"It's Goin' Down" is a song by American turntablists

the X-Ecutioners The X-Ecutioners, originally known as X-Men, are a group of American hip hop DJs/ turntablists from New York City, New York. The group formed in 1989 and currently consists of three DJs, including Total Eclipse, DJ Boogie Blind, and DJ Precis ...

. It features two members of American rock band

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

, rapper

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda ( ; born February 11, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and is the band's co-lead vocalist, as well as rhythm guitarist, ...

and turntablist

Joe Hahn Joseph Hahn (born March 15, 1977) is an American musician, DJ, director, and visual artist best known as the DJ and creative director of the rock band Linkin Park, doing the scratching, turntables, sampling, and programming for all eight of ...

. It is often mistaken for a Linkin Park track due to their involvement. It was released as the only single from The X-Ecutioners' second studio album '' Built from Scratch'', which was originally released on February 26, 2002. The single was released in March 2002 in CD and vinyl format.

Background

While the song is foremost credited to the X-Ecutioners, it was written and performed primarily by Shinoda and Hahn of the band Linkin Park. It was also produced by Shinoda. The song includes samples of the

Xzibit Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Xzibit (pronounced "''exhibit''), is an American rapper, actor, television presenter, radio personality, and record executive. He began his musical career in 1992, ...

song "Year 2000" and Linkin Park's demo tracks "Step Up" (originally from the original and reissue of the EP ''Hybrid Theory'') and "Dedicated (Demo 1999)" (originally from the '' LP Underground 2.0'' EP). The chorus and bridge of the song both refer to the group as "X-Men", an old name that they changed in order to avoid accusations of copyright infringement. "It's Goin' Down" peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart and number 28 in Australia. In the US, it reached number 85 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 13 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 29 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song also samples Linkin Park songs on two occasions during the intro. First being "Watch them flee/Hip hop heads", which comes from the track "Dedicated (Demo 1999)". The second is a sample saying, "You do it like this," which is from "Step Up". Linkin Park performed "It's Goin' Down" often between 2002 and 2004. They also collaborated with American rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

in one performance in which he said a few verses from "Gin and Juice".

History

In an article from ''

Resident Advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform established in 2001 and dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. Its editorial team provides news, music and ev ...

'', the song has been carefully described as "a rap rock style to expect from Linkin Park being taken into the X-Ecution chamber, ready to be finally cut up, getting a lot of the JJJ play already, and is quite a decent track with a pretty average and flowless rap from Shinoda."DJ Robote
RA Reviews: X-ecutioners - Built from Scratch on Sony (Album)
''

'' Retrieved July 31, 2014 An instrumental version of "It's Goin' Down" on the 12-inch vinyl format is included in the single itself.

Music video

The music video for "It's Goin' Down" also features Linkin Park's

Rob Bourdon Robert Gregory Bourdon (born January 20, 1979) is an American musician, best known as a co-founding member and the former drummer of the rock band Linkin Park. He remained in the band until their hiatus in 2017; when the band members began work ...

on drums,

Dave Farrell David Michael Farrell (born February 8, 1977), also known by his stage name Phoenix, is an American musician, best known as the bassist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also a member of Tasty Snax, a ska punk band. Early life Farrell wa ...

on bass, and

Static-X Static-X is an American industrial metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1994. The line-up has fluctuated over the years, but was long-held constant with band founder, frontman, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Wayne Static until his d ...

guitarist and frontman

Wayne Static Wayne Richard Wells (November 4, 1965 – November 1, 2014), known professionally as Wayne Static, was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, and primary lyricist for the industrial metal band St ...

on guitar, although they were not involved in the recording of the song. Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson and late lead vocalist

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...

also made a cameo appearance, as well as other well-known musicians such as

, Kris Kohls & Mike Ransom of

Adema Adema () is an American rock band from Bakersfield, California. The band formed in 2000 with members vocalist Mark Chavez, guitarist Tim Fluckey, guitarist Mike Ransom, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls. After their first two albums ...

DJ Babu Christopher E. Oroc, stage name Melvin Babu (born September 17, 1974), better known as DJ Babu or DJ Babu the Dilated Junkie, is a Filipino-American DJ and record producer. He is a member of DJ crew the Beat Junkies, Los Angeles-based hip hop t ...

Dilated Peoples Dilated Peoples is an American Los Angeles-based Hip hop music, hip hop trio, composed of rapper and record producer Evidence (musician), Evidence, rapper Rakaa, and Beat Junkies deejay and record producer DJ Babu. The group is better known in t ...

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:It's Goin' Down (X-Ecutioners Song) Linkin Park songs 2002 singles Songs written by Mike Shinoda Songs written by Xzibit Nu metal songs Rap metal songs 2001 songs Loud Records singles Columbia Records singles Mike Shinoda songs Song recordings produced by Mike Shinoda