"It's a Demo" is the 1986 debut single by 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. Originally a non-album single with "I'm Fly" as a B-side, a remix of the track was featured on the duo's 1989 album '' Road to the Riches'' and later on the compilation albums '' Killer Kuts'' (1994), '' The Best of Cold Chillin''' (2000), ''

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) and '' Street Stories: The Best of Kool G Rap & DJ Polo'' (2013).

Background

The song was recorded at

Marley Marl Marlon Williams (born September 30, 1962), better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge housing projects ...

home studio Home recording is the practice of recording sound in a private home instead of a professional recording studio. A studio set up for home recording is called a home studio or project studio. Home recording is widely practiced by voice actors, narrat ...

Queensbridge, Queens Queensbridge Houses, also known simply as Queensbridge, is a public housing development in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York City. Owned by the New York City Housing Authority, the development contains 29 buildings and 3,142 u ...

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 ...

and was originally indented to be a demo track. It proved to be popular, however, and became Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's first single, premiered by DJ Mr. Magic on

WBLS WBLS (107.5 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary formatted FM radio station, licensed to New York City. It is currently owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared services agreement, along with sister station ...

days after it was recorded. In a 2011 interview, Kool G Rap recalled:

Samples

"It's a Demo" samples the following songs:It's a Demo at Who Sampled
/ref> *"

Funky Drummer "Funky Drummer" is a single released by James Brown in 1970. Its drum break, improvised by Clyde Stubblefield, is one of the most frequently sampled music recordings. Recording and composition "Funky Drummer" was recorded on November 20, 196 ...

" by James Brown *"Singers" by Eddie Murphy And was later sampled on: *"Mister Cee's Master Plan" by Big Daddy Kane featuring Mister Cee *"Butcher Shop" by Kool G Rap & DJ Polo *" First Nigga" by Kool G Rap *"Nostalgia" by Marco Polo featuring Masta Ace

Track listing

;A-side # "It's a Demo" (3:59) # "It's a Demo" (Dub) ;B-side # "I'm Fly" (5:43) # "I'm Fly" (Dub) (5:32)

References

External links

*
It's a Demo
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 1986 debut singles Kool G Rap songs Songs written by Marley Marl Songs written by Kool G Rap Song recordings produced by Marley Marl 1986 songs Cold Chillin' Records singles