"It's Tricky" is the final single released from Run-D.M.C.

Run-D.M.C.

Run–D.M.C. was an American hip hop group from Hollis, in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded by Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell, the group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture.Run–D.M.C...

's third album, Raising Hell. It was released late in 1987 through Profile Records

Profile Records

Profile Records was a record label that specialized in many types of urban-oriented music, such as hip hop, active until 1996..- History :In 1980, at 23 years old, after working briefly for MCA, Cory Robbins was looking to start a record label. He invited his songwriter friend Steve Plotnicki to be...

 and was co-produced by Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin

Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...

 and the group themselves. The song peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 and No. 21 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

. Two decades after the song's release, The Knack

The Knack

The Knack was an American New Wave rock quartet based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with their first single, "My Sharona", an international number one hit in 1979.-Founding :...

 sued Run-D.M.C. on the grounds "It's Tricky" sampled their song "My Sharona

My Sharona

"My Sharona" is the debut single by The Knack, released in 1979 from their album Get the Knack. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart where it remained for six weeks and was #1 on Billboards Top Pop Singles of 1979 year-end chart. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry...

" without permission.

Music video

The music video features Penn and Teller who are hustling a group of people with a game of three-card Monte

Three-card Monte

Three-card Monte, also known as the Three-card marney, Three-card trick, Three-Way, Three-card shuffle, Menage-a-card, Triplets, Follow the lady, Les Trois Perdants , le Bonneteau, Find the lady, or Follow the Bee is a confidence game in which the victim, or mark, is tricked into betting a...

. Run DMC are called and shut their business down by winning every hand they play. Penn then asks the group if they can teach them to dance, to which they oblige after insisting that they first change their clothes. The video ends with Run DMC showing up to a gig in Japan six months later, where they find the duo impersonating them; unable to tell the difference, the concert promoters deny Run DMC the chance to perform.

Cover versions

The Bloodhound Gang

The Bloodhound Gang

The Bloodhound Gang may be a reference to:*The Bloodhound Gang , a segment on the program 3-2-1 Contact*The Bloodhound Gang, a band that took its name from the TV show segment...

 covered the song on their second album One Fierce Beer Coaster

One Fierce Beer Coaster

One Fierce Beer Coaster is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Bloodhound Gang, released on December 3, 1996. Produced by Jimmy Pop, it was the band's first release on Geffen Records, and the first to feature Michael "Spanky G" Guthier on drums, "Evil" Jared Hasselhoff on...

.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...

 covered the song for their 2007 video game Alvin and the Chipmunks

Alvin and the Chipmunks (video game)

Alvin and the Chipmunks is a video game based on the film of the same name. The game was released on December 4, 2007 and was the first release by short-lived video game company Brash Entertainment. It follows The Chipmunks as they play their way from small venues to massive crowds at Burning Munk...

. In this version, they changed the lyric "coke and lots of dope" to "sweets and lots of treats."

The german punk band Itchy Poopzkid covered the song on their fourth album Lights out London. And released it as the third single from the album.

In popular culture

The song is featured in the 1998 film Can't Hardly Wait

Can't Hardly Wait

Can't Hardly Wait is a 1998 American teen comedy film written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont. It stars Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, and Jennifer Love Hewitt, and is notable for a number of "before-they-were-famous" appearances by various...

, the 2000 film Road Trip

Road Trip

Road Trip is a 2000 American comedy film written by Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong and directed by Todd Phillips.-Plot :The movie begins with Barry giving a tour of the University of Ithaca to some prospective students...

, the 2002 film The Hot Chick

The Hot Chick

The Hot Chick is a 2002 American comedy film about a teenage girl whose body is magically swapped with that of a 30-year-old criminal. It was directed by Tom Brady and produced by Guy Riedel for Happy Madison and Touchstone Pictures, from a screenplay by Tom Brady and Rob Schneider...

, the 2003 film Malibu's Most Wanted

Malibu's Most Wanted

Malibu's Most Wanted is a 2003 comedic feature film written by and starring Jamie Kennedy and co-starring Taye Diggs, Anthony Anderson, and Regina Hall....

, the 2004 film White Chicks

White Chicks

White Chicks is a 2004 American film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and written and produced by Keenen Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans. The film was produced by Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios...

, the 2004 film Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights is a 2004 drama film which documents the coach and players of a high school football team and the Texas city of Odessa that supports and is obsessed with them. The book on which it was based, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream, was authored by H. G...

and the 2010 film The Bounty Hunter

The Bounty Hunter (2010 film)

The Bounty Hunter is a 2010 American action comedy film directed by Andy Tennant, starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. The story centers on a bounty hunter hired to retrieve his ex-wife who has skipped bail...

.

The video game SSX Tricky

SSX Tricky

A soundtrack was released in 2002. It features the following songs:#"It's Tricky " - Run-D.M.C.#"Smartbomb " - BT#"Finished Symphony" - Hybrid#"King of the Beats" - Aphrodite#"Board Burner" - Mix Master Mike...

takes its name from the song as well as using it as its theme music, also having a small clip of the song played if an Über Trick is successfully landed. The song may reappear in SSX

SSX (2012 video game)

SSX is an upcoming snowboarding video game in the SSX series of video games from Electronic Arts. First revealed at the Spike Video Game Awards in 2010 under the working title SSX: Deadly Descents, the game's trailer appears to show a much darker direction to the series than previous entries, and...

 according to developers.

Many arenas play the song in the NHL from the first chorus onward when a player scores a hat trick

Hat Trick

Hat trick, hat-trick or hattrick may refer to:* hat-trick — in various sports, achieving three goals, wickets, etc. in a single match* Hattrick — online football management game** Hattrick Limited — producers of this game...

.

It has been in the TV shows, Family Guy

Family Guy

Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...

, The Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

, King Of The Hill

King of the Hill

King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...

, Glee

Glee (TV series)

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

, and American Idol

American Idol

American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...

.