Released March 2002 Recorded 2001 Label Loud Records, Columbia | Format CD/ vinyl Genre Nu metal, rap metal | |
Length 4:08 (Album Version)
3:32 (Radio Version) | ||
"It's Goin' Down" is a song by American turntablists The X-Ecutioners. It features two members of American rock band Linkin Park: rapper Mike Shinoda and turntablist Joe Hahn. It is often mistaken for a Linkin Park track due to their involvement. It was released as the first and only single from The X-Ecutioners' second studio album Built from Scratch, which was originally released in September 26, 2001. The single was released in March 2002 in CD and vinyl format.
Contents
Background
While the song is foremost credited to the X-Ecutioners, it was written and performed primarily by Shinoda and Hahn of the band Linkin Park. It was also produced by Shinoda. The song includes samples of the Xzibit song "Year 2000" and Linkin Park's demo tracks "Step Up" (originally from the original and reissue of the EP Hybrid Theory) and "Dedicated (Demo 1999)" (originally from the LP Underground 2.0 EP). During the DJ scratching of the song's bridge, one can clearly hear the phrase "X-Men 'bout to blast off worldwide", X-Men being the former name of the X-Ecutioners which was changed to avoid copyright infringement.
"It's Goin' Down" peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart and number 28 in Australia. In the US, it reached number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 13 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 29 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
The song also samples Linkin Park songs on two occasions during the intro. First being "Watch them flee/Hip hop heads", which comes from the track "Dedicated (Demo 1999)". The second is a sample of Mr. Hahn saying, "You do it like this," which is from "Step Up". Linkin Park performed "It's Goin' Down" often between 2002 and 2004. They also collaborated with American rapper Snoop Dogg in one performance in which he said a few verses from "Gin and Juice."
History
In a recent article from Resident Advisor, the song has been carefully described as "a rap rock style to expect from Linkin Park being taken into the X-Ecution chamber, ready to be finally cut up, getting a lot of the JJJ play already, and is quite a decent track with a pretty average and flawless rap from Shinoda." An instrumental version of "It's Goin' Down" on the 12" vinyl format is included in the single itself.
Music video
The music video for "It's Goin' Down" also features Linkin Park's Rob Bourdon on drums, Dave Farrell on bass, and Static-X guitarist and frontman Wayne Static on guitar, although they were not involved in the recording of the song. Brad Delson and lead vocalist Chester Bennington made a cameo appearance, as well as other well-known musicians.