Songfacts®:

• Run-DMC make a foray into gangsta rap in "Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do," but with a twist. They're not into violence, drugs, or any of the vices that form the bedrock of most songs in the genre. Their words are their weapons, and "dope" is something to describe their flows, not something they smoke.
  
  By this time, the rappers in the group - Run and DMC - had gone through problems with drugs and alcohol and had reaffirmed their Christian faith, which is the driver behind the album, Down With The King. "Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do" was released as the second single, following the title track.
• This song was produced by Gary G-Wiz and Hank Shocklee of The Bomb Squad, best known as the beatmakers for Public Enemy. Run–D.M.C. went through a dry spell in the late '80s and early '90s but still held sway as hip-hop legends. When they put out the call for help on their Down With The King album, many answered the call. In addition to The Bomb Squad, Q Tip, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, Naughty by Nature, and E.P.M.D. also worked on the album.
• "Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do" samples the 1967 Ramsey Lewis song "The Look of Love" and the 1974 Maceo & The Macks song "Soul Power 74."
• The music video was shot in Haggerty Park in Queens, New York, and directed by Parris Mayhew, who had done the Onyx video for "Slam." Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC managed Onyx, so he brought Mayhew on board for "Ooh, Whatcha Gonna Do."
  
  "That was the first time so far that an artist came to me with a concept," Mayhew told Songfacts. "They said something like, 'We want to strip away all the showbiz – the gold chains and 'It's Tricky.'' They just wanted to shoot a video in the hood, at the park where they grew up, with all their friends. Eating and barbecuing and doing this whole thing."