It's Tricky

Run-D.M.C's previous studio album King of Rock had established the group's fusion of hip-hop and hard rock, which blossomed further on Raising Hell. This was due in part to the presence of producer Rick Rubin, who utilized his knowledge of both rap and metal music to develop a track that combined elements of both genres. Rubin was also responsible for introducing samples of the Knack's "My Sharona", which AllMusic{{'s}} Stephen Thomas Erlewine identified as a factor that enhanced the song's commercial viability. In addition to sampling "My Sharona", "It's Tricky" interpolates the entire vocal structure of "Mickey" by Toni Basil. The Knack sued Run-DMC over the track in 2006, and the lawsuit was settled out of court.{{cite web |url=http://www.chartattack.com/news/2006/09/18/my-sharona-writers-sue-run-dmc-for-sampling-its-tricky/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812001229/http://www.chartattack.com/news/2006/09/18/my-sharona-writers-sue-run-dmc-for-sampling-its-tricky/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 12, 2012|title="My Sharona" Writers Sue Run DMC For Sampling "It's Tricky" |date=September 18, 2006 |work=Chartattack.com |access-date=July 15, 2010}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=nOWdriHLHgQC&dq=it%27s+tricky+hey+mickey&pg=PA32 Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling]
"I just changed the chorus around and we just talked about how this rap business can be tricky to a brother." One notable element of the song was its anti-drug lyrics such as "We are not thugs, we don't use drugs."{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/jam-master-jay-run-dmc-murder-trial-74ee5c39cb229d777950451e4b81ec31|title=A trial in Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay's 2002 killing is starting, and testing his anti-drug image|first=Jennifer|last=Peltz|publisher=Associated Press|date=January 27, 2024|accessdate=January 29, 2024}}

Rolling Stone writer Mark Kemp remarked, "'It's Tricky' cribs the guitar part from the Knack's 'My Sharona,' a fatuous New Wave song, and turns it into vital street art."{{cite magazine|last=Kemp|first=Mark|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/148182|title=Run-D.M.C.: Raising Hell|magazine=Rolling Stone|location=New York|date=September 5, 2002|access-date=December 2, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041107213117/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/148182|archive-date=November 7, 2004}} Pitchfork{{'}}s Tom Breihan claimed, "Run and DMC had also stepped their rap game up; "It's Tricky" is basically as good as the two of them ever got, spitting quick-tongue witticisms and yelling booming threats with equal abandon."{{cite web|last=Breihan|first=Tom|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11816-run-dmc-king-of-rock-raising-hell-tougher-than-leather/|title=Run-D.M.C.: Run-DMC / King of Rock / Raising Hell / Tougher Than Leather|work=Pitchfork|date=September 22, 2005|access-date=February 8, 2011}} Time writer stated the song serves "to prove their ferocity."{{cite magazine|last=Light |first=Alan |url=http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/0,27693,Raising_Hell,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216124812/http://www.time.com/time/2006/100albums/0%2C27693%2CRaising_Hell%2C00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 16, 2007 |title=Raising Hell |magazine=Time |date=2006-11-02 |access-date=2011-12-02}} Commenting on the crossover appeal, AllMusic{{'}}s stated, "Rubin loved metal and rap in equal measures and he knew how to play to the strengths of both, while slipping in commercial concessions that seemed sly even when they borrowed from songs as familiar as 'My Sharona.'"{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/raising-hell-mw0000191574|title=Raising Hell – Run-D.M.C.|website=AllMusic|access-date=February 8, 2011}}

==Music video==

The music video features Penn and Teller hustling a group of people with a game of three-card Monte{{Cite web|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/entertainment-columns/kats/penn-teller-hit-21-at-the-rio-and-so-do-we-2516447/|title = Penn & Teller hit 21 at the Rio, and so do we|date = 20 January 2022}} in front of the Rialto Theater in downtown Los Angeles. Run-DMC are called and shut their business down by winning every hand they play. Penn then asks the group if they can teach them to dance, which they do after insisting that Penn and Teller change their clothes. Six months later, Run-DMC show up for their gig in Japan, but are denied entry as Penn and Teller are already on stage impersonating them.

The song is used in the promotional clip for the FX television series Snowfall, which began airing in July 2017.{{cite news|last=Jeng|first=Jonah|title=FX Crack Cocaine Drama Snowfall Receives Two Exuberant New Promos|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/05/snowfall-promo.html|magazine=Paste|date=May 11, 2017|access-date=June 21, 2017}} The original song appeared in the movies Road Trip, Can't Hardly Wait, Turbo, White Chicks, The Bounty Hunter, The Boss Baby: Family Business, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Jack and Jill, and in the television shows One Tree Hill, Criminal Minds, and King of the Hill, and in the video games WWE 2K16, Forza Horizon 3, and SSX series, SSX Tricky in particular, being named after the song.{{cite book|last1=Bennett|first1=Rebecca Jane|last2=Jones|first2=Angela Cresswell|year=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8IcBAAAQBAJ|title=The Digital Evolution of Live Music|location=Cambridge|publisher=Chandos Publishing|page=104|isbn=978-0-0810-0070-0|access-date=April 24, 2022|via=Google Books}}{{cite web|last=Eustice|first=Kyle|date=November 30, 2020|url=https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.59286/title.how-a-33-year-old-hip-hop-classic-became-the-tiktok-generations-2020-holiday-soundtrack|title=How A 33-Year-Old Hip Hop Classic Became The TikTok Generation's 2020 Holiday Soundtrack|website=HipHopDX|access-date=April 24, 2022}} In 2021, the song was sampled by Crazy Frog.{{cite web |last1=Langford |first1=Jackson |title=Crazy Frog makes its return with Run-DMC mashup 'Tricky' |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/crazy-frog-makes-its-return-with-run-dmc-mashup-tricky-3115272 |website=NME |date=10 December 2021 |access-date=14 December 2021}}

7-inch

• A. "It's Tricky" – 3:02
• B. "Proud to Be Black" – 3:14

12-inch

• A1. "It's Tricky" (Club Mix) – 7:19
• A2. "Up Tempo" – 2:35
• B1. "It's Tricky" (Remix) – 4:31
• B2. "It's Tricky" (Scratchapella) – 3:51
• B3. "Tricky Reprise" – 2:54
• B4. "Proud to Be Black" – 3:14

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

Jason Nevins remix

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Run DMC|title=It's Tricky|award=Gold|relyear=2014|certyear=2022|id=14587-295-1|access-date=June 24, 2022|note=Original version}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Run-D.M.C.|title=It's Tricky|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1987|certyear=2019|access-date=May 10, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{YouTube|l-O5IHVhWj0|"It's Tricky" Music video}}

{{Run-D.M.C.}}

{{Penn & Teller}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1986 songs

Category:1986 singles

Category:1998 singles

Category:Run-DMC songs

Category:Jason Nevins songs

Category:Profile Records singles

Category:Sampling controversies

Category:Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin

Category:Songs written by Darryl McDaniels

Category:Songs written by Joseph Simmons

Category:Songs written by Doug Fieger