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Wanted: Dead or Alive

Kool G. Rap & DJ Polo

Wanted: Dead or Alive Lyrics

Calling all units, be on the lookout for a Nissan sedan
License plates reads, "K O O L G R A P"
Be alert, suspect is armed and extremely dangerous
And also, he's wanted dead or alive
Find him

[Verse 1]
I'm wanted dead or alive
I stalk the New York sidewalk
All the girls hawk, but I don't stop to talk
I keep stepping with a nine on my waistline
Got 16 shots and I don't waste mine
Never fess cause I'm dressed with a bulletproof vest
Try to test, I leave a bloody-ass mess

Driving a Saab that connects with the mob
Bank job, plenty niggas I rob

Blood stains are on my Ballys
A sucker got rowdy, so I shot him in an alley
Pumped his face full of dum-dums
Then left him for the cast of rats and the bums
Yo, a lot of suckers hate me with a passion
Cause they know I can catch them one night and I ain't flashing
I got a crazy, big posse or should I say a crew?
Of niggas that belong in the zoo
Watch you spit up, blood when you get hit up
One in the head, making sure you don't get up
This is what happens and nobody can't stop it
Crack heads searching a dead man's pockets
Streets are filled with brothers that kill like Ill ville
They murdered before and they still will
Posses roar in a drug war
Cause some believe in death before poor
Shooting galleries for a rich man's salary
Pockets so fat they need dough or low calories
I got an order for another manslaughter
Wear the musty badge like his ass fell in water
I had to run up in the kid's crib
For something he did, I didn't dig the little pig
Anyway I didn't have it
In fact now the little fagot is crawling with maggots
Try to bother the neighborhood godfather
And I'll burn your ass up like lava
Took alive the suckers that tried to get live
I never fronted, I'm wanted dead or alive

Unit One, 10-13, suspects in pursuit
Between 7th and Broadway
This is Unit Two, we're closing in
Proceed with caution

[Verse 2]
Here's the plan, Shannon, you bring the van
And everybody's wearing gloves on their hand
Strictly army suits and long black Timberland boots
I want us all to roll like troops
See now we get the roll on them
Cause the punk little sucker they shot up came and told on them
I want him bagged up too
Cause ain't no telling of what he might do to my crew
Shoot a sucker at point-blank range
If he seems like he's acting strange
Dump the chump chain, go straight for the green and the jewels
And we can even take niggers' jewels
Shoot to kill and don't leave no witness
Survivors try to get live and get with this
Snatch up the top man and start slapping him
And put a cap in him and then start wrapping him
Up and pass no time to shiver
Stop on the bridge and deliver bodies into the river
Next stop, blow away that pain-in-the-ass cop
The one that keeps getting niggers knocked
Put an end to his shit and he ain't about making collars
The crooked-ass rookie wants dollars
My man Ron's on the rooftop, waiting to snipe
Two bullets went right through his windpipe
Cold blooded, shot down taking his very last breath
Left to bleed to death
Skip the jive, suckers that try to get live
Yo, I'm wanted dead or alive

Unit One, officer down, in need of paramedic
Unit Three, requesting back-up
I repeat, officer requesting back-up
Yo this is Unit Two

Yo I'm in pursuit of him right now
I got him, I got him, I got him
But when you see him, he won't be alive
Cause I'm gonna get him

[Verse 3]
I'm wanted dead or alive
So you better go and pin up posters
Souls are burning like bread in the toaster
You stand in a trance with your pants full of manure
Flesh and blood clogs up the street sewers
Ready to kill some one else and
Cause I'm wanted dead or alive like Baby Face Nelson
Kick butts, a lot of heart, a lot of guts
And I'm quick to kick a nigga in his nuts
Armed robbery, homicide, third degree murder
Plus shit you never heard of
Come in my face with the he say, she say
And I'mma kick you up your ass like Pelé
One night some kids went for broke
And you can almost choke from the gun smoke
Somebody got robbed and got fed up
So he set up the block to get wet up
One kid got caught down a dead-end street
Gunned him down from his head to his feet
One brother got smoked in a car chase
Through the windshield, a bullet in the face
Left his head wide open like a basket
Went to his funeral, shot up his casket
This is the type of shit on the street I survive
Yo, I'm wanted dead or alive

Latest bulletin, suspect seen approaching West Side Highway
I repeat, all units cease pursuit, cease pursuit
Roadblock is now being set up
Over and out

More on Genius

About “Wanted: Dead or Alive”

The second song off of Kool G. Rap and DJ Polo’s 1990 album Wanted: Dead or Alive features Kool G. rappin' about the crime in NYC. Beginning with a very zoomed in narrative of him on the run from the police after having committed a bank heist for the mob, it then zooms out to talk about the crime in the city in a general fashion. Kool G repeats this formula again in the second verse.

The track was produced by Large Professor (of Main Source fame), although Eric B. gets a credit for producing it on the album’s liner notes. According to Kool G. in Brian Coleman’s collection of rap interviews Check the Technique Vol. 2, Eric B. never produced a single song on the album. Despite this accusation from Kool G. Rap, Eric B. got credited for being involved on nearly every song.

"Wanted: Dead or Alive" Track Info