Kool G Rap and Dj Polo’s seminal debut album Road to the Riches arrived in 1989. By that point G Rap had built a solid fan base after a run of successful singles for Marley Marl’s Juice Crew. With this release though G Rap took both his career and Mafioso rap to the next level. Road to the Riches Showcased G Rap’s insane talent for spinning tales of life on the streets of NYC. His rhymes hit harder than anyone else in the game at this point, and to this day he’s most rappers favourite MC and in our eyes one of the greatest lyricists to ever do it. Backed by the scratching skills of DJ Polo and fully produced by the legendary Marley Marl (who’s Cold Chillin' were behind the albums original release) Road to the Riches marks the start of a now legendary career with tracks like Men at Work - 5minutes of relentlessly fire lyrical wordplay. The album’s lead single and title track Road to the Riches features hard-hitting lyrics about the life of a drug dealer, but its infectious piano beat saw the track hit heavy rotation on Yo MTV raps and become the G Rap’s biggest hit to date. As well as boasting the unrivalled talent of G Rap, the album benefited from Marls forward thinking sampling, ‘Car’s samples Gary Numan’s hit of the same name and Rhymes Express samples Kraftwerk’s Trans Europe Express.
