10 Best Hip-Hop Albums Of The 1980s - Ranked

English rapper Slick Rick made a name for himself with his style, energy, bravado, and sonic storytelling of his legendary rap song "Children's Story", which become one of the most important rap songs to ever hit the scene, telling the haunting story of a child being misled to start robbing for money, and the downward spiral that follows is one of the most engaging narratives in music history.

Slick Rick's nasally voice has a snug fit with the percussion that backs the deep-piano riff that loosely plays underneath the song. And that is just his sound, the actual lyrics of the album are so raunchy and in-your-face that it is easy to be turned off by the sheer boldness of the track titles like "Lick The Balls" and "Treat Her Like a Prostitute".

However, there is a deeper meaning behind the use of this imagery, and would go on to become something particularly prevalent in the modern era of music.

For example, the song "Treat Her Like a Prostitute" comes off as a misogynistic attack on women, but ends up being an emotionally vulnerable cautionary tale from Rick, using his past relationship troubles to harshly criticize and berate women out of spite, a flawed perspective that banks off of a human emotion and uses a violent vocabulary to conceptualize it.

Seen today in spades with rappers like Tyler, The Creator, the success of him and other rappers are due in part to the evolution of lyricism that Slick Rick is earnestly credited for being a large part of.