Morris evolved from a high-school drop-out look into something more faux-bourgeois. Everything from his walk, to his laugh, to his brand name dropping gave that vibe. What made him cool was the "street" undertones to his one-liners. Kind of like what would happen if Carlton Banks went to Carver High instead of Bel-Air Academy.

Rick, conversely, was straight and unapologetically street, but in a way that if he decided to steal David Lee Roth's mike as Van Halen was playing and take over... he would do it. His style seemed more inspired by Larry Dotson's, but Rick stripped it even more down and dared people to say something.

I look at Rick on Dave Letterman, and here's a level of singular, atomized confidence you just didn't see in Black Male performers aiming to bust out of the usual confines at the time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzhGJx48H1o


Morris was more "undertones", Rick was more about saying it outright. In the latter sense, I think Prince took a lot from him.