The 50 Greatest Hip-hop Albums Ever - #47...

[Twentytwofifty]

Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1990)


In the streets of New York
Dope fiends are leaning for morphine
The TV screen followed the homicide scenes
You live here, you're taking a chance
So look and I take one glance, there's a man inside an ambulance
Crowds are getting louder, I wonder how the
People want to go fight for the white powder
People hanging in spots
They waited until the blocks got hot
And got raided by the cops
I'll explain the man sleeping in the rain
His whole life remains inside a bottle of Night Train
Another man got his clothes in a sack
Cause he spent every dime of his rent playing blackjack
And there's the poor little sister
She has a little baby daughter
Named Sonya and Sonya has pneumonia
So why's her mother in a club unzipped though?
Yo that's her job, Sonya's mommy is a bar stripper
Drug dealers drive around looking hard
Knowing they're sending their brothers and sisters to the graveyard
Every day is a main event, some old lady limps
The pushers and pimps eat shrimps
It gets tiring, the sight of a gun firing
They must desire for the sound of a siren
A bag lady dies in an alleyway
She's seen the last of her days inside the subways
More and more down the slope, the kid couldn't cope
So he stole somebody's dope and a gold rope
Now my son's on the run, he's a wanted one
Had fun then was done by a shotgun
Upstairs I cover my ears and tears
The man downstairs must have drank too many beers
Cause every day of his life he beats his wife
Till one night she decides to pull a butcher knife
Blind man plays the sax
A tune called “The Arms on My Moms Show Railroad Tracks”
Many lives are cut short
That's when you're living
In the streets of New York

   I've always believed that starting the album off on a good note and ending strong are very important in making a quality album.  This album accomplishes this very well to say the least.   "Streets Of New York" is one of the most thrilling and unique rap singles released; the sparse rhythm, adorned with assured piano runs that complement the song to the point of almost making the song, falls somewhere between a gallop and a strutand.  "Riker's Island" is both a great gangsta anthem as well as having a twist on it. Instead of bragging about the gangsta lifestyle, he talks about the horrors of being stuck upstate, and you can just imagine horrible it is in there.  Two classics to say the least.

C-74, adolescents at war
Put your ear to the floor, you can hear the roar
They take you out of BC, they now found you a cage
All eyes are glued to you like you're up on stage
If you're soft as a leaf, don't get into a beef
And God be with you chief if you got gold teeth
Some try to be hard, front and say I'm God
Don't know a lesson say a blessin, you're gonna get scared
(Yo call the C.O.)  That won't be necessary
He'll watch him beat you down, and take your commissary
Inside the lunchroom, you meet your doom
Someone is lookin at your sharper than a tablespoon
Use your hands like a man, don't go out like a chump
Never 'fess, bench press so that you can be pumped
If you don't got a game, you get beaten as lame
And scared as a mouse in a house of pain
So to all the jailbirds that listen to hip-hop
Move your pelvis like Elvis do the Jailhouse Rock
You might be coolin, you might be stylin
But you won't be smilin on Riker's ISLAND

    With a wider range of sounds on this album and the expansion of G Rap's lyrical range, Wanted: Dead Or Alive is one fantastic album.  "Talk Like Sex" is one of the nastiest, raunchiest thing he ever recorded, with "I'm pounding you down until your eyeballs pop out" acting as an exemplary claim made in the song.  Freddie Foxxx and Large Professor drop their signature braggadocio on the amazingly hot "Money In The Bank", which of talks about just what you'd think it would, money in the bank. The boasts, as ever, are in no short supply, but "Erase Racism" takes a break from the normal proceedings with guest spots from fellow Juice Crew brothers Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie. It's both funny and sobering, with Biz Markie's chorus providing comic relief after each verse.  "Death Wish" is both a great battle song, as well as an appropriate use of thuggisms. It's incredible, Kool G. literally rips the mic to shreds on this track, with his strong, old-school punches and that aggression that I love so much from him. Kool G. Rap benefits a lot from being aggressive on the mic, and when he does attack the mic like that, you end up with some great music.  Adding yet another dimension to the album, DJ Polo throws in a hip-house instrumental that avoids coming off like a throwaway. This album is only part of a major swarm of brilliant rap records from 1990, but it will never be lost in it.

   
50. Dr. Dre - 2001 (1999)
49. Outkast - Southernplayalisticaddicmuzik (1994)
48. Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (1996)
47. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1990)

[Throwback]

dope read. props. lookin forward to your #46.

[white Boy]

yea dope read, if u dont mind, can u post the songs that have piano in em?

[Twentytwofifty]

If you didn't notice you can download the whole album.  (click the album cover)

[white Boy]

o, why thats enjoyable, props

[Minkaveli]

props, I will dowload it later.  Kool G Rap is under rated. Mad under rated.   

[makaveli11]

I am actually starting to enjoy this top 50 albums of all time. Thanks for the kool g rap album ... I been wanting to listen to him for a while now.

[eS El Duque]

If you didn't notice you can download the whole album.  (click the album cover)

oh shit..props...nice review too


i'll be looking forward to #46

[maxbiaggi]

uy486u5

[Spicemuthafuc*in1]

i will give you props for the work and reviews that you are doing, and i appreciate how we can download the whole album, however i didnt think this album was very good at all

[Twentytwofifty]

uy486u5

^^^ Greatest first post ever.

[Spicemuthafuc*in1]

knuckles i am curios as to what westcoast artists you like, which ones are your favorites. i am always saying you have a eastcoast bias and maybe thats not fair, who fromt he west do you like?

non westcoast rappers that i  personally like and respect their skills
(nas, lil wayne, dmx, twista, krs1, bg, biggie, and there are more believe it or not)

[big mat]

i don't see what's wrong with him liking more the eastcoast, cuz hip hop started there, i'm a fan of both coast. plus it's just 4 albums, wait til the numba 1 then u'll see

[Mac 10 †]

i don't see what's wrong with him liking more the eastcoast, cuz hip hop started there, i'm a fan of both coast. plus it's just 4 albums, wait til the numba 1 then u'll see

this may be true but i think ppl are curious / concerned bcoz "Dr. Dre - 2001" is sitting pretty at #50

not sure how many other ppl on this forum wouldn't have it in their top 20, never mind havin it just scrape into their top 50

[We Fly High]

thanks. kool g rap is one of my favorites. and streets of new york is fucking badass. he set up this whole gangsta rap shit. i was very lucky to be able to see him perform in New York in a small club.. shit was dope as hell.  ... also were the previous albums downloadable too?