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Rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters continues his long-running legal battle with the U.S. government who wants him deported for a crime he committed 16 years ago.

Best known for his 1980s hits “La-Di-Da-Di” and "Children's Story," the London-born MC finds himself facing an uncertain future in the U.S. after a federal appeals court in September ruled in favor of the government in its fight to overturn a 2003 ruling that freed him from a Florida detention facility.

"The situation we're talking about happened in 1990," Walters said Wednesday. "This is 2006. I don't know if this is about politics, or the law, or what. I'm just leaving it in God's hands."

In his initial 1990 crime, Walters shot his cousin and a bystander, claiming the cousin had extorted money and threatened his family. He spent time in jail for attempted murder before returning to his home and family in the Bronx in 1993.

That same year, the Immigration and Naturalization Service tried to deport the eye-patch wearing artist and jailed him again. A December 1995 ruling by an immigration judge said keeping Walters in the United States was "in the best interest of the country," and he was quickly freed.

Walters, now 41, resumed his recording career and stayed out of trouble, but was arrested by INS agents again in June 2002 after returning to Miami from a weeklong Caribbean cruise where he was a featured performer. INS was acting on a 1997 warrant that was never previously enforced, although Walters had lived in the Bronx since before it was issued.

A federal judge eventually ruled in October 2003 that the Bureau of Immigration Appeals had denied Walters due process in issuing the warrant — the rapper's second victory in court, although the win cost him more jail time.

"With all of the real and present threats to American society from terrorism, why is the government chasing this rapper?" asked Benjamin Chavis, co-chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network.

In the latest ruling on Sept. 20, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York vacated the 2003 order freeing Walters and ordered the case switched to a Georgia appeals court considered far more conservative. Attorneys for Walters may appeal for the New York court to hear the case, rather than grant the change of venue. The Second Circuit, while ruling for the government, noted that Walters had a good chance of avoiding deportation.

Walters, meanwhile, says he will go on with his daily activities, playing shows and paying bills. He doesn't see any other options.

"If you were in my shoes, how would you look at life?" he asked. "You'd ride life out, too. Anger would just make life not enjoyable, you know what I mean?"

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