Today In Hip-Hop: Chino XL Releases Debut Album

On this day, April 9, in hip-hop history...

1996: Bronx rapper Chino XL released his debut album Here to Save You All. Signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings, Chino was discovered at the age of 16 after forming the Art of Origin with DJ Kerri "Kaoz" Chandler. Here to Save You All was critically acclaimed upon its release and peaked at #56 on Billboard's Hip Hop/R&B chart.

The album is also notable for the Ras Kass-assisted song "Riiiot!," in which in which XL raps, "Governmentally engineered like E.Bola for this rap garage sale/By this industry, I'm tryin' not to get fucked like 2Pac in jail." Although Chino maintains the line was not meant as a diss, 2Pac responded on "Hit 'Em Up." According to XL, however, their feud was short lived and the two were on good terms prior to 2Pac's death that same year.