The song samples "Children's Story" by Slick Rick throughout, and includes dialogue spoken by Richard Pryor from the film Wattstax (1974); both are also credited as writers.
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.
[4] The speech in the track's intro is sampled from a scene including Richard Pryor in 1973 Stax Records film Wattstax.
[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'.