Today in Hip-Hop — October 24: All Balls Don’t Bounce, Jealous One’s Envy and All We Got Iz Us Turn 30

October 24, 1995. One Tuesday, three very different records, and all three turn 30 today. Aceyalone dropped his solo debut All Balls Don’t Bounce on Capitol. Fat Joe put out Jealous One’s Envy on Relativity/Violator. Onyx came back with All We Got Iz Us on Jam Master Jay’s JMJ Records. Here’s the jewel: track 11 on Fat Joe’s album, “Watch Out,” has an uncredited Bronx kid on it named Big Punisher. That’s widely cited as Pun’s commercial debut, three years before Capital Punishment.

The West Coast Genius Record

All Balls Don’t Bounce is the one heads still press on people. Aceyalone came out of the Good Life Cafe open mics with Freestyle Fellowship, and his solo debut sounds like it. Jazzy, spare beats from The Nonce, Vic Hop, Punish, Mumbles and Fat Jack, with a writer bending bars around and off the beat. AllMusic gives it five stars and calls Ace “one of the greatest lyricists the West Coast has ever produced,” comparing his rhythmic confidence to Rakim. The closing stretch is a family affair. “B-Boy Kingdom” brings in Abstract Rude, Mikah 9 and P.E.A.C.E. over a Fat Jack beat. That track hits different today. P.E.A.C.E. passed one year ago, on October 24, 2025, at 51. So the album turns 30 on the first anniversary of his passing.

The Bronx and Queens Answer

Back east, Fat Joe was stacking producers. Diamond D made “Bronx Tale” with KRS-One, built on Sammy Nestico’s “Shoreline Drive.” Domingo produced “Success,” and DJ Premier remixed it on the album. L.E.S. flipped Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” for “Envy.” Raekwon jumps on “Respect Mine.” It debuted at No. 7 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart. The posse cut “Firewater,” with Rae, Armageddon and Pun over a Showbiz beat, was left off.

Onyx went darker. After the party energy of Bacdafucup, All We Got Iz Us took on suicide, addiction and paranoia, with a cracked metal mad-face on the cover. It debuted at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on R&B/Hip-Hop. Seven years later, the “Last Dayz” instrumental played under the Lotto vs. B-Rabbit battle in 8 Mile. Fredro Starr has said he didn’t know it was in the movie until the premiere.

We made a Freestyle Fellowship Innercity Griots hoodie for the crew that raised Aceyalone and P.E.A.C.E. Throw it on today for both of them. We went deeper on the Fellowship’s catalog when Temptations turned 25 last week.

Also Today in Hip-Hop

• 1973: Madlib is born (turns 53). The Oxnard beat conductor behind Quasimoto, Jaylib and the Stones Throw run. His most famous team-up is still Madvillainy with DOOM. We keep the MF DOOM Madvillain tee in the rotation for exactly that reason.
• 1986: Drake is born (turns 40). Before the mixtapes (Room for Improvement, Comeback Season, So Far Gone), Aubrey Graham was Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi: The Next Generation.
• 1995: Same-day company. Frost’s Smile Now, Die Later (Ruthless) and Da Youngsta’s I’ll Make U Famous also hit shelves this Tuesday. They’re 30 too.
• 2024: DJ Clark Kent passes (2 years). He died at 58 after a battle with colon cancer. He produced “Brooklyn’s Finest,” “Coming of Age” and “Cashmere Thoughts” on Reasonable Doubt, and Damon Dash credits him with the Jay-Z introduction that led to Roc-A-Fella.

Stay creative — The Custom Creative Team

Jon Jones