"Ill Street Blues" is the first single from American hip hop duo

Kool G Rap Nathaniel Thomas Wilson (born July 20, 1968), better known by his stage name Kool G Rap (or simply G Rap), is an American rapper from Queens, New York City. He began his career in the mid-1980s as one half of the group Kool G Rap & DJ Polo and a ...

& DJ Polo's 1992 album '' Live and Let Die''. Released with "Fuck U Man" as a B-side, it was later also featured on the compilation albums '' Killer Kuts'' (1994), '' The Best of Cold Chillin''' (2000) and ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' (2002).

Background

hardcore hip hop Hardcore hip hop (also hardcore rap) is a genre of hip hop music that developed through the East Coast hip hop scene in the 1980s. Pioneered by such artists as Run-DMC, Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, it is generally ch ...

song with elements of

Mafioso rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, emerged in the mid- to late 1980s as a controversial hip-hop subgenre whose lyrics assert the culture and values typical of American street gangs and street hustlers. Many gangsta rappe ...

, "Ill Street Blues" sees Kool G Rap tell the story from the perspective of a career criminal and

mob Mob or MOB may refer to: Behavioral phenomena * Crowd * Smart mob, a temporary self-structuring social organization, coordinated through telecommunication Crime and law enforcement * American Mafia, also known as the Mob * Irish Mob, a US crimin ...

henchman. The song is driven by bluesy piano loops sampled from Joe Williams' "Get Out of my Life", and G Rap recalled in a 2014 interview: The song's first verse tells of G Rap and his sidekick Bill Blass being sent to retrieve money from a

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

-addicted bartender named Jimmy who is in debt to the mob. He is unable to pay the money, however, and they are instructed to kill him instead. Blass distracts him while G Rap enters the bar through the back entrance, and kills Jimmy by shooting him in the back of the head and stabbing him with a knife. He describes committing various robberies in verse two and, in verse three, tells of how his mob boss betrayed him and attempted to have him and Blass killed. They take revenge by throwing him from a skyscraper. Speaking of the identity of Bill Blass, his sidekick in the song, G Rap said: "Ill Street Blues" was recorded at Powerplay Studios and

Chung King Studios Chung King Studios was a recording studio that operated in New York City under that name from 1986 to 2015. It was founded by producer John King and engineer Steve Ett with financial backing from the Etches brothers, occupying three different locat ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Ill Street Blues", Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's fourth, was directed by Lionel C. Martin and portrays some of the events mentioned in the song.

Critical acclaim

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...

ranked "Ill Street Blues" at #35 in their list of 100 greatest rap songs.

Samples

"Ill Street Blues" samples the following songs:Ill Street Blues at Who Sampled
/ref> *"Get Out of My Life" by Joe Williams featuring The Jazz Orchestra And was later sampled on: *"At the Top" by M.O.B. (Massive of Brooklyn) *"Bronx Tale" by Fat Joe featuring KRS-One *"Bad Boy Elect" by Sleepy Wonder *"Make a Buck" by

Count Bass D Dwight Conroy Farrell (born August 25, 1973), better known by his stage name Count Bass D, is an American rapper, record producer and multi-instrumentalist who resides in Millheim, Pennsylvania. His production style is characterised by layers o ...

featuring

MF Doom Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...

*"Tuned Mass Damper" by

El-P Jaime Meline (born March 2, 1975), better known by the stage name El-P (shortened from his previous stage name El Producto), is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Starting his career as a member of Company Flow, he has been a ...

*"Ill Street Blues" by DJ Mitsu the Beats and Fat Loop

Track listing

12"

;A-side # "Ill Street Blues" (Illest Version) (3:46) # "Ill Street Blues" (Acapella) (3:24) ;B-side # "Fuck U Man" (4:10) # "Ill Street Blues" (Instrumental) (3:45)

Cassette

;A-side # "Ill Street Blues" (Illest Version) (3:46) # "Ill Street Blues" (Acapella) (3:24) ;B-side # "Ill Street Blues" (Instrumental) (3:45) # "Fuck U Man" (4:10)

CD

# "Ill Street Blues" (Illest Version) (3:49) # "Ill Street Blues" (Acapella) (3:28) # "Ill Street Blues" (Instrumental) (3:49) # "Fuck U Man" (4:01)

Charts

References

External links

*
Ill Street Blues
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{authority control 1992 singles Kool G Rap songs Songs written by Kool G Rap Gangsta rap songs Hardcore hip hop songs Songs about crime 1992 songs Cold Chillin' Records singles Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Trackmasters Mafioso rap songs