| "Children's Story" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bySlick Rick | ||||
| from the albumThe Great Adventures of Slick Rick | ||||
| Released | April 4, 1989 (1989-04-04) | |||
| Recorded | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Hip hop | |||
| Length | 4:02 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter | Ricky Walters | |||
| Producer | Slick Rick | |||
| Slick Rick singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Children's Story" onYouTube | ||||
"Children's Story" is a song by British-American rapperSlick Rick, released on April 4, 1989 byDef Jam andColumbia as the second single from his debut albumThe Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1989). The song, written by Rick, tells a cautionary tale warning about the dangers of a life of crime.
The most successful single ofThe Great Adventures of Slick Rick, "Children's Story" was a top-five hit on both theBillboardHot Black Singles andHot Rap Singles charts, staying on the former chart for nineteen weeks and the latter for eleven. The song was also critically acclaimed, with reviewers praising its storytelling and musical tone. Since its release, it has become one of the most sampled rap songs of all time.
"Children's Story" uses a pianointerpolation of thebassline ofBob James' 1974 instrumental "Nautilus".[1][2] In a 2018 interview withRolling Stone, Rick stated that he chose to interpolate the song due to its "gritty city edge", stating: "it was big in urban communities before rap records, right? When they used to have street concerts, picnics, barbecues, whatever when they play outside and stuff like that — like theCold Crush Brothers, likeFlash and them before they made records." After developing the beat, Rick began working on the lyrics.[1] Originally, the song was about a fairytale, but later in the album's development, Rick changed the subject matter into a cautionary story about criminal behavior.[3]
Although Rick wanted "Children's Story" to be the first single ofThe Great Adventures of Slick Rick, Def Jam chose to release "Teenage Love" first.[4] As a result, "Children's Story" was released as the second single from the album on April 4, 1989,[5][6] although the original demo of the song was already inrotation on rap/R&B radio stations and MTV prior to its release.[3]
Henry Adaso ofLiveAbout ranked it #44 on his list of the 100 greatest rap songs, stating that it was a "masterfully woven narrative ... by hip-hop's greatest storyteller."[7] Jesse Ducker, writing forAlbumism, stated that the song was "on many a shortlist for greatest hip-hop songs of all time", noting how it was a "classic tale of the perils of getting caught up in the street life", whose musical tone "manages to be both dark and upbeat, making it a timeless club staple".[5] Christopher Weingarten ofRolling Stone called it "the epic yarn that defines storytelling rap," stating that it was "a casually spit tale of cops and robbers, rise and fall, hubris and dread."[1] TheLos Angeles Times called it "a violent, clever bedtime tale."[8]
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[17] | 5 |
| USHot Rap Songs (Billboard)[18] | 2 |
| USDance Club Songs (Billboard)[19] | 39 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[20] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
