After Black Moon and Smif n’ Wessun, Heltah Skeltah was a critical expansion within the Boot Camp Clik and Duck Down Records family. Brooklyn’s Rock (aka Rockness Monsta) and Ruck (aka Sean Price) combined clever writing with distinct deliveries over hardcore Hip-Hop production. Two albums debuted in Top 40, without ever chasing pop sounds, relying on controversies, or distractions of any kind.

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At the top of the 2000s, Rock stepped away—from Heltah Skeltah, Boot Camp, and Duck Down to chase solo pursuits. While the grass may have looked greener (along with the money), Rock did not find the success he was promised at DJ Lethal’s Interscope subsidiary. On September 22 album title track “Rockness A.P. (After Price),” Rock raps his career story. He spits about getting a blessing from Duck Down CEO Dru Ha to step away amidst a changing industry. He chronicles meeting Lethal by way of Tha Alkaholiks and apparently being pawned during Fred Durst’s short-lived beef with Eminem (Lethal was in Limp Bizkit, following his House Of Pain days). The song plays like a therapy session, as Rock alludes to his legal woes and street dealings that popped off in the late 2000s. Ultimately, Rock would rejoin the Clik in the 2000s, and make a celebrated third LP with Sean (who had become the new leader of the B.C.C. and the star within his group by ’08). However, on this song, he suggests he let Sean down with his actions (even with common good in mind). He raps about the pain of learning of Price’s August 2015 death.

For years, Heads wanted a Rockness Monsta solo LP. Besides Buckshot, he was once in place to be the most recognized face (and voice) of a seminal 1990s movement. That’s not what happened, and Rock seems to know it. However, his lucidity and storytelling make “Rockness A.P. (After Price)” a noteworthy listen, gearing up to his biggest solo endeavor.

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Sean Price would find his voice and a waiting audience through brutal honesty and self-deprecation. After Price, Rock appears to be doing the same.