This Day In Hip Hop: Inspectah Deck traffics Uncontrolled Substance

On this day seventeen years ago, Inspectah Deck of the Wu-Tang Clan released his solo debut album, Uncontrolled Substance.

Already a legend for his intricate, complex bars on Wu-Tang Clan tracks, Inspectah Deck cemented his place as one of hip hop's top lyricists with Uncontrolled Substance, his first solo album. Like the GZA's Liquid Swords, Inspectah Deck's debut began production in 1995 in fellow Wu-Tang Clan member RZA's basement studio. Unlike Liquid Swords however, Uncontrolled Substance wasn't released in '95, as the album was unfortunately delayed for a whopping four years following a devastating flood that ruined the RZA's studio and destroyed many of the original productions and recordings for the album. 

Thankfully, Inspectah Deck and his team of producers (which included RZA and veteran Wu collaborator True Master,) managed to remake and finish the album, which is now considered one of the Inspectah's strongest works.

The album spawned two music videos, "Word on the Street" and "Show N Prove," the latter of which was directed by acclaimed music video director Joseph Kahn, who also directed music videos for Public Enemy, Mobb Deep, Usher, Eminem, and more.

By Michael Lacerna for RAPstation.com