In 2000, The LOX released We Are The Streets while Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek dropped Train Of Thought as Reflection Eternal. At the time, these New York City artists appeared to some, to exist at opposite sides of the Rap industry. While Jadakiss, Styles P, and Sheek Louch were former Bad Boys in search of a “Ride Or Die, B***h,” Kweli and Les Nubians were speaking a more loving language. On both sides, lyricism prevailed—even if Rawkus and Ruff Ryders may have appeared to have very little overlap.

That changed throughout the 2000s. Styles tapped Pharaohe Monch for one of his hit singles, “My Life.” By 2017, things are very different. Talib Kweli and Styles P have made great music together, including Statik Selektah’s “The Thrill Is Gone” track.

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Two days ahead of Kweli and Styles’ collaborative EP The Seven, the pair release a high profile collabo. The Ghost calls in Jadakiss and Sheek for “Nine Point Five.” Produced by another Rawkus alum, Marco Polo, the song is the perfect canvas for MCs to bust bars. Marco scratches Styles and Kwe’, while all MCs wax poetic about dropping dynamite for your mind.

With an incredible display of compound rhymes, Talib seems to address the Afrika Bambaataa sex scandal and so much more: “Planting seeds for the trees we need to breathe on the planet / Indeed, we really take the planet for granted / We bulldoze the granite at Standing Rock / We plunder then we wonder why the planet hot / Made in his image are we worshiping the Man or not / The uncomfortable feeling I get every time I hear ‘Planet Rock’.” Kweli sets a high bar, and the L-O-X deliver as expected, with quick bars about getting paper, then getting smart. The chemistry is strong, and the pro-culture message is clear.

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Talib’s protege Niko Is appears on the cut too.