music.wikisort.org - Composition

"Cops Shot the Kid" is a song by American rapper Nas, featuring fellow rap artist Kanye West, from his eleventh studio album, Nasir (2018).

"Cops Shot the Kid"
Song by Nas featuring Kanye West
from the album Nasir
Recorded	2018
Studio	West's ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Genre	East Coast hip hop hip hop
Length	2:47
Label	Mass Appeal Def Jam
Songwriter(s)	Nasir Jones Ricky Walters Richard Pryor Kanye West Andrew Dawson Che Smith
Producer(s)	West Dawson (add.)

Background

Nas took to Instagram shortly after the song had generated attention as a standout from the album and paid homage to Slick Rick, since he's sampled and behind the inspiration for it.[1]

In October 2020, a snippet of the original version of the song featuring an unreleased guest verse from André 3000 surfaced online.[2][3]

Composition

For the background vocals saying: "The cops shot the kid" throughout the vast majority of "Cops Shot the Kid", a sample from "Children's Story" by Slick Rick is used.[4] The speech in the track's intro is sampled from a scene including Richard Pryor in 1973 Stax Records film Wattstax.[5]

Critical reception

The song received mostly positive reviews. NME described it as being: 'a track full of evocative images', and labelled the Rick sample as being both 'breathless' and 'frantic'.[6] Rolling Stone viewed "Cops Shot the Kid" as being the album's 'most cogent song' and branded West's appearance as a 'lone guest verse'.[7]

Commercial performance

Upon the release of Nasir, the track debuted at number 96 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[8] This made it the only song from the album to enter that chart.[9]

Charts

Chart (2018)	Peak position
UK Singles (OCC)[10]	97
US Billboard Hot 100[11]	96
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[12]	49

References

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