"Criminology" is the second solo single by Wu-Tang Clan rapper Raekwon, from his debut album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..., featuring Ghostface Killah, like many of the songs of the album. The song starts with dialogue from the film Scarface, where Alex Sosa is angry with Tony Montana and insults him during a phone call, calling him a "fucking little monkey", because he failed to blow up the activist's car, then the first verse is performed by Ghostface Killah, and the second by Raekwon, without a chorus. The B-side of the single is "Glaciers of Ice". The song peaked at #43 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Ghostface Killah wrote his verse in San Francisco, and requested that RZA make a beat for the song.
The song was sampled later by DJ Premier for Mos Def's song "Mathematics".
Producer RZA later illustrated "That was me trying to produce like a DJ, produce a breakbeat. Ghost actually asked me to make one of those beats. You listen to old DJ tapes. That's how I made that song, and he wanted this shit to sound like a breakbeat. He had a rhyme that he knew was going to change the game - that was the verse that got him recognized. Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs called up and was like 'Yo, he killed that shit. He ripped that shit.'"
Раэквон вспомнил, как зашёл в подвал студии RZA и услышал грохот песни. Раэквону очень понравился этот бит, и он захотел его, и RZA дал ему его. Поскольку Раэквон случайно вошел в студию RZA именно в этот момент, Раэквон получил первое преимущество над другими членами клана Wu-Tang. Если бы он не пришёл в студию в тот момент, бит достался бы другому участнику Wu-Tang. По принципу «первым пришел — первым обслужен», если участник Wu-Tang Clan приходит в студию RZA, пока RZA записывает бит, этот участник в 9 случаях из 10 получит бит, если он ему достаточно понравится. [1]