Polo'll House You (Wanted: Dead Or Alive - Kool G Rap & DJ Polo)

Member Name: XICripZ

Product:	Wanted: Dead Or Alive - Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
Date:	16/08/09 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of bangers

Disadvantages: One wack track

Wanted: Dead Or Alive" was the second album from the Hip Hop duo Kool G Rap & DJ Polo. Just as with their debut release, you find that G Rap is behind all tha MCing you get DJ Polo cutting up the production from the likes of Eric B, Large Professor, and Marley Marl with their heavy underground New York material.

1. "Streets Of New York"

To get the album going here, you have them dropping directly into what was the lead single from the album. It is a hard one from them and finds them reintroducing their music with some gritty rhymes which tell the tales of the underworld and the ways in which it tends to differ from places other than it.

**Five Stars**

2. "Wanted: Dead Or Alive"

This is a fly one from the two of them and sounds to be very much of the time as you see that Eric B. (of Eric. B & Rakim) lends the production and chooses to drop in on some speed raps on Breakbeats. It is a banger and one which you expect to get from the album in a time when this style was particularly popular amongst those in the (underground) Hip Hop world.

**Five Stars**

3. "Money In The Bank"

Here you have the first of two significant posse cuts on the album and in this case you get one in which you find a tune where Large Professor samples some classic Hip Hop material as he produces and rhymes alongside Kool G Rap, Ant Live and Freddy Foxxx in one which explores the group talking about he cash they rake in through their rhymes.

**Five Stars**

4. "Bad To The Bone"
This was a popular track from the album and sees that you get a fresh one where Eric B. returns with more of his high-tempo percussion. It is one which really stands out here as one which has G Rap boosting something which he did with his debut with even more of the Mafioso Rap being brought in for something original to be brought along as he lisps his rhymes.

**Five Stars**

5. "Talk Like Sex"

You find that with this one you see a bit of a change in what you get from the rhymes from G Rap as it turns things around a bit as the focus sift towards the girls. It is amongst the best which you get from the album and has him dropping some of his most exciting rhymes within the album as it turns to something which all can relate to.

**Five Stars**

6. "Play It Again, Polo"

You get one of few where you can clearly hear that DJ Polo is actually active within the material as he cuts up the hook. It is one which has the Mc going hard in a way which isn't seen at any other point as he comes with relentless flows which rip apart the beats in a way which only he is capable of achieving.

**Five Stars**

7. "Erase Racism"

This was the second single from the album and amongst the best which you get on the album as you see that with this one you get an banging line-up as Cool V comes to produce with Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane coming to assist for a posse cut designed to come off the hype of Nelson Mandela's prison release with one which hits back at racism.

**Five Stars**

8. "Kool Is Back"

The funky drumming which you get from this one is a thing which hypes it up before you even here G Rap jump on top of it, but of course as he does, he is able to take things a stage further to show just how effectively he can ride the production (especially when it is done in the same speedy style which Rakim, Big Daddy Kane LL Cool J and many others were doing at the time).

**Five Stars**

9. "Play It Kool"

Calming things down a bit, this one has more of Eric B.'s beats, but you see that he is able to restrict himself as he makes sure that it isn't an overpowering Breakbeat sound which appears to be prominent within it and instead it is something which is done in a much more relaxed manner t get the MC to try out something a little different.

**Five Stars**

10. "Death Wish"

In a track which seems to adapt the "Take Me To The Mardi Gras" break, you see that with this one you get some of the East Coast version of Gangsta Rap at the time and it really hits hard here. It is the type of thing which came with LL Cool J's 1993 album "14 Shots To The Dome", and so shows how far ahead of the time they were.

**Five Stars**

11. "Jive Talk"

This was one which I needed to grow on me to really appreciate, but I have to say that when I finally did, I was impressed by what you get within it as you see one which shows G Rap trying out more of the type of progressive raps here he moves things on with a much more manageable flow (based on the tempo) but it it is done in away which shows just how complex his delivery is here.

**Five Stars**

12. "The Polo Club" (Lude)

13. "Rikers Island"

This is a killer track to end the release off, it ends the thing on a massive high as you find that here you have one which takes things to a new level as you get one which has Marley Marl coming with a pounding track which sounds to take on a form similar to what you got from Run-D.M.C. a couple of years earlier with a raging approach from G Rap.

**Five Stars**

Although each and every track here is a straight banger and you can't fault what is done where G Rap is on the mic(rophone) it is important to point out that this isn't flawless, as their debut was, as this one is a little less fresh than it and one track holds it back significantly as "The Polo Club" gets DJ Polo doing a House instrumental, but you shouldn't let this hold you back.

Summary: Kool G Rap & DJ Polo's second album