The last time we were in a Hip Hop Golden Age (1992-96) was also the last time there was a great amount of quality competition at the major label level of Hip Hop/Rap music. At the top of that widespread competition was the Hip Hop battle royale for the once mythical title “King Of New York”.

The original King Of New York concept was derived from Abel Ferrara’s 1990 cult classic film starring Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne & Wesley Snipes. At the time, the West coast had stepped to the forefront with Dr. Dre’s masterpiece “The Chronic” followed by Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Doggystyle”. While several New York & East coast classic albums were also released at the time, none of them could touch the overall cultural impact or commercial and crossover success of either project.

The whole race for King Of New York really began with the appearance of Biggie Smalls AKA Notorious B.I.G. and Wu Tang Clan in 1992. Biggie’s rise from mixtape messiah and underground king to Platinum crossover Rap superstar coupled with the Wu Tang Clan’s ascent from a gritty 12” “Protect Ya Neck”/”Method Man” to arguably the most influential Hip Hop group of the entire second Golden Era created the perfect environment and landscape for this particular race to begin.

“Enter The Wu Tang Clan” dropped in November 1993, this album captured the attention, heart and minds of Hip Hop heads nationwide then worldwide. It was credited with being the release that put the battery in the back of New York Hip Hop. Before that, Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” & Snoop Dogg’s “Doggystyle” had pretty much been the shit. After the Wu dropped that album, that raw, gritty New York B Boy aesthetic was back. The album propelled RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon The Chef, Ghostface Killah & Ol’ Dirty Bastard to instant superstardom.

Nas’ heralded debut “Illmatic” dropped in April 1994 to critical acclaim and much fanfare. He was hailed as “Hip Hop’s Second Coming” and the lyrical heir to Rakim. The album didn’t blow up commercially but it was a critical sensation and it was seemingly in every car and walkman. The album failed to go Gold even though it was viewed as an unadulterated Hip Hop classic. The door was still open…

Notorious B.I.G. entered the fray in September 1994 with “Ready To Die”. His singles “Juicy” and “Unbelievable” far surpassed Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard To Tell” and “The World Is Yours”. When “Ready To Die” dropped, it instantly captured the imagination and attention of not only hardcore Hip Hop heads but it also managed to cross over. “Ready To Die” was for the East Coast and New York what Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” was for the West Coast and Los Angeles. Biggie’s lyrical brilliance and street credibility coupled with his overwhelming commercial success aided his official ascent to the throne. Christopher Wallace, not Francis White, was King Of New York.

Method Man was the first of the Wu Tang Clan to drop a solo effort as “Tical” hit store shelves in November 1994. While “Tical” was well received and Meth even appeared on “Ready To Die”, it didn’t didn’t quite reach the heights of “Illmatic” and “Ready To Die”. “Bring The Pain” and “All I Need” were both huge singles that kept his name in people’s mouths but Method Man was never a serious contender for the crown.

The battle for King Of New York kicked into high gear in 1995 as Mobb Deep dropped “The Infamous” in April of that year between the classic Wu Tang solo releases Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s “Enter The 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version”, Raekwon’s “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” & GZA’s “Liquid Swords”. Whereas Method Man had failed, each of his Wu Tang brethren answered the call and delivered classic after classic behind RZA’s sonic wizardry.

This Game Of Thrones was about to gain some new challengers as the month before Raekwon’s classic dropped, Jay-Z’s first single “In My Lifetime” hit the airwaves and battled his boy Big’s crew Junior M.A.F.I.A’s hit “Player’s Anthem” for the most spins. The winner was often Raekwon’s “Glaciers Of Ice”, “Criminology”, “Incarcerated Scarfaces or “Ice Cream” or Mobb Deep’s “Shook Ones”, “Give Up The Goods” or “Survival Of The Fittest”.

The summer of 1995 featured a number of releases that vied for the top spot of heads cassette decks, CD players & hearts. Exactly four weeks after “OB4CL” hit the streets, Junior M.A.F.I.A’s “Conspiracy” dropped as well. The infamous “Shark Niggas” skit had the streets going ham (way before they knew they were doing so) and it officially acknowledged that there was a competition in progress and that lines had been drawn in the sand.

On August 3rd, 1995, Notorious B.I.G. swept the 2nd Annual Source Hip Hop Music Awards @ Madison Square Garden’s Paramount Theater. If there was any dispute as to who still occupied the iron throne, it was answered definitively that night. The Wu Tang Clan were less than enthused with the outcome as outlined in Ghostface Killah’s lyrics of 1996’s “Poisonous Darts” from his debut “Ironman”, “We got jerked at The Source Awards/but next year 300 niggas comin’ with swords!”. They didn’t have another awards show for 4 years, B…

June 25th 1996, “Reasonable Doubt” hit store shelves propelled by the singles “Dead Presidents” and the Foxy Brown featured “Ain’t No Nigga”. While the album didn’t sell tremendously at first, it soon picked up momentum after the Mary J. Blige assisted “Can’t Knock The Hustle” hit airwaves and the video hit BET & MTV in August. “Reasonable Doubt” was regarded as a masterpiece across the board. Shawn Corey Carter had officially tossed his hat into the ring, his profile being further augmented by his epic collaboration with Notorious B.I.G., “Brooklyn’s Finest”.

The next week, Nas drops the follow up to his classic debut “Illmatic”, “It Was Written”. Nas was being managed by mogul and executive Steve Stoute. While Nas had appeased the hardcore Hip Hop heads and critics with “Illmatic” it didn’t do well commercially. Nas’ lead single “If I Ruled The World” sampled the Hip Hop classic “Friends” by Whodini & borrowed the hook from the Kurtis Blow classic “If I Ruled The World”. In addition, it featured Lauryn Hill who was a member of the biggest act in Hip Hop at the time, The Fugees. It blew the fuck up. Go figure.

Nas borrowed heavily stylistically (“Nas Escobar”) from Biggie and Raekwon for “It Was Written” and he admitted to it in “Last Real Nigga Alive” off his 2002 album “God’s Son”.  In addition to many of the behind the scenes interactions with himself, Biggie, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah & Jay-Z. It was all good as Jay-Z’s Reasonable Doubt” was clearly influenced by Nas’ aesthetic approach to “Illmatic”. Nas had managed to crossover to the mainstream with “It Was Written” and his newfound commercial success officially put him back in the running for King Of New York.

In October 1996, Ghostface Killah dropped the last of the first wave of Wu Tang solo LP’s in the form of his debut “Ironman”. It was a continuation of his 1995 collaboration with Raekwon “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx” which also co-starred Ghostface & Cappadonna. The album achieved Gold status fairly quickly after opening at #2 on the Billboard charts after it’s release. The singles “All That I Got Is You” featuring Mary J. Blige, “Camay” & “Daytona 500” all did well on the radio.

Being that Ghostface Killah now had a Gold RIAA plaque to bring back to Stapleton and he was on the radio you’d figure that he and Raekwon could continue their push to the throne, right? Wrong. It was now time for the Wu Tang Clan brethren to once again form Voltron and release another album. That album would be released to following summer in a much different post Telecom Act Hip Hop landscape.

Mobb Deep’s “Hell On Earth” was released the following month. It had features from Raekwon, Method Man & Nas but none from either Biggie or Jay-Z. While it was seen as an excellent album that was well received critically and by fans, it failed to come up with a big single. Neither “Drop A Gem On ‘Em”, “Front Lines (Hell On Earth)” or “G.O.D. Pt. III” fared extremely well commercially. “Hell On Earth” was certified Gold 5 months after it’s release. Then the entire Game Of Thrones took an extremely unfortunate turn…

Notorious B.I.G. was still reveling in the success of Junior M.A.F.I.A debut & Lil’ Kim’s “Hard Core”. His profile stayed high due to a string of guest appearances and his upcoming second album “Life After Death”. There was talk of Big, Jay-Z & his girlfriend Charli Baltimore forming a supergroup to go had to head against Nas’ The Firm called The Commission. The lead single “Hypnotize” was already on radio before it was even officially released so anticipation for his return was high. On March 9th, 1997 Christopher Wallace’s life was brought to an abrupt end.

The man who began this entire game through his lyrical brilliance and his versatility as an artist was no longer around. “Life After Death” was released posthumously on March 25th, 1997 to both overwhelming fan response and critical acclaim. It was a slight departure from the dark tones of “Ready To Die” and several songs showcased Big’s growth as a writer and an artist. New York had lost it’s king but Hip Hop as a whole lost a legend. The throne was now empty, but even then Big’s competitors were reluctant to attempt to take the crown in his absence.

June 3rd, 1997 saw the Wu-Tang Clan’s return to the Hip Hop landscape. “Wu-Tang Forever” was fueled by the popular single “Triumph” and it’s video. While the 1st single was featured prominently on the charts and on radio, the follow up singles “It’s Yourz” and “Reunited” did not fare nearly as well. That didn’t matter as the 27 track double album sold in excess of 4 million units and opened at #1 on the Billboard charts. Even though the album was a huge success, neither the group or the individual members would ever achieve this level of fame or success again.

Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown and Nature (not Cormega) released an album as The Firm on October 21st, 1997. The album was met with an overall lukewarm reaction and many felt that it was overdone, too commercial leaning, derivative and lacking in direction. It was produced by Trackmasters, Dr. Dre and Nas producer L.E.S. who did the lead single “Firm Biz”. The song featured Aftermath signee and former EnVogue member Dawn Robinson on the hook. It failed to chart. The follow up single “Phone Tap” failed to inspire audiences either. Ultimately, the album was considered a failure and the fad began by the Wu Gambinos on “OB4CL” ended up only working for them.

The first song that served as an unofficial single for Jay-Z’s next album, “Who Ya Wit” dropped on the “Sprung” soundtrack back in May. The much maligned single (and video) featuring Babyface & Foxy Brown, “(Always Be My) Sunshine” made many that were fans of “Reasonable Doubt” balk (myself included). Two weeks later after “The Firm: The Album” dropped, Jay-Z released “In My Lifetime Vol. 1” on November 4, 1997. On said album’s “Where I’m From”, Jay-Z spit a line talking how cats would argue all day about who were the best emcees: Biggie, Jay-Z or Nas.

Jay-Z’s “In My Lifetime Vol. 1” did well commercially, eventually going Platinum, but none of it’s singles fared well with those that expected more from him. “The City Is Mine”, which had Blackstreet on the hook singing a reworked Glenn Frey hook was widely regarded as uninspired work. Jay-Z was seemingly in a bad space creatively following Big’s passing. Although he managed to record some gems, a good 33% of the album was filler at least.

In the end, the Game Of Thrones would be left to Jay-Z & Nas. Jay-Z built a dynasty with Roc A Fella and released the highly successful album “In My Lifetime Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life” on the greatest Hip Hop release date ever, September 29th, 1998. This album ultimately launched an empire, a tour that revolutionized Hip Hop tours (“Hard Knock Life Tour”) and officially solidified Hip Hop music as the genre of choice on the Billboard charts. “Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life” went 5x Platinum and helped to re-establish Def Jam as a brand and a force an urban music.

None of the Wu Tang Clan’s following solo or group albums that followed ever touched Jay-Z’s subsequent success. Nas dropped two less than stellar projects in 1999 with “I Am…” and “Nastradamus”. Mobb Deep’s “Murda Muzik” while going Platinum and having two successful radio singles in “Quiet Storm” & “It’s Mine” (featuring Nas) were still out of the Game Of Thrones running. Jay-Z had now ascended to the throne, whether he even wanted the crown or not…

Many wars and feuds didJay-Z fight. Honor and fear were heaped upon his name and, in time, he became King Of New York by his own hand. He, however, did enter into a personal war with Nas. Nasir Jones was his greatest competitor, foe, and remaining living inspiration since the passing of his friend Christopher Wallace. Without competition, being the best is simply boring, empty and tiresome. So he merely resurrected his old nemesis and put a battery in his back…but that is another story.

One.