In 1993, some truly great Hip-Hop music released. Wu-Tang Clan, Snoop Dogg, and Black Moon made powerful impact with stellar debut albums. They were not alone either. Critical first LPs dropped from The Alkaholiks, Digable Planets, Fat Joe,  Spice 1, Souls Of Mischief, and The Roots hit record store shelves as well.

In ’93 Philadelphia, the same city as Roots and parts of Digable, Jedi Mind Tricks started to form. Teenage buddies Vinnie Paz and Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind began making their first music together, Hip-Hop Heads who also loved tagging graffiti in the Center City parks. Like so many, the expression was part dream, part plan. Nearly 25 years later, “Vin the Chin” and Stoupe have built one of Rap’s DIY powerhouses, with albums, super-crews (Army Of The Pharaohs, Heavy Metal Kings) and side projects, a label (Enemy Soil), and merch’. Along the way, they’ve cut cult-lauded tracks with key influences like Kool G Rap, GZA, and Tragedy Khadafi.

Imagine Souls Of Mischief’s “93 ‘Til Infinity” Remixed To Over 15 Amazing Beats From 1993 (Audio)

Late last year, Paz released Cornerstone Of The Corner Store. His third solo LP, it features contributions from Ghostface Killah, O.C., Buckwild, and Psycho Les of The Beatnuts. One track, “Nineteen Ninety Three” captures that schooldays glory. Produced and featuring Non-Phixion’s DJ Eclipse, the Camcorder-themed video shows the bedroom, the dream, and the influences knocking around Vinnie Paz’s head at that time.

He writes and delivers just like so many great MCs were at that time:

“None of y’all could come before me or come after me / You f**king with Paz then it could be a catastrophe / Knowledge is infinite, you couldn’t live with it / Suckers will fade and get played like an instrument / Nothing can harm me, why try bomb me? / You couldn’t f**k around with Paz with the Army / Thirty-two bars of death will shut ’em up / DJ Eclipse on the wheel, so cut it up.”

Ghostface Killah & Vinnie Paz Spit Bone Crushing Rhymes On Their New Collabo (Audio)

Eclipse’s beat has a D.I.T.C. feel, and matches the ’93 vibes perfectly.

#BonusBeat: Some true J.M.T. from ’93:

This track appeared on J.M.T.’s 1997 full-length debut, The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness. This same LP features Black Thought and Apathy.