Today in Hip-Hop — October 10: AZ’s Doe or Die and KRS-One Drop the Same Day, 31 Years Ago

October 10, 1995. One Tuesday, two very different New York records. A 23-year-old from Brooklyn whose entire résumé was one verse put out his debut on EMI, and the Teacha from the Boogie Down put out his second solo album on Jive. Here’s the jewel: AZ got signed off a single guest verse, the only one on Illmatic. On “Life’s a Bitch” he outshone a lot of people’s whole albums. Eighteen months later, Doe or Die was No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. Both records turn 31 today.

Start with AZ. Doe or Die peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and topped the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It landed ten weeks after Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. It also came out before Reasonable Doubt and It Was Written, the two 1996 albums it gets grouped with as the records that made mafioso rap a lane. The production was a who’s-who of the era. Pete Rock did “Gimme Yours” and “Rather Unique,” Buckwild of D.I.T.C. did “Ho Happy Jackie,” and Ski, DR Period and N.O. Joe filled in the rest. L.E.S. built “Sugar Hill,” with a then-unknown Miss Jones singing the hook, and it went Gold and became AZ’s only Top 40 hit at No. 25. Nas returned the Illmatic favor on three tracks, including “Mo Money, Mo Murder.” A year later the two of them were in The Firm together. (We got into the Queensbridge side of that story on Nas’ birthday.)

Now KRS. The self-titled KRS-One was supposed to be called Hip-Hop Vs. Rap, a title taken from a B-side on the “Sound of da Police” 12-inch. It went to No. 19 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 R&B. DJ Premier made the lead single, “MC’s Act Like They Don’t Know,” flipping a piano loop under KRS going after rappers who chase pop money. It reached No. 9 on the Rap chart. Diamond D and Showbiz brought D.I.T.C. weight too, and Busta Rhymes, Das EFX, Fat Joe, Mad Lion and Channel Live all came through. Two Jive releases dropped that day. The other belonged to some Oakland kids.

We made a Nas Illmatic tee for heads who know the album had exactly one guest MC, and that his verse started a career. Doe or Die wouldn’t exist without track three.

Also today in hip-hop:

• Souls of Mischief, No Man’s Land (Oct 10, 1995, 31 years): the Hieroglyphics crew’s second album, which they produced in-house with A-Plus, Del and Casual on the boards. It was their last album for Jive, and after it the crew went the independent route.
• Biz Markie, The Biz Never Sleeps (Oct 10, 1989, 37 years): the album with “Just a Friend,” which reached No. 9 on the Hot 100. It went Gold on April 24, 1990. Off-key, unbothered, eternal.
• Ice-T, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech… Just Watch What You Say! (Oct 10, 1989, 37 years): it opens with a Jello Biafra intro and has Body Count’s first recording. It’s Ice-T’s anti-censorship statement, and it went Gold.
• Lloyd Banks, Rotten Apple (Oct 10, 2006, 20 years): it debuted at No. 3 with 143,000 copies. It has beats from Eminem and Havoc, and Rakim and Scarface show up on a G-Unit record.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team

Jon Jones