The Great Adventures of Slick Rick

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The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
The Great Adventures of Slick Rick cover
Studio album by Slick Rick
Released May 2, 1988
Recorded 1987-1988
Genre Rap
Length 49:46
Label Def Jam/Columbia
Producer(s) Jam Master Jay
Slick Rick
Eric Sadler and Hank Shocklee (The Bomb Squad)
Professional reviews
Slick Rick chronology

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick
(1988)
The Ruler's Back
(1991)


The Great Adventures of Slick Rick is an album by East Coast hip hop performer Slick Rick, released in 1988 (see 1988 in music). While Slick Rick's distinctive delivery and humorous tone earned him many fans, making this album one of the most popular albums from the golden age of East Coast rap, his vulgarity and misogyny (such as on "Treat Her Like a Prostitute") also earned him many detractors. The album is among the few to receive a perfect five mic score from The Source magazine. In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Source Magazine's 100 Best Rap Albums.

It topped Billboard's Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, and peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200. It is also featured in the soundtrak for GTA:San Andreas.

Contents

[edit] Overview

As Slick Rick is often considered by many to be the greatest storyteller in hip-hop history, his debut album acts for the most part as a showcase of his apparent storytelling aptitude. Within the context of these chronicled accounts, a variety of subjects are addressed; many of which inject at least some amount of humor, whether it be overtly obvious or not. Though the album is known for its use of seemingly irreverent humor, it is quite interesting to note that perhaps the most famous song on the album, "Children's Story" is a tragic tale that can be interpreted as an implicit condemnation of violence and greed. Sex is the focus of two of the offerings on the album, "Treat Her Like A Prostitute" and "Indian Girl (An Adult Story)". The former was probably the most controversial for being what seemed at the time to be nothing more than a misogynistic take on women. Some however, see it simply as a statement that one should should not rush into relationships without knowing what they're getting into. Tracks such as "The Ruler's Back" and "Let's Get Crazy" stray from the path of chronological documentation to give way to party jams; and "Teenage Love" is a heartfelt ode to just exactly what its title suggests. Overall, it is an album combining the non-combative arrogance of a young rapper with his softer side to create arguably one of the greatest albums hip-hop has ever seen.

The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick is well known for having its songs heavily sampled by artists and is often paralleled with Paid in Full as one of the most sampled hip-hop albums of all time. Classic singles such as KRS-One's 'Outta Here' and O.C.'s 'Time's Up' have used snippets for hooks. It is also an album that has been quoted by many rappers, most notably the aforementioned "Children's Story".

[edit] Track listing

# Title Producer(s) Performer (s)
1 "Treat Her Like A Prostitute" Slick Rick Slick Rick
2 "The Ruler's Back" Jason Mizell Slick Rick
3 "Children's Story" Slick Rick Slick Rick
4 "The Moment I Feared" Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee Slick Rick
5 "Let's Get Crazy" Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee Slick Rick
6 "Indian Girl (An Adult Story)" Slick Rick Slick Rick
7 "Teenage Love" Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee Slick Rick
8 "Mona Lisa" Slick Rick Slick Rick
9 "Kit (What's The Scoop)" Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee Slick Rick
10 "Hey Young World" Slick Rick Slick Rick
11 "Teacher, Teacher" Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee Slick Rick
12 "Lick The Balls" Eric Sadler, Hank Shocklee Slick Rick

[edit] Samples Used

  • "Children's Story" samples "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins & "Nautilus" by Bob James
  • "The Moment I Feared" samples "Funky Drummer" by James Brown" & "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" by Bob James
  • "Mona Lisa" samples "Frisco Disco" by Eastside Connection & "Walk On By" by Dionne Warwick
  • "Kit (What's the Scoop?)" samples "Planetary Citizen" by Mahavishnu Orchestra
  • "Teacher, Teacher" samples "You'll Like It Too" by Funkadelic

[edit] Album Chart Positions

Year Album Chart positions
Billboard 200 Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
1989 The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick #31 #1

[edit] Singles Chart Positions

Year Song Chart positions
Billboard Hot 100 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Hot Rap Singles Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Hot Dance Music/Club Play
1988 "Teenage Love" - #16 #8 - -
1989 "Children's Story" - #5 #2 #39 #34
1989 "Hey Young World" - #42 #17 - -

[edit] Personnel

  • Glen E. Friedman - Photography
  • Jason Mizell (as Jam Master Jay) - Producer
  • Eric "Vietnam" Sadler - Producer
  • Hank Shocklee - Producer
  • Slick Rick - Vocals
  • Ricky Walters - Producer
  • Rick Rubin - Producer

[edit] External links