"The Great Adventures of Slick Rick" by Slick Rick

It’s the 35th anniversary of Slick Rick’s endlessly influential rap debut, for better and worse.

Few records from hip-hop’s “golden age” (for the sake of argument, let’s call it 1986-1994) have been as influential from a storytelling craft perspective as The Great Adventures of Slick Rick. The major label debut of the former Doug E. Fresh disciple, oddball half-British accent and all, was a catalyst in establishing rap as a vehicle for witty, dense, sometimes harrowing long-form narratives. He also pushed boundaries when it came to vulgarity and, unfortunately, misogyny, two elements that are still an intrinsic part of hip-hop’s cultural archetype. Subject matter aside, what stands out 35 years later is Rick’s skill on the mic. Except for Rakim and maybe Snoop Dogg (when he’s trying, that is), no emcee from that era could conjure up such vivid images while making the technical aspect sound effortless.

The centerpiece is “Children’s Story,” a four-minute masterclass in bar spitting that’s as precise as it is laid back. A tale of two kids who descend into petty crime—behavior that leads to a tragic end for one of them—is as cinematic as hip-hop gets, buoyed by Rick’s casual yet firm tone. Listening to it now, it’s uncanny how it actually sounds like your uncle tucking you in with a cautionary tale. The DNA in “Children’s Story” essentially makes Adventures work as an LP, blending quirkiness with just enough street cred to make the darker themes seem believable. As Busta Rhymes told Q Magazine in 2009, “He [Slick Rick] embodied what it was to be a superstar: the over-the-top persona, the jewelry, the clothes, his swagger, charisma, attitude. He had that London twang and the mannerisms but still had the ’hood mentality – the urban, edgy approach. Nobody else had that combination.”