What is a better song: "Just A Friend" or "Children's Story"?

Rick

Children's Story

love just a friend but it's not even close

prefer just a friend

slick rick by miles

Much closer if you use a biz raps song rather than a biz sings song.

nobody beats the biz

uh, biz's rapping on "Just a Friend" is great

the vapors, spring again >>> just a friend

la-di-da-di, mona lisa >>> children's story

ILM disagrees, rev.

The Great Adventures of Slick Rick Poll

I voted for "Mona Lisa" there, too.

love just a friend but it's not even close

-- M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, May 14, 2008 12:57 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Link

insane poll

childrens story x1000000

does somebody who's all "children's story not even close" wanna go into a little more detail about their opinion, thx

"Just A Friend"'s delivery is a laconic materpiece of humorous drawl that makes a really simple story about a dude getting cheated on by a long-distance girlfriend he doesn't really know more interesting. The beat is undeniable but somewhat thin; this is a song that greatly benefits from club speakers as your average radio is going to render it somewhat tinny and small-sounding due to the beats sparseness and the reverb on the drum loop.

"Children's Story" has similar comedic overtones due to the timbre of Slick Rick's voice, which makes the lyrics by comparison that much more bleak and harrowing, particularly when you get to the ending. Furthermore, the overarching conceit behind "Children's Story" (ie, it is a bedtime story for young, impressionable kids and the bewildered reaction it engenders at the end) really elevates it to genius. Add into that the warm synths buzzing through the whole piece and a much more active, compelling bass line and, well... "Children's Story"; not even close.

okay i'll try:

okay right from jump i love it -- that little weird minor key skittering piano riff overlayed with the horns (?) that sort of remind me of some augustus pablo type melodica shit that j-live used on "satisfied"...the bass hits bounce around the track in a cool and odd way too, almost reggae (or maybe proto reggaeton i'd say but i'm probably just talking out of my ass)....also the super long fadeout part is great...the way they keep hitting the sampler for the "knock 'em out the box, rick" (or i used to hear it as "talk about the bronx, rick") is sort of weird and fun, like some kid dicking around with some music equipment just cuz it's a neat new toy.

slick's little kid voice is too cute, i love all of slick's multiple personality voices...the big booming "cop" voices, the women...

overall the whole track is an exhibition of why slick is so fucking great, maybe the greatest ever....his timing, the way he changes up the flow all the time...darting lines in and out of beat...lots of internal rhyming and great cadence:

"Escap-ed a-liiiive but the car was battered
rat-a-tat-tatted and all the cops scattered
raaaaaan out of bullets and he still had static
grabbedthepregnantladyandpulledouttaautomatic
*pause*
pointedatterheadhesaidthegunwasfullalead
hetoldacops
*pause*
[low voice] Back off! or honey here's dead!"

and even though it's sort of a street gangsta tale, slick makes it seem sort of sad and storybook...it's sort of light in tone but hardcore the way only really slick can do....then the last lines are a suckerpunch the same way that the end of "the message" is...how you lived so fast and died so young...

"only 17 in a madman's dream
the cops shot the kid
i still hear him scream"

so yep j0hn this song ain't funny so don't u dare laugh.

that's the best i can do.

yah i mean its hard not to talk about children's story by putting in terms of profundity vs. silly trifle, the kind of language that almost always stacks the deck against the silly trifle. But in this case I think Rick has an advantage in a number of ways just as a more interesting rapper

slick glides between the two with such grace though it doesn't seem like it's weird or contradictory in tone though, that's his genius to me

^^^^^^this

Furthermore, the overarching conceit behind "Children's Story" (ie, it is a bedtime story for young, impressionable kids and the bewildered reaction it engenders at the end) really elevates it to genius.

almost reggae (or maybe proto reggaeton

ska

yeah maybe

i don't know "real" ska well enough to say though

children's story vs the message

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