"Crack Kills" is an unreleased song written by Michael Jackson intended for the Bad album. Run-D.M.C. was set to be featured, although the collaboration ultimately fell through.
Background[]
“Crack Kills” was co-produced with Run-D.M.C. and recorded between November 4, 1986-January 11, 1987.[1] While the band was planned to be featured in the track, their part was never written or recorded. They did see Jackson once in the studio, but never got to work on their part.[2]
| “ | It does exist. There are vocals. It's more complete than I thought it would be. | ” |
–Joe Vogel, "067: Joseph Vogel Special", October 21, 2017[3] | ||
Since then, the title has been acknowledged multiple tines by multiple of the singer's collaborators and even himself during the Mexico deposition in 1993.[4] Sometime in the 2000s, the lyric sheets for “Crack Kills” were auctioned online.[5] On December 5, 2024, a list of notes were revealed by Bottrell, one of which shows that "Crack Kills" (in the list just simply referred to as "Rap Song") was worked on in January 1987 at Westlake.
Lyrics[]
[Chorus]
Crack kills your mother, your father
Your sister, your little brother
Crack kills the baby, it's shady
Not maybe, it's such a loser
Crack kills the winners, the sinners
It's such a loser, it's this to take you
I'm how far, and you all know
Who you are, crack kills
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- While working on the song, Michael's chimpanzee, Bubbles was staying at the studio. At one point, Bubbles is known to have jumped at Run-D.M.C.'s Jam Master Jay.[2] Some say this is why the collaboration was actually scrapped, as Jackson's pet would supposedly attack him, although this is unconfirmed. A similar situation had happened a few years prior, when the singer's llama, Louie stayed in studio during the sessions with Freddie Mercury.
References[]
- ↑ https://x.com/BillBottrell/status/1792133800585261486
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CoWrwJN0v4
- ↑ https://www.themjcast.com/episode-067-joseph-vogel-special/
- ↑ https://youtu.be/cwceNW4WJKE
- ↑ https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/Michael-Jacksons-Handwritten-Crack-Kills-Lyrics%2c-circa-1990s-48048