As we continue on....We've reached the middle chunk of the decade, and enter 1996. Just like the two previous years, the nine six featured some ill records and albums from the new class of emcees from coast to coast. We saw debut albums from future stars: Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt), The Fugees (The Score), Busta Rhymes (The Coming), Xzibit (At The Speed Of Life) and Ghostface Killah (Ironman). The year also produced some solid follow-ups to certified classics from Nas, Mobb Deep, + Outkast. The big story in '96 however was the growing tension between the east and west coast, primarily between 2pac/Notorious B.I.G. as both artists had tremendous success during the year. Early in the year, 2pac signed with Death Row and soon released the double disc "All Eyez On Me", which was a smash hit worldwide and was certified platinum in just 4 hours after being released. The album spawned numerous hits including "California Love" and "How Do U Want It" among others. On the opposite coast, Biggie Smalls was riding high from the success of his debut album "Ready To Die" and had been recently crowned the "King Of New York". Although he didn't drop an album in '96, he was as visible as ever and was featured on tons of tracks from his Bad Boy labelmates, ghostwrote the debut album of Lil Kim, and dropped a group album with his crew Junior MAFIA. Throughout the year however, the long-brewing beef between former friends Pac + Big began to spill over into the public eye. Both began sending subliminal jabs in their rhymes and talking shit in interviews and at concerts. The beef soon spiraled out of control as both dropped brutal diss tracks, gaining national attention and in the process polarizing both coast's artists and in essence, creating a hip-hop civil war. The tension rose, and by the Fall, the beef came to an abrupt and tragic end as Tupac Shakur was brutally murdered the evening of September 7th while in his car leaving a fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The death of Shakur was an irreparable loss to the entire hip-hop community and served as a sobering wake-up call to the entire industry. It's pretty safe to say that although there was plenty of dope music to drop throughout the year, the death of 2Pac really put a damper on the end of 1996. Unfortunately, the violence did not end with the passing of 'Pac, and just a few short months later in March of '97, another star, Biggie Smalls, was also gunned down after an awards show in California.

Regardless of the circumstances, '96 really was the year when I truly fell in love with hip-hop. I mean, I'm only 22 years old, so although I did listen to hip-hop as a kid, I was far too young to truly appreciate the music of the early 90's. Luckily for me, during '96 year my sister had a babysitter who's boyfriend was around often and schooled me on good hip-hop. I was only 10 years old at the time, but I vividly remember driving around in dude's hatchback with a crazy system, flipping through his CD book and wondering why a rapper would call themselves "MOP"? Hahaha...Nah but real talk...I can clearly remember riding with him to pick up "Reasonable Doubt" the day it dropped in late June. I can remember it being so fuckin' hot cause dude's A/C was all fucked up or something and after he scooped it up, we took a long ass ride around downtown Providence playing the whole joint from start to finish. I remember just taking it all in, steady bobbing my head (just cause I seen him doing it) and even though I couldn't understand everything Jay was spitting about, it really stuck with me...maybe it was cause my juvenile 10 year old mind thought "Jay-Z & Biggie Smalls Make Ya Shit Ya Drawers" was the funniest line ever...But even if it was just cause of that line...it bugs me out that I can remember that whole memory so vividly and as I got older, "Reasonable Doubt" eventually became my favorite hip-hop album of all-time.

Anyway...enough of my trip down memory lane...lets get to the music...