Wanted Dead Or Alive is Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's sophomore album, released only a year after their critically-acclaimed debut Road To The Riches. With production by Large Professor, Marley Marl, Cutmaster Cool V, Biz Markie and Anton, Wanted Dead Or Alive is one of the duo's strongest full length releases. Although he released "Rikers Island" earlier in his career, G Rap broadens his lyrical scope further and tackles social issues on "Streets of New York" and "Erase Racism."

Streets of New York

The lead single from Wanted Dead Or Alive is "Streets of New York." Produced by G Rap, Large Professor and Anton. With its heavy usage of keyboards and horns, "Streets of New York" was a sonic departure from their sample heavy Marley Marl-produced debut album.

Kool G Rap's gift of vivid picture painting is on full display on "Streets of New York": "In the streets of New York dope fiends are leaning for morphine/the TV screen follows 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 right to 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."

Erase Racism

"Erase Racism," the second single and video from Wanted Dead Or Alive, features G Rap's Juice Crew comrades Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie. The light-hearted, slow-tempo track contains an interpolation of "What's Goin' On" by Les McCann, with Biz singing "Black and White" by Three Dog Night. The video features people of different racial backgrounds interacting, and even contains a reenactment scene from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, where Yusef Hawkins was murdered in a racially-motivated hate crime. The video received heavy airplay on Yo! MTV Raps, Video Music Boz and other programs that aired rap videos.

Bad To The Bone

"Bad To The Bone" is the third and last single released from Wanted Dead Or Alive. Over a warm bassline, G Rap spits his trademark mafioso rap. "I'm bad to the bone with a style like Al Capone/ I'ma smile while I give you the dial tone /eatin' shrimp and girls I be pimpin' Walk like I'm limpin' this brother ain't simpin' /not to mention I'm winner of Mack Daddy conventions /I get a lot of attention sleepin' in sheets that's made of satin/ with one of my money makin' honies she's mixed Spanish and Latin/ she's a fly type of swinger twenty carats on her fingers, minks on every coat hanger /in a high rise, made for only fly guys with a size that attracts the ladies eyes."

G Rap and Large Professor crafted a track that stands as one of G. Rap's best.

Though "Talk Like Sex" was never released as a single, it stands as one of G's most lyrically clever pieces, as he brags about his sexual prowess. "Money In The Bank" is the album's posse cut, which features Large Professor, Kool G Rap and Eric B's brother, the late Ant Live. Though it isn't always discussed in conversations about the great posse cuts, "Money In The Bank" is indeed top tier.

"Death Wish," Kool Is Back" and "Wanted Dead Or Alive" all highlight how effectively G flows over faster tempos. Wanted Dead Or Alive remains one of Kool G. Rap & Polo's most solid projects.