Nas created “My Way” during the Stillmatic sessions and The Alchemist sampled the slow intro of the 1977 disco track “Just a Little Bit” by the Larry Page Orchestra. Al heard about Stillmatic and wanted to give Nas a track that had a feel reminiscent to freestyling in the park, and Nas recorded the track in one night. Al said the following to Complex:

It pretty much embodied what we were talking about. No half stepping, flat tops, he just killed it. It made me realize how beyond good he is.

The fourth track off of Rakim’s album, The Seventh Seal.

The 10th track off Rakim’s album The Seventh Seal

Common’s ninth album saw him re-connect with his old Chicago friend and original producer No I.D., who produced every song on the The Dreamer/The Believer. Common explained the direction of this album in a 2011 interview with The Boombox:

It’s going to be positive hip-hop. Hip-hop that can really generate good spirit, the spirit of the music and just good energy. I’m excited about the album. I feel blessed that I got to work with No I.D. I’m enthused to do hip-hop, which is something that I have to do when I feel it. It’s the spirit and energy of hip-hop that made you just enjoy it and love the music and not feel like, ‘Man, is this gonna sell?’ or ‘I sold this many.’ It’s stuff that made you feel something, it’s stuff that you can use that inspired your life. I think about hip-hop like Brand Nubian and KRS-One and N.W.A and Rakim, that stuff inspired my life. Those things really shaped who I am.

The album peaked at #18 on the Billboard 200 and was supported by the singles “Ghetto Dreams” with Nas, “Blue Sky,” “Sweet,” “Celebrate,” and “Raw (How You Like It).”