The Juice Crew

Marley Marl's MC collective, The Juice Crew was on fire in 1989. Marley released his In Control Volume 1 compilation a year previous, and its standout cut "The Symphony" took the idea of the posse cut into the stratosphere. Masta Ace, Craig G., Kool G. Rap, and Big Daddy Kane committed some of their best verses to record, over one of Marley's best beats.

Although Kool G. Rap debuted in 1986 with "It's A Demo"/"Im Fly", and dropped 'Rikers Island' the next year, his performance on "The Symphony" is the one that placed him on the radars of those not yet in the know. G. Rap was also featured on 1987's "Juice Crew All Stars" along with Roxanne Shante, MC Shan, Craig G., Glamorous, and Tragedy, which further established him as one to watch.

"He literally rhymed until the tape ran out," Big Daddy Kane told Rock The Bells of G. Rap's recording of "The Symphony". "His original rhyme was like six minutes. I didn’t get a chance to rhyme before the tape ran out. I told him to just say the first half, Marley said that the second half was better,” says Kane between laughs.

G. Rap ended up scrapping that entire first rhyme and saying an entirely different rhyme (which is what the world heard on “The Symphony”). The original rhyme that G. spit appeared the next year on “Men At Work” from Road To The Riches.

Poison

Two sonic events were responsible for greatly boosting the anticipation for a Kool G. Rap full length album. G. Rap's appearance on an exclusive WBLS version of "Raw" with Big Daddy Kane, and 1988's "Poison" put to rest any questions concerning G.Rap's skills as an MC.

"Poison" showcases the best of both Marley Marl's production and G's wordplay. A flip of James Brown's "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" provides the backdrop for G. Rap to spit: "This is poison so be alert and cautious/Those who act courageous you will get nauseous/Infected or contaminated/Turn on your stereo and become radio-activated/Deadly and fatal, poison the title/
My recital hits the parts that are vital/So tune in the tone of beats and poems/Polo's headphones becomes a skull and crossbones"

Road To The Riches

Road To The Riches, the lead single and title cut from Kool G. Rap and Polo's debut album is the tale of G. Rap's rise from a street level drug dealer to the life of luxury. "I used to stand on the block/Sellin' cooked up rock/Money bustin' out my sock, 'cus I really would clock," he rhymes. The tale is not one that glorifies his past, its also cautionary. "Rough in the ghetto, but in jail he's Jello, Mellow, yellow fellow, tell or hell, hello/One court date can turn an outlaw to an inmate/.....shipped him upstate by the Great Lakes."

The Album

As an album, Road To The Riches displays G at his best. "Men At Work" is a stand out that features G. Rap rhyming over the uptempo foundational breakbeat, "Apache". Throughout the song he speaks of building a skyscraper as a metaphor for constructing a rhyme. "Men At Work" is an example of G's best wordplay.

"Deadly rhymes, here's the solution/Smokin' so bad, I'mma cause a pollution/With satisfaction, bad assassin, fatal attraction/Chop you to an improper fraction/Ill insanity, kill like Amity-Ville horror as I wipe out humanity/Won't leave a path, to track, a trail to trace
But when you're staring inside of a mirror, you see my face."

"Truly Yours" is another standout which features Kool G. Rap delivering a scathing "letter" to an ex girlfriend. "Truly Yours" highlights his storytelling abilities as he paints vivid scenarios in his diss.

In a 2014 interview he recalled that some of the lyrics were seen as homophobic. "'Truly Yours' got protested against. Certain groups of people took offense to it and protested the album at the radio stations. That song pretty much got my album pulled off the shelves in the West Coast; all the protesting was coming from there. I was just being comical. This was a creative side of G Rap. It was nothing against homosexuals, I wasn't even thinking that way when I wrote it."

"Trilogy of Terror" is another uptempo cut which showcases G. Rap's incredible breath control, while "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not" is the rare G. Rap ballad. The previously released "It's A Demo" received a remix while "Rhymes I Express" highlights G. the wordsmith over a slick interpolation of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express". Road To The Riches has stood the test of time, and remains one of the best debut albums in Hip-Hop.