#the main ingredient

Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth: The Main Ingredient

© 1994 Elektra Records

• —–Professional Reviews—–
• Allmusic.com: 4/5 stars
• Tiny Mix Tapes: 4.5/5
• Rolling Stone: 4/5
• RapReviews.com: 9/10
• Q Magazine: 3/5 stars
• —–Personal Rating—–
• 10/10(Perfection!)

While many cite Mecca & The Soul Brother as the duo’s definitive release, that honor should go to this album as it surpasses it in every way. The upbeat and jazzy vibes that dominated the early 90′s were kept to a minimum here and were replaced by a much more mature sound in the form of mid tempo paced songs with bass lines, thick drums and soul samples. C.L. Smooth also steps his game up both in his lyricism and his flow and this is without a doubt his best performance to date. Although I’ve never been a fan of Pete Rock as an M.C., he himself has improved and he even gets his own solo track called Escape. There is filler here but it’s not the usual kind. Most of the songs either start and/or end with a musical interlude. Normally I hate this practice but it was done right as the interludes compliment the songs very well. At 16 tracks total and with the average run time of each song being about 4 to 5 minutes, you might be concerned with the album running a bit long but it doesn’t. This is because of how strong it starts off. The first 5 songs, In The House,Carmel City,I Get Physical,Sun Won’t Come Out and the fantastic I Got a Love, will keep you wanting more and it only gets better as the album progresses. The Main Ingredient would prove to be the duo’s last album together. They would later work together again in 1998 for Pete Rock’s solo album, Soul Survivor provingthat the magic they once had was still present.

This album holds a very special place in my heart. I rediscovered it back in 2005 at a very peculiar yet significant time in my life. It is still my favorite Hip-Hop album of all time.