Rap audiences can be a fickle lot. In 1994, Craig Mack was riding high on the success of his debut album, Project: Funk da World, and a hit single, “Flava in Ya Ear.” Three years later, his Operation: Get Down follow-up would have more appropriately titled Operation: Fell Off. So what happened? Two things: First, Mack was backed by a rising Sean “Puffy” Combs on his debut, a relationship that was strained by the meteoric rise of the Notorious B.I.G. — who incidentally had his debut on the ear-popping remix of “Flava in Ya Ear.” Second, three years is a looong time in the pop world. If Operation: Get Down had appeared sooner, it’s possible that “Drugs, Guns and Thugs” could have broken out as a single and Mack would never have had to write “Jockin’ My Style” — a song attacking all the MCs who had taken on his style during the long absence. – Wade Kergan
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