Rubin was also responsible for introducing samples of the Knack's "My Sharona", which AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine identified as a factor that enhanced the song's commercial viability.

"[7] Rolling Stone writer Mark Kemp remarked, "'It's Tricky' cribs the guitar part from the Knack's 'My Sharona,' a fatuous New Wave song, and turns it into vital street art.

"[8] Pitchfork's Tom Breihan claimed, "Run and DMC had also stepped their rap game up; "It's Tricky" is basically as good as the two of them ever got, spitting quick-tongue witticisms and yelling booming threats with equal abandon.

"[10] Commenting on the crossover appeal, AllMusic's stated, "Rubin loved metal and rap in equal measures and he knew how to play to the strengths of both, while slipping in commercial concessions that seemed sly even when they borrowed from songs as familiar as 'My Sharona.

'"[4] The music video features Penn and Teller hustling a group of people with a game of three-card Monte[11] in front of the Rialto Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

[12] The original song appeared in the movies Road Trip, Can't Hardly Wait, Turbo, White Chicks, The Bounty Hunter, The Boss Baby: Family Business, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Jack and Jill, and in the television shows One Tree Hill, Criminal Minds, and King of the Hill, and in the video games WWE 2K16, Forza Horizon 3, and SSX series, SSX Tricky in particular, being named after the song.