"Praise be! De La has returned just in time to restore a little intelligence to this gats-and-blunts polluted rap world. "Stakes is High" does to ignorance what Raid does to roaches. "I'm sick of bitches shakin' asses / I'm sick of talkin' bout blunts, sick of Versace glasses / sick of slang / sick of half-assed award shows / sick of name-brand clothes / sick of R&B bitches over bullshit tracks / cocaine and crack which bring sickness to Blacks / sick of swoll-head rappers with their sickening raps," preaches Plug Two. This song is for those headz who long for the days when rap was still considered a powerful tool of upliftment. But the B-side may be even doper. "The Bizness" features De La hooking up with Common Sense on an all-the-way-live funk track that is very much on the same tip as "Stakes is High." The three MC's fit together perfectly, delivering oodles and oodles of dope rhymes that bring to mind the image of an Old School freestyle session. "Do you wanna be an MC / or do you wanna serve? / do you wanna be dope / or do you wanna deal it?" asks the very wise Common. These two tracks represent a well-needed breath of fresh air for all of hip-hop. It has certainly been a long time for the ever-unpredictable trio from Strong Island. And hip-hop has never needed them and the Native Tongues philosophy they helped birth as much as it does now. The stakes are high indeed, too damn high." (The Source: June '96) An epic 12" from '96, video below...