Search - Kool G Rap, DJ Polo :: Road to the Riches: Wanted Dead Or Alive

The Original Gangsta still in Effect!

Groovemasta | Washington, DC USA | 08/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The majority of the top selling east coast rappers of today, from Nas to Jadakiss to Raekwon to Beenie Siegal all owe a huge dept to the Kool Genius of Rap. If you don't know, Kool G. Rap was spitting criminology on wax back in the late '80s, easily 5 years before all five boroughs started popping guns and champaign corks. If you listen to today's MCs, there are two rappers from the golden years who's influence still hangs over the rap game like a mushroom cloud. The first of course is the one and only Rakim. The second, and sadly, too often ignored in conversations about the all time greats, is Kool G. Rap. This set leaves no doubts that this man was one of the illest ever to touch a mic piece. The first album in this set is the 1988 debut, Road to the Riches which featured the ground breaking title track, which seems to have served as a blueprint for so many street narratives of recent years. In addition, G. Rap flexes impeccable mic skills over Marly Marl's raw yet refined production on the classics "Poison", "Men at Work" and "Truly Yours". This album stands as one of the highlights of the Golden Era (1986-89) and would easily be worth the price of purchase, but wait, there's more! Wanted Dead or Alive, the 1990 follow up is also included! While some of the production on Wanted now sounds dated (Marly only did one cut), it also shows the evolution of G. Raps style, as he truly steps into his own as the father of murda muzik. The highlight is definetly "Streets of New York", one of the rawest and most compelling street naratives ever, and seemingly the inspiration of Nas's "New York State of Mind". Any old school head who doesn't own these two albums should definetly pick this up as a refresher course on how nice G. Rap was. Any new jack who regularly bumps any of the artists mentioned above needs to pick this up to learn the roots of what they are listening to. In other words, a must for all!"

MUSTHAVE!

supac_2000 | East Orange, NJ United States | 06/09/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Simply put: If you are a hip-hop connoisseur, and you do not have this in your collection, you are a fool, and you need to step your game up real quick! Road to the Riches and Wanted and Dead or Alive in the same package? These classics are from hip-hop's golden era that introduces you to the Large Professor and Freddie Foxxx (Money in the Bank) and the slept-on Erase Racism (BDK and BizMarkie) to name a few. For all the WHBI heads out there, you know that Riker's Island was the jumpoff. Absolutely a MUSTH HAVE!"

Definite must-have for hip hop purists

stevey wundar | Houston | 06/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you feelin' artists like Kane, Rakim, Nas, Jay-Z, Scarface,(some TuPac & Biggie), AZ, Common and Mos Def, you gotta have this LP to complete your collection.



Kool G. Rap is the OG in hip hop for all-time!



Highly recommended purchase!"