It was released on February 3, 1998, by Def Jam and JMJ Records as the second single from Onyx's third album, Shut 'Em Down.

In the interview on "White Label Radio", Fredro Starr told a story about how Onyx recorded the title track.

DMX came to the NYC's studio, "Sound On Sound Studios, to record the song "Shut 'Em Down" accompanied by his pitbulls and members of Ruff Ryders, but on the shooting of a video in Downtown Los Angeles, he arrived alone with the dogs!

[1] The music video was directed by Gregory Dark and was filmed in Downtown Los Angeles in December 1997 and was released on "The BOX" in February 1998.

[3] In 2012, the Mongolian hip-hop group Ice Top recorded a cover version of the song "Shut 'Em Down Remix" by Onyx called "Shartai" and then filmed a video for this track.