Died 5 Times During 33 Day Coma

0:03 From the time that they pronounced me that was a good 45 minutes They cut my clothes and then they paddled my heart my heart stopped and I could see people screaming and crying But I didn't realize that was actually my physical body because I was somewhere else The only thing that I could feel if you can imagine Absolute love and peace there wasn't anything else to be felt. I was greeted by people I had known in the past I'm back home again. Incredibly safe and felt at home. Welcome. Welcome to Round Trip Death, everybody. We have such a great guest today. You know what?

0:45 Before I introduce you, Ricky, let's just do some name dropping. Okay. Okay. And the focus of our podcast, as everybody knows, is not about music and music production, but that's what you do. So I'm just going to drop some names. Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Ariana Grande, Kanye West. What do all these people have in common? Well, we've all been in the studio together. We've all worked together to produce some music for those people, those incredible individuals, man. So, very thankful for that. So, Ricky Slick Music Offered, hey, welcome to the show. It's great to have you today. Thank you for having me, man. And if we have a few minutes at the end, we're gonna talk music and I'll see if I can come up with some strange questions that you've never heard before about that kind of stuff. But we're gonna jump into your near -death experience first. Yeah. You know, who knew someone famous in the music industry would have an experience like we talk about every single day on this show.

1:49 But before we jump in... Would you take just one minute or two minutes and just give a little background on who you are so people realize, hey, Ricky's a real guy. You know, where do you come from? Yeah, man. So, just a little bit about myself. I'm from Dallas, Texas. Born and raised. I moved out to California, Los Angeles, California back in 2013 to pursue my music career full -time. Just called Turkey, man, stepped out on faith and went out there in my 20s and... locked in with Ariana Grande at the beginning stages of her career before she took off. And, man, just fortunate that I was able to catch that win break there and we just kind of went for it and things landed the way, you know, in our favor. So from there, that's what kind of catapulted my music, my music production career. And I'm assigned music producer for a time, Grammy Award winner, multi -platinum... Billion streams, all kind of good stuff, man. Worked with, as you said, some people you named off, and quite a bit more.

2:52 So we're still going, man. The quest is still at hand, and I'm just thankful to do what I love. And here I am today, 41 -year -old man, you know, healthy, vibrant, still going, still working strong, and just blessed to be here, man. You left out two things. 12 number one records, and you're gonna be a father soon. Congrats on both of those things. Thank you, man. I appreciate you. Yes, sir. Oh, and happy birthday. Didn't you just have a birthday? I did. Thank you, man. Yeah, September the 2nd. Yeah, September the 2nd, the day after my book release. Yes, sir. And we'll talk a little bit about your memoirs a little bit later too. By the way, it's called 33 Days Between Heaven and Hell, and I've got a copy and can't wait to finish reading it. But let's go back about 10 years. What's going on with you health -wise that led up to this time where you were really, really, really sick in the hospital? It actually came from, you know, just the music business of, well, not the music business itself, but me, of course, just allowing it to overconsume the, just the grime and, you know, the hustle and bustle and every day, late night. early morning studio sessions, just chasing that success, chasing that next hit, chasing that next big thing and trying to stay on top of things because they always say you're only as relevant as your last hit record in the music business as a music producer. So I was a young

4:23 man, like I said, in my 20s and just eager and anxious to, I got a little taste of success and I wanted more. Between that and the lifestyle, you know, not resting, I started neglecting my health, even as a young man. And that's something I also advocate for now. You have to take care of yourself, no matter how young you are, you still have to take care of your health. You know, your health is definitely your wealth. So for me, in a nutshell, man, I ended up, my body started to, it started basically to shut down. I was suffering from severe dehydration. I developed gallstones. I was suffering from high blood pressure, cholesterol, just all kind of stuff out of whack, man. Just, you know, my diet was poor, lack of sleep. I would stay up multiple nights at a time, you know, not getting enough rest, of course.

5:11 And this was all for the sake of the grind and for the sake of my career, you know, just trying to chase that success, man. So that's what pretty much kind of put things into perspective. Okay, this is what happened. So from that point on... I had to go and have a gallbladder surgery. I had to get my gallbladder removed. And with something that should be very simple, very routine, that happens every single day, actually turned out to be the biggest nightmare of my life. So, and you don't need to go into details about your personal health. So after the surgery, there must have been complications. You went into a coma, just whatever you're comfortable with sharing on that part of it. Yeah, yeah, man, complications due to the surgery. What's crazy is I was actually healthy. I had never been in a hospital before.

6:01 I played, I've always been an athlete. I played some football in my grad days. College, you know, I played college football as well. Texas A &M. Played a little semi -pro, so I've been always kind of an active guy. I work out often, but it just was that time frame of 2013 leading up to 2016. when I moved to Los Angeles, you know, I was so focused on success, career, you know, being successful and that I just completely overlooked all the things that I would usually do on taking care of myself every day. So it wasn't that I had any like long -term illnesses or any kind of conditions that were the main root cause, but it was definitely complications due to that gallbladder procedure that allowed me to land into this coma. And I was induced into the coma.

6:50 And then, you know, obviously, immediately I'm facing death, just like the snap of a finger. How many days in the coma? I was in the coma for 33 days. That's a long time. And I have in my notes that you flatlined a few times, too. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, yeah, I flatlined a couple times, man. Medically, on record, as... I believe it's five times. My mom and my sister thought it was three at first, but once we got medical records back, it was a total of five. So, I absolutely remember, from my point of view, my perspective, what I went through. I remember it like it was yesterday. Now, you had some interesting experiences. And I'm gonna let you tell those, obviously, in your own words, but experiences with heaven, with hell. Where do you want to jump in? What is the first thing that you remember that was not normal? I mean, most people remember nothing from a coma. But just give us a taste here. Give us started. Man, for me, from my experience, it was pretty, pretty much right away once they induced me. It was to the point that, man, I was in such bad shape. leading up into the, you know, being induced into the coma that I was looking forward to going into a coma. Because I couldn't breathe. I was, my lungs had been injured and it was a whole lot of stuff going on. I'm on breathing machines, so I'm, you know,

8:21 I'm trying to, I'm gasping for air, suffocating slowly, dying slowly. So, being induced into the coma for me was relief, you know, in that moment. And I just remember as I got induced... Once I'm induced now, there's no sense of time anymore for me. It's just events and things that happen. So I can't tell you how long, but I know after a while being induced, when I was induced at first, you know, like sleep, man, like you just sleep, your eyes closed, it's dark, nothing, just peace, you know, resting, sleep. And the next thing I remember was I... Man, I appeared in this... And it was almost like a cabin. It was a house. It was almost like a cabin. It was a fireplace going. Keep in mind, at the time of the incident that this happened, this is in May 2016. This is in Texas, by the way, in Dallas, Texas. It's hot. So, you know, I'm definitely not understanding what's going on with the setting of me being in this cabin, home environment, you know, where there's a fireplace going, it's cozy. You know, and immediately I was introduced by or welcomed by a handful of individuals, I'd say maybe four or five people. And they, I think it was like two ladies and three guys, Black, White, Hispanic, and different nationalities, racism, and it was like they knew me. I mean, it was like we knew each other. I had never met these people a day in my life, but it was almost like we were family immediately as I was greeted.

9:54 And they said, hey, Ricky, how you doing? And very hospitable, man. And we sit down at this table in the kitchen area, in the dining area, and say, well, just have a seat. We're going to bring bread. We're going to eat. And they were preparing a meal for me. So we're eating, laughing, talking, having a conversation. It felt so normal. It felt so, so natural, man, after we finished. I remember they said, okay, we want to take you to the living room so we can show you something. And I said, okay. I felt so comfortable with them that I wasn't, I wasn't like, oh, no, I don't, you know, it was very, I felt very welcomed. So we went to the, to the, to the living room area and we held hands, like in a circle, you know, at that point they said, are you ready to go? Are you ready to go with us? And I said, yes. And when they said that, man, we shot up, I send it through the ceiling, but This is the thing. When I ascended through the ceiling and this cabin home, it's like my spirit and my body came out of my body in the hospital, in the actual hospital. And it went through the hospital ceiling out into the sky, out of space. But this is at the speed of like a bullet or the speed of light. You know, this is like light year speed. It's not slow and no, it's like... a beam of light. That's how fast I was going at it. And I just shot up and I ascended through the skies and then through the solar system and our universe, you know, it just kept going, kept going up. And I'm moving so fast

11:27 and all these lights and stars and planets, it's like it looks fluorescent because I'm moving at such a fast pace. It's so fast, it's so rapid that it's happening that everything was so like bright and fluorescent lights passing me by. Next thing... I know, I don't know what happened to them, the individuals back at the cabin. I don't know, they were no longer with me, it was just me. And I was so high above our universe, as we know, that I was out of that, beyond it, to the point where it got really bright. You know, that bright light, they always talk about seeing at the end of the tunnel. I started seeing that bright light, and I'm going at it full speed, man. And then next thing you know, like that.

12:14 I appeared in a line, like this single file line. I looked down into the horizon. I mean, the line is so long. I mean, millions of people. Millions of people, man. As a matter of fact, it was two lines. I was in... It was two single file lines, both simultaneously moving forward into the horizon with millions of people in each one, parallel to each other. I was in the left line. I remember seeing... all these people, all races, all nationalities, from babies to old elderly people, all ages. Everyone was absolutely content and just waiting for the line to wait to... Because the line is continuously moving, right? You know how you go to the airport, they have these conveyors where you can step on them, and it's like a conveyor belt, but it's like, instead of you walking, it'll go for you. It's not like an escalator, but it's flat. Yeah, absolutely. And you're moving the whole time. It may look like you're in a line, but you're moving the whole time. I'm glad to hear that, because to me, standing in a line behind a million people is kind of like hell.

13:23 To me. At this point, and I'm going to interrupt you from time to time. At this point, can you remember what you're thinking or feeling? Like, are you wondering what's going on? What am I waiting in line for? Or what's going through your brain? Absolutely, man. I mean, to my brain, my mind is still intact. I'm still Ricky. Well, immediately, the first thing that grabbed me was the atmosphere. It was all white. Like, pure white, man. Wide open, like just wide open abyss where he is. Like, no grass or nothing, like green grass. But whatever, if it was grass, it was white. Everything was solid white. Everything.

14:05 the peace and the tranquility and the serenity, the feeling of comfort, and I was whole again. I was healthy. You know, love and just all the emotions of happiness. And I felt, I did this, I went... And I was like, oh, I can breathe. Because keep in mind... The reason why I'm even in the coma is because I couldn't, my lungs had, you know, collapsed. I couldn't breathe due to the complications to their surgery. So, can breathe again. My senses are heightened. Like, my vision is more clear than 2020. My sense of touch is more, it's almost, it's enhanced. My smell, my everything, it was just more enhanced. My mind was still sharp, like I said, and I'm like, man, hold on. I was just fighting for my life. You know, this is what I'm telling myself. It's playing back to me in a way. I was fighting for my life.

15:03 And then I even had moments of, like, childhood. That whole thing where your life flashed before your eyes, like, it was one of those things. So, like, it just happened so, so fast, you know? It's like it went all the way back from when I was a baby, a toddler, all the way through up until that point where I'm in the hospital. And I'm like, how did I... Where am I at? Like, no way. Am I dead? You know, I'm like, am I dead? Because I'm doing like this, because it feels like this. It felt like, you know, sitting here talking to you, like I was awake. Like I've had dreams and I've had visions and hallucinations or whatever you want to call it. This wasn't that, man. This was actually going on. I was just trying to come to or trying to understand where I'm at. And then when it finally just, it dawned on him like, yo, I'm... I'm dead. I'm not alive. Like, I'm alive, but I'm not. Did that make you afraid or was it kind of a peaceful thing? It was very peaceful where I was at because where I was at was in, well, Bible scholars told me that I was in the line of judgment in the heavens, in the heavenly realm. That's where I was told. So, in this realm where I was at, it was nothing but peace. It was amazing. It was nothing but love and peace and joy and happiness.

16:27 Like I said, that's all I could feel. And I was healed. There was no sickness. There was no pain, no hurt, no suffering. I'm in this realm where I'm totally healed, feeling vibrant, feeling healthy, feeling youthful, feeling all these things. But I wasn't ready to go. Like, I wasn't ready to go, man. I mean, if I went, it would have been amazing. But I was not ready. At the time, I was 30 years old. I was 30 at the time, going on 31. So, I'm young. I'm a young guy, you know. I grew up in a church. Okay, my faith is Christian. That's what I believe. That's what's in my heart. That's where I grew up. That's my faith. So, all I could do at that point, as I began to freak out and to get scared as things are starting to come to... I just started praying.

17:14 I didn't know nothing else to do but pray. And as I'm getting closer, so this line is steady. These two lines are steady moving forward. And as I look behind me, people are appearing by the seconds. New people are appearing by the seconds, but the line is getting longer by the seconds. And we're still moving forward and I just started praying, man. I'm like, really, I just started talking to God. God, please. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. You know, I'm freaking out. I'm scared. You know, I don't know what else to do. I can't turn to my mom. I can't turn to my dad. It's all on me. It's between me and God at this point. As I'm getting closer to the horizons or like within the horizon, I see gate, like big gates in the horizons. I can see him and I'm like, oh man, it was beautiful.

18:01 But I'm like, if I get some gates, it's a wrap. Like it's over. I'm not coming back. I'm not coming back to Earth. And I just started feeling a strong, overwhelming presence of God, man. Like, overly, overly, overly, strongly presence of God. I didn't see God. I didn't see Jesus' face. I didn't see, like, God. I didn't physically see him. But I felt the power and the presence of God as I'm getting closer to the gates. I want to interject a question right at this point. You said you didn't see God, but you felt him. What did it feel like? It felt like an overwhelmingness, presence of man. First of all, I can't explain it in human terms, but the best way I can explain it is it just felt like an overwhelmingness of almighty, powerful, like man, it's just beyond human. comprehension but it was felt love and peace and like I said happiness and all these things in one and then it was just such a it was just such like a powerful presence like just a sense of man I mean it was like I said if I if I went at that time if I just went I would have been good I would have been good it was very welcoming he was welcoming he was so powerful man and so much love and and peace, but I just,

19:34 I was just so determined. I was just like that one kid in the classroom that just, you know, stubborn, and I was like, started talking to God. Literally, because I just, it's like, and it's like I just knew it was God. It wasn't like, oh, what is this presence? What is this almighty feeling? No, I knew it was God. And I just started talking to him like I'm talking to you. And I'm like, God, please don't let me die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die. And nothing happens, right? Nothing happens. Everything is still carrying on. And then I said again, I say, please, I don't want to die. And this time, I say, I'm desperate, right? I'm desperate at this point. And I just say, God, if you let me live, I promise, I make a promise. I say, I'll make a promise to you.

20:18 I promise I'll live my life for you. I'll share my story with the world. I'll do whatever. Please, just give me a second chance. And when I said that... I vanished from that line. At the snap of a finger, I vanished, disappeared. I left that line. I went back into my... Well, now I know I went at the time I didn't understand. Just from point of view, it went back black. Total silence, peace. And that's when I realized later on, okay, I had died, and then I came back from heaven, from the heavens, and that... in that realm, and they got me back, got a pulse back, and I came back into my body. But I was still in a coma, so that's why it's just nothing but peace, black, like I'm asleep, you know?

21:06 And that was my first experience. I can't wait to hear about the rest. I wanted to interject a couple of things that I find really interesting. Everybody's experience is different. It has an NDE. this line, this big line is kind of an unusual thing that I find fascinating. The gate is not unusual and it's interesting to me that without being told most people feel like if they go beyond that gate or some people see like a mountain or a hill and they just know if I go beyond that that's wonderful but I've also made the decision to stay here versus Oh, if I want to go back to my body, I've got, I've got a limit. I can't go beyond that point. That's interesting how that just intuitively comes to you without anybody telling you and that you can feel God. No one has to introduce you. Hey Ricky, this is God, God Ricky, you know, it doesn't need to work like that. You just feel it and know it. And I think that's awesome. It was a matter of fact, it was just like immediately, you know, that's my creator, that's where I come from. It's like the children know their parents. It was just an instinct just right away. Yeah. Okay. Do you remember experiences from some of the other times that you flatlined also? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, the next one, I went to heaven another time too,

22:37 but this time I went, I'll keep it in order of how it happened. After I... made that promise, I went back into my body and, like I said, I don't know how long. Obviously, I'm in a coma for 33 days, so there's days could have went by, whatever. But the next thing I remembered was appearing in this. Every time I went into one of these rooms, I just appeared there. Well, I take that back. It was an appearance, but I do remember when I went to the other room on the hill, it was like I went... down, when I went to heaven, like, it was always, like, ascend. But when it was, like, going to the other realm, it was, I would be pulled down. And I remember going down and then appearing in the back of this, like a, like a Uber Black, like, you know, a Tahoe or SUV, suburban, some type of a SUV like that. And there was a driver. There was a driver. I had a driver. And he's driving me.

23:38 I'm in the backseat. And immediately, I already knew just from the energy, that it was evil, that it was immediately, it was bad, man, it was eerie. I was scared immediately. The feeling, the environment, the atmosphere. And I look around and it looked like, it looked like New York City. I'm not saying it's New York, actually, right, but it looked like something like a New York, you know, Manhattan and all the big bridges and the skyscrapers and stuff, but it was so... It was very ran down, smoke, fire. There's rioting going on everywhere. People all out in the street. I mean, man, there was so many people out in the streets. It was a little like the apocalypse.

24:23 We're going over this bridge that looked like, you know, the Manhattan Bridge or something like that. And I'm like, excuse me, sir, where are we? Where are we at? You know, I'm trying to talk to my driver. He never turned around. He just kept going. I'm like, man, I gotta, where am I at? You know, because I came to again, I'm coming to again, my mind is still sharp, I'm still who I am. And in my mind and my mental capacity and I'm just like, okay, where am I? And I don't want to be here. And I just remember that he pulled up to a, into the city where it's so much chaos going on. And I'm seeing these people as people, right? I'm seeing them still as humans. Of course I know they're not actually...

25:04 really human beings, but that's how I see them. You know, I see a drug dealer over here trying to kill another drug dealer over here, the stripper over here, a prostitute over here, people going to the club over here, people doing drugs or this, whatever they doing, whatever. You know, people are doing different things. Everybody was extremely angry. Everybody was really, really mad. And I mean, just savages, man. No remorse. And it was crazy. So I remember the car pulls over. in front of an abandoned, like an old hotel or something. In the city, in like this city, pulls over, the door just opens automatically, a force opens the door, and then another force pushes me out of the car. And then the door closed, and the car drives off. And I'm like, wait, wait, what's going on? You know, I'm freaking out, because it's a lot of, it's a lot of carrying on, a lot of things going on. And I'm just trying to get out the way. I'm trying to, you know, dodge and get out, because that's how bad it was. So I run into this abandoned hotel -looking building to get out of the way. When I go in there, it's dark in there. The lights are not on. And I'm like, hello, anybody here? Anybody in here? Nobody says anything. Man, I'm in the lobby right there, right? The lobby area. And the walks in is... Like, he had to be, like, 10 feet tall, man. All black, like, black trench coat, black, like, fedora hat, black glasses,

26:36 shades. And he had a helper with him. But he was, like, not... He was a demon. He was a demon. He looked like, I guess, the closest thing I could kind of put in that can make sense. Kind of like the Jeepers Creepers character from the movie Jeepers Creepers. monster or whatever you want to call it, but much bigger, much taller and much more, even more demonic looking. And he came right, like he was headed right at me. He's not walking. He's kind of like gliding, not like stepping with feet, but like it was supernatural, dude. It was completely from out of this world. I see him and it scared the mess out of me because I've never in my life experienced anything like that before in my life. And again, this is really going, this ain't no nightmare.

27:23 This is really happening. So did you feel completely stuck there? Yes, I did feel stuck. Yes, I'm glad you said that. Because as a matter of fact, as he got closer to me, it was like his aura was so powerful. Like he was so powerful in this realm of his. As he got closer to me, I just was like so feeble and weak. and stuck, and they were literally, like, stuck, like, paralyzed. And then he said, he points at me and he said, I gotta have him. He's one, he's chosen, he's special, I gotta have him. And I'm like, you can't have me, you know? And I'm like, I belong to God, he can't have me. Of course, that's all I can, that's all I know. Because I'm terrified, man, I don't know what else to do. I can't call on mama, can't call on my daddy, nobody else.

28:09 So I just said, I just started, like, praying and he's laughing, he's mocking me. and laughing at me as I'm trying to pray. He's getting closer to me as he gets closer. I drop to my knees, because I have no strength. I'm frozen or, like, paralyzed, like a snake, you know, can't move, stuck. And then he points at my arm, my left arm, and it picks up, like, just automatically, without me even trying. His power, his energy, sticks my arm out, and then he goes into his jacket to pull out, like, some kind of handcuffs or shackle cuff to try to... snapping around my left wrist. For some reason, it wouldn't latch.

28:50 It wouldn't clamp down. And he was so angry. He was in profanity, man. He was livid because he wanted, I guess it was an indication of him having taken my soul, but it would not clamp. That shackle wouldn't clamp. And he couldn't have it. So he stands back and he said, I have to show you something. Pulls out this long list sheet, drops to the ground. Millions of names. first name, last name, date of birth, date of death, and a profile, like a picture of them. He said, you see these people? He said he was a soul collector. He said he comes to collect souls once you die. And he said that he had already had a lot of them, and then he was waiting on others to steal, to just pass away, and then he was gonna come get them. They belonged to him. And I told him, I said, well, I don't belong to you, I belong to God. And he said, all right, we're gonna see about that. And he kind of laughed.

29:46 You know, like, everything was like a mockery. He didn't take nothing serious, I was saying. When I said I belong to God and that's all I could say, man, it just... It was so scary to me, because I'm like, I'm not a scary kind of guy. Like, I'm more of like the macho guy, you know. Growing up, you know, I love scary movies, all this kind of that. That's usually the type of guy I was. But when I faced this demon, man, it ain't not, dude. I ain't never seen nothing like that in my life. It scared me so bad. He went ahead, he fled him and his helper got up out of there immediately after. And I just stayed there and I cried, man. I wept and I said, God, please get me out of here. I don't want to be here. And it was so much like supernatural stuff going on, so much demonic and evil going on, man, in that realm. I couldn't stay in that abandoned building. I had to get up out of there, because it was like somebody was... I didn't want to take a chance at him coming back or another one coming, because there's demons walking around, you know, there's all kind of people fighting and killing each other. And then, like I said, it looked like the apocalypse or something. And then I try to go take cover elsewhere. I run out of that abandoned building, and I go behind like an alleyway. And there was some dumpsters and other stuff over there, and I kind of just like hid and stayed there. And because I was there for a minute, for a while, I remember looking out into the horizon as I'm hiding in this other

31:16 alleyway. I looked out into the horizon or out back toward the other way of the alley to where I could see out. Because I'm just trying to observe, where am I? The stripper was by, like... Prostitute chick, stripper chick walks by and she's like trying to give me the sleep butter and all, okay, it was crazy. I'm like, nah, man, I'm cool, like what? So it's showing me that like, okay, I'm assuming however these people were or in their heart, I'm assuming however they died, that's what, that's like they was carrying out however they were, whatever they truly were, I guess, because it's like I seen them and their personalities. Millions of people. Like I said, man, but I looked down into the back way of the horizon behind the alley. When you look, when you're in like New York or LA or Miami or somewhere, where a beach is at, where the ocean is at, you see a body of water right, see the ocean. When I look out there, I saw a lake of fire, lava. Like not a lake, but like an ocean, but it was fire, lava.

32:21 You know what I mean? It wasn't water. The whole fire and brimstone thing is real then? Oh, absolutely. This is terrifying. I'm hoping we're getting to the end of this portion. Because I want to find out how you get out of there. Well, that's the thing, man. I stayed put in that alleyway. I found a little area and I just hid and I stayed and I prayed. Like, I literally couldn't do anything else. I wasn't coming up out of there. other than praying my way out there. Like, I pray. I started crying. Like I said, I was weeping. And I was like, God, please get me out of here. Get me out of here, please. And as I'm praying, nothing's happening at first. I can't feel the presence of God here, you know. I don't feel anything. But all I know is prayer. What do you do when you're in a situation like that? There's nobody else you can turn to. Nothing else you can turn to. And that's all I knew was to pray.

33:17 And then after... A while, I finally... I disappeared. I vanished from that room. And it went back again to just pure black. And then at this point, I'm like, ah, okay. I'm fighting for my life here. That's when they like donned on me, like that aha moment, like, okay, I'm literally fighting between... I'm having like spiritual warfare here. I'm fighting for my life. Back and forth. I can see why you would have an experience in heaven. Why do you think you also had an experience in hell? I truly believe that because I wondered that too at first. I made my peace with God, you know, I repent, I did all the things, went through the sinner's prayer, all the things that my faith teaches us to do, like at the last few moments before I couldn't talk anymore. I made sure my heart was right. and made sure I made my peace with God before I got too far gone, you know, too sick, before they put me under.

34:18 So, I was bright, so if I passed away, I thought that I would've just welcomed me with open arms in heaven, and he wanted to show me, he wanted to use me as an example, man. I truly believe that, and that actually kind of segues into my next encounter, because the next time I did go to heaven again, and this time I was actually in heaven, inside of heaven. because I met, well, I appeared in a beautiful mansion, a beautiful two -story, beautiful home, mansion fully furnished. I'm sitting on the couch in a living room. TV's on, I'll never forget it. Pidges on the wall, everything. Kitchen's over here. The stairs, what is it like? The staircase with the curves around like that. Yeah, the grand staircases.

35:06 grand staircase, all that beautiful home, man. I'm like, man, where am I? Marble floors. I'm like, where am I? Because immediately the environment was, the atmosphere was so, again, it was that peace, that, you know, serene, like that whole amazing, I was, it felt, I felt happiness, I felt joy, I felt all the things. It was like night and day from hell, man. And I'm there and then, lo and behold, walks out a young man. a young man, about, he was about my age, maybe in his 20s, yeah, he was right there with me, and I knew him. It was my pastor from the church I grew up in. My mom had me and my sister, took me and my sister to the place I grew up in, where I also was the drummer of the church there growing up. It was him. It was him. You know, he passed away... In 1999, I was 14, 14, 15 years old, somewhere around there. He was a diabetic. When he passed away, he was ill. He was ill. He was an amputee as well. He was in a wheelchair. Older, you know, older gentleman, older than the gentleman who's sick. And I'll never forget that he always was saying. He was a really good man, very stand -up man, you know, amazing guy. And he really loved God for real. And he was a great example to me. And he, you know, he would pray over me and always, like, pour into me in my life and

36:38 be, like, a male mentor to me. When he passed away, he was an older guy. When I seen this young man in heaven, in his home, he, like I said, he looked like he was... He had to be between 25, 30 years old. But I knew it was him. And he walked out of his room, walked out full body. because he was in a wheelchair. Both of his legs were amputated back before he passed away, because he was a diabetic. But when I seen him, you know, vibrant, young, healthy, strong, happy, and I was like, oh, my God, Pastor Vincent was Finest Vincent. We'll call him Pastor Vincent. So I kept that respect, because I know this is... Even though we look the same age, I know this man is my elder, you know, and I actually know him, and I knew him on Earth. So he's like, hey, Ricky, how you doing, man? I said, man, I'm good.

37:28 I wasn't scared. I wasn't terrified or, you know, like, ghost. No, it wasn't that. He didn't have, like, wings, like, an angel or nothing. He was, like, human form. He had on, like, some khaki pants and a plaid shirt and a kango hat. And he just walked up. We embraced each other. We hugged each other. He told me to have a seat, you know, sit back down. And he said that God sent me to him. for him to encourage me. He said that he knew what was going on with my situation. He knew that I was fighting for my life and that God sent me to him in heaven for him to encourage me to continue to fight because he said that God felt like I could handle what I was going through. He felt like that he wanted to use me as an example to come back and to share and to tell the story to other people. that he does exist, that he is real. And, man, that was so encouraging. And I just feel like, like, who am I? Like, why me? You know, like, I'm not anybody special like that. To me, you know, that's, to me, I feel like that's a tremendous honor for me to be an example. I may not have to go through something to that magnitude, but that's what my pastor told me, man. And I was in his mansion in heaven, at his house in heaven. He sit there and we talked and he encouraged me and he told me, just keep fighting, don't give up. He said that I was gonna make it through. It didn't feel

38:58 like I was gonna make it through. But he said, man, you're stronger than you know. He said, whatever you do, do not give up, just keep going. And he said, I will come out. And here I am, man. So cool. So it's like your pastor's mission kept going on after his life here on Earth, didn't it? Oh, yes. That's the marriage. All right. Is there anything else that you left out? Ooh, I went back to hell one more time, man. Oh. Yeah, it was terrible. It was like a back and forth thing. You know, it'd be like angels and heaven and then hell and demons and, you know, and the last time I went there, it was pure torment, man. People were, like, chasing me, trying to kill me, you know, demons and there was even a vent up there, like a vent. uh, Truliquist, I think that's how you say it, Van Truliquist, Fan Truliquist, Doll. Yeah, those are, those can be scary, like, Chucky dolls and stuff. Get it? Like, it was, I have no idea why that, it was almost just like, that realm was complete torment, and I, I would... be dropped off there or just appear there. And that whole time I'm running for my life, you know, trying to take cover and always trying to hide and trying to maneuver and not be seen, because it was just such a, nothing but chaos and evil and it didn't even make sense. It was, but I did remember recalling one guy saying, we going to hell anyway, man.

40:29 We may as well just party. He like, they knew, they knew. So, I mean, when I talk to Bible scholars in different ways that study these things, they would say that I was in, they would call it like purgatory and like the in -between. Because even one of the other times, there was even a time where I had, I was in hell per se, but I was just in a space of like the unknown. I wasn't in heaven or hell. I was just like stuck. trying to find my way back to my body. Yeah, what some people call a void, just kind of there where there's sort of nothing, everything but nothing.

41:12 I'm a big believer that these near -death experiences are not given to us for entertainment purposes. Absolutely. Yours, Ricky, was given to you for lessons to learn. Both the heavenly and the hellish experiences were for you to learn from. Not not to be punished or anything like that, but to learn from I think as you spend more time and even though this has been ten years You're gonna be processing this for the rest of your life. Oh, yeah, I think you're gonna learn more like Okay, here's something I learned from that part of the experience and here's something I learned from this part of the experience and it wasn't pleasant being there but learned this lesson from it and then from the wonderful places and visiting with your pastor and stuff which is awesome and with God What have I learned from that and how do I take all these things into my life now? For the rest of the time and I'm that I'm gonna be here on this planet To become a better person and do more good things out there in the world. That's what it's all for in my opinion. I agree I agree. And I made a promise to God when I was in that line of judgment, man, that day in heaven. And I promise to share this testimony and share this story to share my experience no matter what. Unapologetically, a lot of people try to challenge me or question me of certain things if it really happened. I have all the

42:43 proof, videos, documented photos, like... Medical records this stuff really have I mean now obviously, you know the outer body part. I don't have that but it happened man You're in a judgment -free zone right here. So you can feel safe talking about all of this And if there's anything else you want to discuss about it. I want to hear it I also want to hear about what you learned from prayer You had mentioned your mother earlier. Were there people there praying for you to get well? And what did you learn about from that? Man, that part right there is a whole other piece, man. And in the book, it talks about it as well.

43:24 So my mom and my sister, man, and my family, my dad, my Montell Jordan is a good friend of mine, slash mentor. Uh, Rodney Darkchild Jerkins, big time producers, also a mentor of mine. All these people were praying for me, came together. My mom, man, she's the MVP, man. Thank God for my mom. She never gave up, man. They wanted to pull the plug every week, she said. Every weekend seemed like they were ready to pull the plug, you know? And if it wasn't for her, I absolutely wouldn't. You know, God using her, I wouldn't be here because... She had to fight with them to keep me going. It's just one of them things, man, where she, a praying mother, and the family, and the love of her mother's prayer, and just the strength and the love of your family is so powerful, man. I could literally feel the prayers, you know, from my mom. I literally could feel that. while I'm in this coma. Like, there were times, there were days my mom would be praying or just talking to... She would just talk to me some days, like how we're talking. I'm in a full -blown coma, but I can hear her talking to me. And it was soothing and it was comforting to me, and it made me know that she's still there.

44:37 Because we did make one promise before I went under. I said, Mom, promise me you won't ever leave my side. Promise me you won't ever leave my side or give up on me as we go through this. Because I knew we were... We knew we were about to go through something traumatic. with this incident. And my mom, she never, she kept the promise, she never gave up. And for that man, I'm forever grateful for my mom. There's nothing I can do to repair it back now. That's awesome. All right, before we wrap up, for those that have been waiting to hear a story about music stuff, and those are, in my opinion, not as important as what we've already heard. I don't know, you have any fun stories about being in the studio with Ariana Grande or anything that you want to share? Man, actually, yeah, man. Um, so with Ariana, I think one of the coolest things about her, working with her, that's what changed my entire... That changed my life, man. You know, for the better. It allowed me to come off my job permanently. I was working as a bank teller, Bank of America, and I just... left, man, put my two -week in and moved to LA, cold turkey, taking the chance. Shout out to Babyface too, Kenny Babyface admin man for giving me an opportunity because that's how I met Ariana, as well as Leon Thomas, as well as how I met Ariana Grande. But he allowed me to come into the studio, gave me the opportunity to work. I was a bit homeless for a little bit, man. I was sleeping in my car and sleeping in the studio. And then I would go to the gym where I would work out to shower

46:10 and do all the other things, brush my teeth, all those things. But it wasn't until... Because a lot of people, they think when it comes to music that it's an instant gratification or instant success. Like, with Ariana, we did those songs, we worked on that project maybe almost six months to a year before I saw Chet. But working with her, she was... She was such a light, dude. Like, right away, she knows what she wants. I learned a lot from her. She can run an entire studio session herself. Like, very intelligent, very brilliant young lady. Even coming straight out of what was in Nickelodeon and Broadway and all those things, she knew exactly what she wanted, man. And she was a great person, so I really want to thank her for giving me an opportunity because that's what gave me the wills under my career to get things going. All right, last thing, last question for you. Somebody listening today is having a rough day. Maybe they've lost a loved one. Maybe life is just extra tough for some reason. And it's not always easy to have faith that there's gonna be something better after this life. Leave us with a message of hope. Okay, so what I would say is someone dealing with, you know, struggles of faith was no different.

47:28 I was no different, looking at someone that struggled with his faith. Leading up until, you know, 2016, going through all those adversities and trials that I went through. What I would say is, man, you just have to do everything you can to remember to keep the main thing the main thing. Just allow yourself to always move with love and allow yourself to keep family around you. Keep those around you that love you. And it's so important because... If it wasn't for my loved ones and those around me and just love, period, I absolutely wouldn't be here today. And I felt the love, you know, I could feel the love in my darkest hours, in my darkest times. When it's easy, it's easy for me if I wanted to just give up and die, right?

48:15 If I wanted to die, I could have just gave up. But if it was the power of love and the power of prayer and that's what allowed my faith to enhance and to get strong. and allow me to pull through and persevere. So I just say, man, no matter what, just hold your head up. No matter what the circumstances are, hey, look at me. I went all the way there and came back and now I lost it all. And now I've been blessed to have more than I've ever had. I'm healthier than I've ever been. I have no complications. I have zero issues. And there's nothing wrong with me, but I'm very thankful to God and I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for the love that the people share around me. So just always remember that and keep that the center of the focus. Thank you for being a light. Thanks for being with me. That's Ricky Slick Music Offered. The book, I can't wait to finish it up, 30 Days Between Heaven and Hell. It just barely came out, I believe.

49:15 Yeah. September the 1st. It dropped September the 1st. Yeah. So hey, good luck in everything and keep in touch, Ricky. Thank you, Eric. I appreciate it. Thanks again for listening and sharing this podcast. Don't forget to hit the follow or subscribe button and sign up for our newsletter at roundtripdeath .com. If you want to share your near -death experience or if you have questions or comments about the show, send an email to eric at roundtripdeath .com. Until then, I wish you everything good that you're looking for in this life and the next.