Slick Rick's Cautionary Tale On "Children's Story" Proves He's Hip-Hop's Greatest Storyteller

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Over three decades later and Slick Rick's "Children Story" set the template for great storytelling.

Now, if you've been on Twitter at any point today, you've probably seen that Slick Rick was trending. Being a trending topic isn't always as positive as it once was. These days, if someone is trending, they're either canceled or dead. Thankfully, that's not the case with Slick Rick. Slick Rick The Ruler is among hip-hop's greatest storytellers of all time. His single, "Children's Story" was a perfect example of this.

A song that's been sampled and interpolated numerous occasions in the last 30 years, Slick Rick's smooth and vivid storytelling skills were put on full display on "Children's Story." Despite the innocuous title, Slick Rick's flips the concept of a fairy tale into a relevant cautionary tale. Detailing an altercation between a young boy and a cop, Slick Rick takes the listener on a journey through the backstreets as the young man tries to evade police following a botched stickup.

The song became the highest-charting song off of Slick Rick's The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick and to this day, still stands as hard proof that he's still among the greatest storytellers in the genre.

Quotable Lyrics
Sirens sounded, he seemed astounded
And before long the little boy got surrounded
He dropped his gun, so went the glory
And this is the way I have to end this story
He was only seventeen, in a madman's dream
The cops shot the kid, I still hear him scream


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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