Wanted: Dead or Alive (Kool G Rap & DJ Polo album)

Wanted: Dead or Alive
Studio album by
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
ReleasedAugust 14, 1990
GenreEast Coast hip hop
Length58:37
Label
Producer
Kool G Rap & DJ Polo chronology
Road to the Riches
(1989)
Wanted: Dead or Alive
(1990)
Live and Let Die
(1992)
Singles from Wanted: Dead or Alive
  1. "Streets of New York"
    Released: July 19, 1990
  2. "Erase Racism"
    Released: November 14, 1990
  3. "Bad to the Bone"
    Released: April 3, 1991
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune
Christgau's Consumer Guide
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Source

Wanted: Dead or Alive is the second album by the hip hop duo Kool G Rap & DJ Polo, released on August 14, 1990. The album was released a year after the duo's debut, Road to the Riches, and received greater acclaim from most music critics. The singles "Streets of New York" and "Erase Racism" received notable airplay on Yo! MTV Raps and the former is credited by Nas as being influential on his song "N.Y. State of Mind" from his critically acclaimed album Illmatic.

Lyrically, the album shows a greater variety of themes, from the battle rap braggadocio that dominated Road to the Riches, to topics of crime, poverty, racism ("Erase Racism"), and raunchy sex rap ("Talk Like Sex"). Perhaps most significantly, there is greater emphasis on vivid descriptions of crime and urban squalor ("Streets of New York") and references to organized crime, gang violence, contract killing, and Mafia films (the title track, "Money in the Bank", "Death Wish"), which helped cement Kool G Rap's reputation as the founder of mafioso rap.