Happy 30th Anniversary to Kool G Rap & DJ Polo’s second studio album Wanted: Dead or Alive, originally released August 14, 1990.
If you ever need to make a case for why Nathaniel “Kool G Rap” Wilson is one of the best emcees to ever breathe air, play Wanted: Dead or Alive. His sophomore album, released 30 years ago, shows him at the height of his abilities. He’s a near-perfect storyteller, verbal technician, and lyrical brawler, dominating all these areas and more throughout the album. Accompanied by his partner Thomas “DJ Polo” Pough, the duo creates their strongest and most cohesive release, which is also one of the finest albums of 1990. In another year crowded with some all-time great lyrical performances, Kool G Rap is still mostly without peers.
Kool G Rap and DJ Polo are likely best known for their debut full-length, Road to the Riches (1989). Released on Cold Chillin’ Records, it was produced in its entirety by Marley Marl, one of the central architects of the Juice Crew (of which Kool G Rap was a member). It’s an exceptional album that shared a lot in common with other debut albums by Cold Chillin’ artists, pairing dazzling lyrical displays with tracks that covered many of the other pre-established bases (dedication to the DJ, love song, club song, etc.).
Wanted: Dead or Alive is more focused in its execution and cohesive in its sound. And its emceeing is on another level. When you hear other artists talk about why Kool G Rap influenced them or why he’s their favorite rapper, the stuff they talk about is most prominently displayed on Wanted. On the album, G Rap has improved as emcee, fleshing out his concepts more, while still demonstrating complex lyrical techniques.
A “sub-plot” of Wanted concerns its production credits, specifically who produced what. Marley Marl is almost completely absent from Wanted, as the duo had decided to move on from working with one of the most renowned producers of all time. Kool G Rap linked up with longtime friend Eric B., getting him to executive produce the album. In turn, Eric B. brought Large Professor into the fold. Large Pro had been mentored by production legend Paul C., serving as his assistant in the studio. Extra P had come on to help finish some of the production his mentor had begun to work on with Eric B. & Rakim for Let the Rhythm Hit ’Em (1990).
Though Eric B. is credited with recording six tracks on Wanted, G Rap has long maintained that he didn’t handle the nuts and bolts of the production, mostly overseeing the album’s progress during studio visits. G Rap has consistently given credit to Large Pro for creating the sound of the majority of the album, stating that the then-still teenager produced the songs credited to both Eric B. and G Rap himself. It is recognized that DJ Polo produced a pair of tracks himself, along with one contribution from Biz Markie and Cool V. Anton Pukshansky (credited as “Anton”), a largely unheralded engineer and studio musician, also helped out with many of the songs.
Large Professor would later diss Eric B. on “Snake Eyes” from Main Source’s debut album Breaking Atoms (1991), calling him a “fake producer telling lies.” For what it’s worth, Eric B. has maintained through many magazine interviews and podcasts that he, in fact, did produce everything that he received credit for.
Though DJ Polo gets his name on the album’s cover, the majority of the scratches on Wanted were done by Andrew “Dr. Butcher” Venable. G Rap often alluded to a DJ named “the Butcher” on Road to the Riches, and finally brought in a cut-master with that moniker over a year after the fact. Dr. Butcher was highly skilled behind the turntables, his furious yet precise scratches complementing G Rap’s presence as an emcee. Dr. Butcher also served as a chauffeur of sorts while the album was being recorded, shuttling Large Pro back to high school after all-night sessions.
Wanted starts with “Streets of New York,” literally one of the best hip-hop songs of all time. Besides being a precise lyrical surgeon, G Rap is among the most gifted and vivid narrators to ever pick up a microphone. And still he manages to outdo himself with the first single from the album. I’ve written extensively about great hip-hop tracks where the artist provides a thorough view of life in the ghetto. It’s not an exaggeration to say that “Streets of New York” is the greatest of these.
G Rap wields his attention to detail like a scalpel, painting with his pen intricate and intimate portraits of those living on the edges of existence, forgotten by society and consumed by despair. “It gets tiring the sound of a gun firing,” he laments. “They must desire for the sound of siren / A bag lady dies in the alley ways / She’s seen the last of her days inside the subways.” He juxtaposes the snapshots that encapsulate the lives of the desperate with descriptions of pimps, players, and drug dealers, each profiting from the lives destroyed by the vices that they encourage. The beat, produced by Large Professor, incorporates guitar from Fatback Band’s “Gotta Learn How to Dance” and what sounds like a live saxophone and piano.
Though “Streets of New York” may be Wanted’s undisputed masterpiece, the long player takes its character from songs like the title track. As a whole, G Rap’s lyrics on Wanted are far more crime influenced, as G Rap seems to relish living the “gangsta lifestyle” and everything that goes with it. That G Rap is able to shift perspective and worldviews from one track to the next speaks to his prowess as an emcee. He narrates the title track from the front seat of a getaway car, racing through the streets, fleeing the police after a successful bank robbery. Amid the barely controlled wail of siren-like horns and blaring guitars from Dennis Coffey’s “Ride Sally Ride,” G Rap details his blood-soaked criminal endeavors and many vendettas against rival crews and crooked cops alike.
“Bad to the Bone” isn’t nearly as violent, but G Rap lays on his player/mafioso image fairly heavy. The track, credited to Eric B. but likely produced by Large Pro, is one of the album’s most dense and dark, driven by a sturdy bassline and intermittent blasts of horns and vocal grunts. G Rap basks in his mafioso-based swag, from the gold teeth and chains to the expensive dress and watches to fly women at his side. “Big spender, ’cause I’m a winner like Bruce Jenner,” he boasts. “I burn all beginners and let ’em simmer like a TV dinner.”
I don’t know what it says that on an album filled with rampant carnage, its “shocking” moment comes from “Talk Like Sex.” For whatever reason, graphic depictions of intercourse seem to make more people take notice than graphic depictions of death. These implications aside, “Talk Like Sex” features Kool G Rap rapping extremely blunt about… well… fucking. Large Professor samples a lesser-used portion of Syl Johnson’s “Different Strokes” and G Rap lays down the most verbally exquisite lyrics about hardcore sex possibly ever released. (Side note: though G Rap himself is credited as the song’s producer, he acknowledges, that he had nothing to do with the song’s production, giving all the credit to Large Pro.)
Three decades ago, hip-hop music was no stranger to clear descriptions of sex. 2 Live Crew, Too $hort, Geto Boys, and Ice-T (among others) all took pride in crafting filthy raps. But, as you’ll notice, all of these artists are from the South and West Coast. New York based rappers certainly bragged about carnal pleasures, but few got as explicit as G Rap does here. The track is filled with what were then jaw-dropping lines like “I'm pounding you down until your eyeballs pop out” and “I bust a nut and get up and wipe my dick on your curtain.” But even with the underlying crudeness, G Rap’s lyrical superiority shines through even when describing all manner of sex acts. It’s the most artful hip-hop pornography that I’ve personally heard, as many artists have since tried to imitate this track, with most failing to be nearly as entertaining.
It’s weird to say that “Erase Racism” is nearly as jarring of an entry on the album as “Talk Like Sex,” but part of the reason that it seems jarring is because of “Talk Like Sex.” Inspired by the 1989 death of Brooklyn youth Yusuf Hawkins, “Erase Racism” is as sincere as “Talk Like Sex” is crass, with G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, and Biz Markie all making heartfelt pleas for understanding and healing between all races and creeds, from Siberians and Nigerians to Jamaicans and Haitians. Produced by Biz and Cool V, it’s the most musically understated track on the album, with the emcees rhyming over muted keys and bassline. The Biz also provides the chorus for the song, crooning “Black & White” (the version most famously recorded by Three Dog Night) in the most out-of-tune and Biz way possible.
“Money In the Bank” is a rollicking posse cut featuring Large Professor, Freddie Foxxx, and Ant Live (Eric B.’s brother). It’s the one song on Wanted were Large Professor was given sole production credit, and it’s one of his best creations, as he mixes and filters basslines, drums, horns, and vocals from many different tracks to make a certified head-nodding track. On the mic, both Large Pro and Freddie Foxxx contribute solid verses early in the rhyming careers, but it’s G Rap who of course shines the brightest. His wordplay and delivery are immaculate as he raps, “Here’s a word, of a third degree burn, so listen and learn / you're missing a turn, so you better get concerned / My challenger, check the calendar I’m as live as a .45 caliber Colt with a silencer.”
G Rap very much plays to his strengths throughout Wanted. One area where he proved his aptitude on Road to the Riches was delivering fast-paced bonanzas. On songs like “Men At Work” and “Poison,” he went into overdrive rhyming at break-neck speeds. These style exhibitions were also his most potent lyric concoctions.
Wanted delivers a bevy of this type of tracks, with G Rap operating with laser-like precision over beats that edge towards 120 BPM. “Kool Is Back” is one, where he channels the same energy as the aforementioned “Men At Work,” delivering one lengthy, nearly two-and-a-half-minute verse over the bassline breakdown from Little Royal & The Swingmaster’s “Razor Blade.” “MCs are grounded, pounded down, astounded,” he raps. “Rounded up, pounds of sounds when I drowned ’em / Surrounded, check the date, and play when rate too great / Related too late, I demonstrate fate.” In Brian Coleman’s Check the Technique Volume 2, G Rap likened it to his version for Big Daddy Kane’s “Raw” or Eric B. & Rakim’s “Lyrics of Fury.”
The grim “Death Wish” is in a similar vein, though G Rap delivers his sinister rhymes in a more traditional format. Over a raging electric guitar sample, G Rap blisters the track with his vocals, rapping that “G's a madman, came from the Badlands / Crush n****s in my bare hands like beer cans.” Dr. Butcher furious cuts on the break from Bob James’ “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” help make the most rugged entry on Wanted.
DJ Polo helps produce “Jive Talk,” another of my personal favorite songs on the album, with assistance from the aforementioned Anton. Over a loop of “You Must Be Losing Me,” G Rap first delivers another exuberant verse, rapping, “A rap villain, chilling and I don't give a fuck about a killing / ’Cause I’m still in effect when you’re illing / A terrorist, I terrorize like an assassin / Yes, I’m trespassing, your ass I'm harassing.” The song’s second verse is mixed like an off-the-head studio cypher, seemingly springing up spontaneously in the midst of some shouts by G Rap and Polo. Truthfully, G Rap recites his verse from the at-the-time unreleased original version of Big Daddy Kane’s “Raw.” Throughout the verse either Polo or Large Pro (depending on who you ask) bangs away on the mixing board (or floor) with a set of drumsticks, giving the song an even more free-flowing feel. Dr. Butcher even kicks a few lines as the song fades out.
Polo also contributes some scratches of his own, notably on “Play It Again, Polo,” a dedication to his DJ skills. Sadly, he’s also responsible for “The Polo Club,” the worst song on Wanted. Polo was a fan of house music, so he put together the instrumental hip-house track, which is about as bad as most other songs of its ilk. Fortunately for me, hip-house was finally on the way out of hip-hop albums by the late summer/early fall of 1990.
The album ends on a sort of odd note with “Riker’s Island.” It’s the sole song on the album produced by Marley Marl, which isn’t what makes its inclusion odd. The weirdness comes from the fact that the song was originally released in 1987 as a one-off single. It seems tacked on here as some sort of bonus cut, possibly because of name recognition in reference to Marl. It’s possible that G Rap wasn’t even aware it was on the album until after it was released. “Riker’s” definitely sounds like it was a product of the mid 1980s, even sporting the same type of chorus on Marley Marl-produced tracks of that era (the stuttered repeating of the song’s title). As a whole, it’s decent enough. Though G Rap revealed that he’d never actually been in Riker’s before, he supplies a suitably grim view of NYC’s most notorious jail.
Kool G Rap’s expression of pure skill on Wanted: Dead or Alive deserves any and all accolades that it has received over the past three decades. When G Rap’s verses are combined with the game-changing production stylings by Large Professor and others, and sharp turntable tactics by Dr. Butcher and DJ Polo, much of this album is unimpeachable. It features pure poetry paired with smirking swag and unabashed vulgarity, hitting all these sweet spots in a near-perfect combination.
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