You may have heard it while playing NBA Street Vol. 2 on Playstation, or have been listening to it since 1992.

Either way, “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y)”, first single off Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s debut album, is undoubtedly going to be played for decades.

Pete Rock produced the whole album and find inspiration in the recent death of his cousin and also CL Smooth’s close friend: Troy Dixon. He was also known as” Trouble T Roy” (his stage name) as he was a member of the group Heavy D and the Boyz.

In an interview accorded to The Village Voice, a New York weekly tabloid, Pete Rock declared:

“I had a friend of mine that passed away, and it was a shock to the community. I was kind of depressed when I made it. And to this day, I can’t believe I made it through, the way I was feeling. I guess it was for my boy. When I found the record by Tom Scott, basically I just heard something incredible that touched me and made me cry. It had such a beautiful bassline, and I started with that first. I found some other sounds and then heard some sax in there and used that. Next thing you know, I have a beautiful beat made. When I mixed the song down, I had Charlie Brown from Leaders of the New School in the session with me, and we all just started crying.”

You could expect sad vibes coming out of the track. Not at all. Pete Rock dug in Tom Scott’s saxophone demonstration in his cover of Jefferson Airplaine’s song “Today”,  to find a brillant sax sample.

Tom Scott – Today (sample appears at 1:39)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth – They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y)

This track now belongs to Hip-Hop patrimony. It’s been twenty years since this was on charts. But similar to the wine, it tastes even better as it gets old.

Pete Rock entered into the Hip-Hop family so damn well only with this productions. But he proved after that he was part of the great musicians. Yes musicians.

“But only you saw what took many time to see

I dedicate this to you for believing in me”

This is CL Smooth’s lines in the last verse paying tribute to his friend Troy Dixon. They reminisced over you.