Today in Hip-Hop History: Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s ‘The Main Ingredient’ LP Turns 30 Years Old!

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On this day in 1994, Pete Rock and CL Smooth via Elektra Records dropped their second album, The Main Ingredient, thirty years ago today.

Produced exclusively by the legend Pete Rock himself, The Main Ingredient defined the sound of the Money Earnin’ Mount Vernon duo, with Pete’s signature horns and jazz-laced drums patterns, tracks like “I Got A Love”, which derived from The Ambassadors’ “Ain’t Got The Love” and was sampled in Jay-Z’s and Jay Elec’s “Shiny Suit Theory,” and “Sun Won’t Come Out” became the “production prediction” of Pete Rock even outside of his projects with CL.

Ironically, this was the duo’s last album together, never citing reasons for their separation. Nevertheless, we thank Pete Rock & CL Smooth for this time capsule of Hip Hop purity. Salute!

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