Road to the Riches

{{Infobox album

| name = Road to the Riches

| type = Album

| artist = Kool G Rap & DJ Polo

| cover = Roadtotheriches.jpg

| alt =

| released = March 14, 1989

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre = * East Coast hip hop

| length = 47:49

| label = {{hlist|Cold Chillin'|Warner Bros.}}

| producer = Marley Marl

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = Wanted: Dead or Alive

| next_year = 1990

| misc = {{Singles

| name = Road to the Riches

| type = studio

| single1 = Poison

| single1date = Summer 1988

| single2 = Road to the Riches

| single2date = October 1988

| single3 = Truly Yours

| single3date = 1989

}}

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/road-to-the-riches-mw0000199208|title=Road to the Riches – Kool G Rap & DJ Polo|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=September 13, 2018|last=Kellman|first=Andy}}

| rev2 = NME

| rev2score = 5/10{{cite magazine|title=Kool G Rap & DJ Polo: Road to the Riches|magazine=NME|date=April 8, 1989|last=Woodbridge|first=Joe|page=33}}

| rev3 = RapReviews

| rev3score = 9/10{{cite web|url=https://www.rapreviews.com/archive/BTTL_roadtotheriches.html|title=Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo :: Road to the Riches :: Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. Records|website=RapReviews|date=May 6, 2008|access-date=March 7, 2012|last=Pitt|first=Vern}}

| rev4 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev4score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite book|chapter=Kool G Rap & DJ Polo|last=Caramanica|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Caramanica|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/465 465–466]}}

| rev5 = The Village Voice

| rev5score = B+{{cite news|url=https://robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv689-89.php|title=Consumer Guide|newspaper=The Village Voice|date=June 27, 1989|access-date=September 13, 2018|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau}}

}}

Road to the Riches is the debut album by 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 for being one of the blueprints for the mafioso rap trend with the title track "Road to the Riches," which received strong rotation on the TV show Yo! MTV Raps, and was later featured on the old-school hip hop radio station Playback FM from the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Most of the songs, however, are not crime-related. Other popular songs included "It's a Demo" and "Poison." In 1998, Road to the Riches was selected as one of The Source{{'}}s "100 Best Albums".{{cite magazine|title=100 Best Albums|magazine=The Source|issue=100|date=January 1998}}

Album information

Kool G Rap and DJ Polo were members of the legendary Juice Crew, led by producer Marley Marl. The duo first premiered on Mr. Magic's Rap Attack radio show on 107.5 in 1986 with its first single "It's A Demo." They spent the next few years releasing singles, and eventually wrote and recorded Road to the Riches in 1988, but wasn't released until early 1989. The album showcases G Rap's signature multisyllabic rhyme style with lyric topics ranging from crime, materialism, braggadocio, to love. The production was entirely handled by fellow juice Crew member Marley Marl, who provided a more hard-edged style of production than that of his previous work.

Road to the Riches is often cited as the beginning of the mafioso rap genre, laying the groundwork for future hip hop stars such as Scarface, Nas, Raekwon, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G., and AZ, among others, however the bulk of the album features battle rap lyrics similar to Big Daddy Kane or Rakim without the explicit mafioso or gangsta rap subjects of the title track. G Rap would begin expanding his vivid storytelling and organized crime themes on his next album, Wanted: Dead or Alive and especially on 1992's Live and Let Die.

According to the liner notes in the Roots' Phrenology, "Men at Work" was the song that brought the group together during a lunch period at their high school.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Marley Marl

class="wikitable"
style="text-align:center;"\|# ! style="text-align:center; width:150px;"\|Title ! style="text-align:center; width:150px;"\|Songwriters ! style="text-align:center; width:100px;"\|Performer (s) ! style="text-align:center; width:100px;"\|Length
1 \|"Road to the Riches" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|4:48
2 \|"It's a Demo" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|4:27
3 \|"Men at Work" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|5:02
4 \|"Truly Yours" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|5:07
5 \|"Cars" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|3:07
6 \|"Trilogy of Terror" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|2:40
7 \|"She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|5:21
8 \|"Cold Cuts" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|DJ Polo \|3:52
9 \|"Rhymes I Express" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|3:47
10 \|"Poison" \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|4:45
11 \|"Butcher Shop" (CD version only) \|N. Wilson, M. Williams \|Kool G Rap \|3:44

class="wikitable"

style="text-align:center;"|#

! style="text-align:center; width:150px;"|Title

! style="text-align:center; width:150px;"|Songwriters

! style="text-align:center; width:100px;"|Performer (s)

! style="text-align:center; width:100px;"|Length

|"Road to the Riches"

|N. Wilson, M. Williams

Road to the Riches

Album information

Track listing

2006 re-release track listing

Later samples

Charts

References