"Ready to Go" is a song by the American

rap rock Rap rock is a music genre that developed from the early to mid-1980s, when hip hop DJs incorporated rock records into their routines and rappers began incorporating original and sampled rock instrumentation into hip hop music. Rap rock is co ...

band

Limp Bizkit Limp Bizkit is an American nu metal band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto (drummer), John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers (bassist), Sam ...

. The single features

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

and then label-mate

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. He is often regarded as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, as well as one of the greatest rappers of all ...

and is produced by

Polow Da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977 or 1978), known professionally as Polow da Don, is an American record producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He began his career as a recording artist in the late 1990s, leaving college to pursue a career with ...

. The single is Limp Bizkit's first release for

Cash Money Records Cash Money Records is an American record label founded in 1991 by brothers Ronald "Slim" Williams and Birdman (rapper), Bryan "Baby" Williams. The label gained prominence in the late 1990s for having signed and released albums for New Orleans– ...

after their departure from

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

in 2011. The song was released in March 2013 as a free download on the band's website and, on April 16, as a digital single on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

Background

Limp Bizkit revealed plans to release "Ready to Go" in 2012 after they signed with Cash Money Records on February 24, with

Fred Durst William Frederick Durst (born Frederick Allen Mayne III; August 20, 1970) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and director. He is the frontman and lyricist of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, formed in 1994, with whom he has release ...

stating, "It sounds like a monster; it literally sounds dangerous. It sounds like that left of center, that place of discomfort that created rock 'n' roll, created the (heavy) metal, where it all spawned from." Although being Limp Bizkit's first official single for Cash Money, another song called "Lightz (City of Angels)" was leaked to the masses in October 2012 via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Music and lyrics

According to ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', "In some ways, 'Ready To Go' is the type of song Limp Bizkit fans have been waiting on for over a decade, as a return to the chest-thumping shout-rap and heavy curtains of guitar. Before its bizarrely lengthy outro, the single lets frontman Fred Durst and Lil Wayne get their macho on". It has also been described as "gnarled nu-metal with all the poise of a rhinoceros in a tutu" by ''

Fact Magazine ''Fact'' is a music publication that launched in the UK in 2003. It covers UK, US, and international music and youth culture topics, with particular focus on electronic, pop, rap, and experimental artists. Having started as a bi-monthly pri ...

''. At

HipHopDX ''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of Hip hop music, hip hop music criticism and news. ''HipHopDX'' has over 3.5M monthly readers, the website encompassing hip hop news, interviews, music, and reviews. The website's founder and CEO is Sharath C ...

, the song was characterized as "

ringing Ringing may mean: Vibrations * Ringing (signal), unwanted oscillation of a signal, leading to ringing artifacts * Vibration of a harmonic oscillator ** Bell ringing * Ringing (telephony), the sound of a telephone bell * Ringing (medicine), a ri ...

their brand of Rap Metal back to the forefront." Durst's lyrics describe his view of the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

scene as it exists today, and also takes digs at female celebrities

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

(with whom Durst was rumored to be in a relationship with) and

Jessica Biel Jessica Claire Timberlake (née Biel ; born March 3, 1982) is an American actress. Biel began her career as a vocalist appearing in musical productions until she was cast as Mary Camden in the family drama series '' 7th Heaven'' (1996–2007 ...

. Lil Wayne's contribution begins after approximately 2 minutes and ends with him rapping the song's hook with Durst. An instrumental " outro" track concludes the song. It was revealed through the band's

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page that a music video for the "urban assault" version of "Ready to Go" is under production. However, the music video ended up using the original version of the song.

Reception

"Ready to Go" has been met with positive reviews since its release. Spencer Kaufman of ''

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...

'' praised

Wes Borland Wesley Louden Borland (born February 7, 1975) is an American rock musician. He is the guitarist and backing vocalist of the nu metal band Limp Bizkit, the lead vocalist and guitarist of the alternative and industrial rock band Black Light Burn ...

's guitar playing and wrote, "The scorching track features blistering guitar work from Wes Borland".

Music video

The music video was released on July 22, 2013, and was directed by

. Contrary to early reports that the music video was being filmed for the "Urban Assault" version of the song, the video features the single's original track. According to

: Other famous personalities who appear in the video include guest vocalist

, Cash Money founders Bryan "Birdman" Williams and

Ronald "Slim" Williams Ronald Jay "Slim" Williams (born November 11, 1964) is an American entrepreneur and record executive who co-founded the record label Cash Money Records in 1991, along with his younger brother, rapper Bryan "Birdman" Williams. He has served as ...

and DJ

Stevie J Steven Aaron Jordan (born November 2, 1973) Note: Live HHS link goes to error page, but copy-pasting the URL works. is an American DJ, record producer, and television personality. As part of the Bad Boy Records production team the Hitmen, Jorda ...

Personnel

Limp Bizkit *

– guitars *

– vocals * John Otto – drums * Sam Rivers – bass guitar Additional musicians *

– guest vocals Production *

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977 or 1978), known professionally as Polow da Don, is an American record producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He began his career as a recording artist in the late 1990s, leaving college to pursue a career with ...

– producer *

– cover art design,

art direction Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to super ...

, illustration Recording staff * Ed Lidow –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Ward Kuykendall – assistant engineer * Alex Dilliplane – assistant engineer

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2013 singles Limp Bizkit songs Lil Wayne songs Cash Money Records singles Music videos directed by Fred Durst Song recordings produced by Polow da Don Songs written by Lil Wayne