The Main Ingredient

The Main Ingredient is the second album by Pete Rock & CL Smooth, released on November 8, 1994. It would become their last album together.

Though overlooked at the time of its release, the album has since been re-evaluated with high critical acclaim. Allmusic’s Stanton Swihart called it “an album that is far more focused” and “just as good as the first record, perhaps an even more satisfying single listen.” Swihart described Rock’s production work as “among some of the most seductive in hip-hop”, and CL as “lyrically on point, spitting out intellectual rhymes and narratives that are just as propulsive and engaging as the music.”

The album was a favorite of the late producer J Dilla, who played it while meeting with Pete Rock to record Slum Village’s “Once Upon A Time” for the album, Fantastic, Vol. 2 in 1998.