"Road to the Riches" is the second single from American hip hop duo Kool G Rap &

DJ Polo The Juice Crew was an American hip hop collective made up largely of Queensbridge, New York-based artists in the mid-to-late 1980s. Founded by radio DJ Mr. Magic, and housed by Tyrone Williams' record label Cold Chillin' Records, the Juice Cre ...

's 1989 debut album ''

Road to the Riches ''Road to the Riches'' is the debut album by Hip hop music, hip hop duo Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, which was released in 1989 on then-prominent hip hop label Cold Chillin' Records. The album is notable in that it set off the mafioso rap trend with the ...

''. It was released as a single with "Butcher Shop" as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

and later also featured on the compilation albums ''Killer Kuts'' (1994), ''The Best of Cold Chillin'' (2000), ''Greatest Hits'' (2002) and ''Street Stories: The Best of Kool G Rap & DJ Polo'' (2013).

Background

The song is semi-autobiographic, rags-to-riches tale, with the first two verses detailing Kool G Rap's youth living in poverty and his life before becoming a successful rapper. The third and final verse warns of the dangers of living a life of crime. In a 2014 interview, G Rap stated that some parts of the song were true, such as him working a low-paying job in a Key Food

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

and selling

crack cocaine Crack cocaine, commonly known simply as crack, and also known as rock, is a free base form of the stimulant cocaine that can be smoked. Crack offers a short, intense high to smokers. The ''Manual of Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment'' calls ...

, while others, such as his father being a drug dealer, were fictional.

Music video

"Road to the Riches" was Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's first

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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

. The video begins with G Rap sitting with his young nephew on his lap, and the boy tells him, "Uncle G Rap, when I grow up, I want to be a rapper and a gangster, just like you". G Rap discourages him, however, saying "no, no, see, you can be a rapper but can't be a gangster. You don't want to be a gangster". The next scene is '' in media res'' and shows Kool G Rap & DJ Polo in a courtroom being sentenced by a judge. The rest of the video depicts them as powerful drug dealers, committing various violent crimes, before they are arrested in an undercover police sting and the video ends again with the courtroom scene, as they are led away to prison.

Use in media

The song was featured on the 2004 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

, playing on the fictional old school hip hop station

Playback FM '' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' is an open-world, action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. First released on 16 October 2004 for the PlayStation 2, ''San Andreas'' has an in-game radio that can tu ...

Samples

"Road to the Riches" samples the following songs:Road to the Riches at Who Sampled
/ref> *"The Assembly Line" by the Commodores *"

Stiletto A stiletto () is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, primarily intended as a stabbing weapon.Limburg, Peter R., ''What's In The Names Of Antique Weapons'', Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, , (1973), pp. 77-78 The stile ...

" by

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

And was later sampled on: *"Illegal Gunshot" by Ragga Twins *"Android" by

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...

*"Rotten Apple" by Operation Ratification *"Fool's Gold" by

Zion I Zion I was an American hip hop project founded by MC and producer Baba Zumbi (real name Stephen Gaines) in Oakland, California. K-Genius and Amp Live were also project members. Career Originally formed as a group, Zion I released the debut s ...

*"Pain the Town Red" by

Children of the Corn "Children of the Corn" is a short story by Stephen King, first published in the March 1977 issue of ''Penthouse'', and later collected in King's 1978 collection '' Night Shift''. The story is about a couple who end up in an abandoned Nebraska t ...

Track listing

;A-side # "Road to the Riches" (4:48) ;B-side # "Butcher Shop" (3:44)

Charts

References

External links

*
Road to the Riches
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 la ...

{{Kool G Rap 1988 singles Kool G Rap songs Songs written by Marley Marl Songs written by Kool G Rap Songs written by Billy Joel Hardcore hip hop songs Songs about crime Songs about drugs Songs about poverty 1988 songs Song recordings produced by Marley Marl Cold Chillin' Records singles Warner Records singles