By the end of 1992 to mid 1993, New York City's rap scene was in a stasis. Golden Era rap guards like Eric B. & Rakim waved a bittersweet adieu with the 1992 acerbic opus Don't Sweat the Technique, while Big Daddy Kane attempted to win back old fans on Looks Like A Job For…, trading in his satin-clothed rap playboy image for a black hoody and hard rhymes. Public Enemy even reached their peak, releasing a b-sides album, all as the East began to fade in the thicket of smoke left behind Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg's The Chronic. In need of an energy shot, the Big Apple would soon get that in the form of a gritty nine-man troupe from out of the grimy project stairwells of Staten Island, NY.
