Review Summary: One of the most influential albums ever, and a classic album.
Road to the Riches, Kool G Rap and DJ Polo's debut, is an incredible album. Seeing as how the world hadn't heard Kool G Rap prior to this album, this was a fantastic way to introduce him. As a member of the legendary Juice Crew, a lot of times Kool G Rap out shined his fellow members, notably on "The Symphony" by Marley Marl, where G Rap arguably had the best verse. After this, the hip hop community wanted to hear a full album from the MC. The result? Road to the Riches, produced entirely by Marley Marl.
Road to the Riches is an album that was way ahead of its time lyrically and with G Rap's technical ability. Tracks like "Men at Work" and "Poison" are essentially lyrical perfection, with immaculate multi-syllabic rhyme schemes. There's not much subject matter to the album aside from the MC basically showing off his lyrical prowess, but that's perfectly fine, since Kool G Rap's high energy verses are very entertaining. The production from Marley Marl on the album is somewhat dated, and holds the album back from being 5/5, but nonetheless it's still fantastic.
Road to the Riches is a classic album, and while flawed in spots with the production, lyrically the album is as perfect (or near-perfect) as you could ask for. As mentioned before, this is the debut album of one of the best, most technically proficient MC's ever, and influenced many MC's after him. In fact one of these songs ("Men at Work") even brought The Roots together as a group, which definitely counts for something.
