It features two verses from members Raekwon and Inspectah Deck, who discuss their upbringings while living in New York City, and Method Man, who sings its hook.

[3] Wilson McBee of PopMatters describes the song as "a hard dose of reality," compared to the rest of the album, a "kung-fu–fueled fantasy.

[6] According to Raekwon, Method Man wrote the hook but it was his friend Raider Ruckus who came up with the phrase 'cash rules everything around me.

'[2][7] In his verse, Raekwon chronicles his life, showcasing his move to Staten Island and his time living in New York City.

[5] Jeff Weiss of Forbes praised the rapper's ability to artfully break down the entire group's background in two sentences: "I grew up on the crime side/the New York Times side/Staying alive was no jive.

"[5] Inspectah Deck, in his verse, paints a picture of his life, going from a "delinquent teen to juvenile offender to would-be mentor.

[9] The song was subsequently released as the third single from the album on January 31, 1994, through Loud Records on vinyl and CD formats, under the title "C.R.E.A.M.

led to five of the group's members – GZA, RZA, Raekwon, Method Man, and Ol' Dirty Bastard – earning solo contracts from Loud Records; these five went on to release solo albums over the next three years, with RZA being the primary producer for all of them.

Brody Kenny of Consequence of Sound called it "iconic and somber" and praised Inspectah Deck's verse, describing him as the most underrated member of the group (having never had a RZA-produced classic solo album).

[3] When reviewing Enter the Wu-Tang in 2013 for its 20th anniversary, Jason Lipshultz of Billboard praised the production, calling it "still devastatingly layered.

"[17] Lipshultz found it to be an odd choice to place the track between two less serious tracks ("Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nothin' Ta Fuck Wit" and "Method Man") but found it to be "the beauty of the Wu: after entertaining listeners with braggadocio and jokes, they can flip the switch and deliver poignant realism.

Their description reads "Never has there been a wildly influential hip-hop song so soothing by a group so blunt as Wu-Tang's "C.R.E.A.M."

features the members of the Wu-Tang Clan starting off at the projects in Staten Island and moving on to a more lavish lifestyle of champagne and Mercedes.

[30][31] By having reached number 60 on the Hot 100, the song stands as the highest charting Wu-Tang Clan track ever.

[39] For her 2019 EP She Is Coming, American singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus sampled the song for her promotional single "D.R.E.A.M."