick due process and reinstated the Board's 1995 decision.

"We always knew our arguments had merit and we're pleased that Judge Wood agrees with us," Solomiany said in a statement after the ruling was issued. "The government was determined to deport Rick, but we were just as determined to keep him here."

A member of the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame, Slick Rick first shot to fame trading rhymes with Doug E. Fresh as a member of the Get Fresh Crew, scoring such early hip-hop hits as "La-Di-Da-Di" and "The Show." After going solo, he achieved his greatest success with 1988's platinum-selling LP, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick and influenced a host of hip-hop stars including Snoop Dogg. He returned to form with 1999's Top 10 album, The Art of Storytelling.

Now, Rick plans on using his jail experience as fodder for his next album.

"It think it's just like another adventure," he told AP. "Just building character, giving me more substance to write about."

(Originally published November 4, 2003 at 10 a.m. PT.)