"It's Goin' Down" is a song by American turntablists

the X-Ecutioners The X-Ecutioners are a group of American hip hop DJs/ turntablists from New York City, New York. The group formed in 1989 and currently consists of three DJs, including Total Eclipse, DJ Boogie Blind, DJ Precision. Original members of the gro ...

. It features two members of American rock band Linkin Park, rapper

Mike Shinoda Michael Kenji Shinoda (; ja, 篠田賢治, Shinoda Kenji; born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. He co-founded the rock band Linkin Park in 1996 and was the band's collaborative vocal ...

and turntablist

Joe Hahn Joseph Hahn (born March 15, 1977) is an American musician, DJ, director and visual artist best known as the DJ of the American rock band Linkin Park, doing the scratching, turntables, sampling, and programming for all seven of Linkin Park's ...

. It is often mistaken for a Linkin Park track due to their involvement. It was released as the only single from The X-Ecutioners' second studio album '' Built from Scratch'', which was originally released on February 26, 2002. The single was released in March 2002 in CD and vinyl format.

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 Alvin Nathaniel Joiner (born September 18, 1974), better known by his stage name Xzibit (pronounced "exhibit"), is an American rapper, actor, television presenter, and radio personality. Xzibit began his musical career after the release of his ...

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 American rock band Linkin Park have released seven studio albums, three live albums, two compilation albums, two remix albums, three soundtrack albums, 12 video albums, 10 extended plays, 35 singles, 20 promotional singles, and 66 music videos ...

'' EP). The chorus and bridge of the song both refer to the group as "X-Men", an old name that they changed in order to avoid accusations of 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 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 an 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 flowless rap from Shinoda."DJ Robote
RA Reviews: X-ecutioners - Built from Scratch on Sony (Album)
'' Resident Advisor'' Retrieved July 31, 2014 An instrumental version of "It's Goin' Down" on the 12-inch 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 Robert Gregory Bourdon (born January 20, 1979) is an American musician, best known as the drummer and co-founding member of the American rock band Linkin Park. Early life Bourdon was born in Calabasas, California. He received classical piano l ...

on drums,

Dave Farrell David Michael Farrell, also known by his stage name Phoenix (born February 8, 1977), is an American musician, best known as the bassist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also a member of Tasty Snax, a pop punk band. Early life He was born in ...

on bass, and Static-X guitarist and frontman

Wayne Static Wayne Richard Wells (November 4, 1965 – November 1, 2014), known professionally as Wayne Static, was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist, and primary lyricist for metal band Static-X. He released his ...

on guitar, although they were not involved in the recording of the song. Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson and late lead vocalist

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter who was best known as the lead vocalist of rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of the bands Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, ...

also made a cameo appearance, as well as other well-known musicians such as

Kris Kohls Adema is an American rock band from Bakersfield, California. The band formed in 2000 with members vocalist Mark Chavez, guitarist Tim Fluckey, guitarist Mike Ransom, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls. After their first two albums, '' ...

Mike Ransom Adema is an American rock band from Bakersfield, California. The band formed in 2000 with members vocalist Mark Chavez, guitarist Tim Fluckey, guitarist Mike Ransom, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls. After their first two albums, '' ...

Adema Adema is an American rock band from Bakersfield, California. The band formed in 2000 with members vocalist Mark Chavez, guitarist Tim Fluckey, guitarist Mike Ransom, bassist Dave DeRoo, and drummer Kris Kohls. After their first two albums, ' ...

DJ Babu Chris Oroc a.k.a. Melvin Babu (born September 17, 1974), better known as DJ Babu or DJ Babu the Dilated Junkie, is a Filipino-American DJ and producer. He is a member of the hip hop trio Dilated Peoples, with Rakaa Iriscience and Evidence an ...

Dilated Peoples Dilated Peoples is an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California. They have had little mainstream success in the US, with the exception of the song " This Way", a 2004 collaboration with Kanye West. Better known in the UK, they reached t ...

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:It's Goin' Down (X-Ecutioners Song) Linkin Park songs 2002 singles Songs written by Mike Shinoda Songs written by Xzibit Nu metal songs Rap metal songs 2001 songs Loud Records singles Columbia Records singles