Nore had a very successful '98.
And for those of us who saw it happen in real-time, you can see why he feels that way. He went from CNN to being called for mad features. R Kelly was asking him to come on tour to do "We Ride", he had the Pun record, he dropped his solo and went Gold. Cube called him to come to do the "Pushin' Weight" remix. He had more features with Onyx, Busta, Foxy, Project Pat, Mya, Pete Rock, Bounty Killer, Cam'ron, Fat Joe, Tribe, Keith Sweat, etc. I'm forgetting some, but Nore was probably the most featured MC in Hip Hop and R&B for a good 12-15 months.
Dude was busy. So he might've been the hottest rapper out at the time. He was everywhere!
Tough to even explain Nore in context of 2025. He was very popular among people heavy into hip hop, especially east coast hip hop fans, but had minimal crossover presence. And back then that was enough to go platinum and get a ton of airplay on BET, MTV and hip hop radio.
Damn why he slap @Stick Up Kid like thatI remember some NYC kid transferred to my high school when NORE was on his run. That kid was trashing ATL hip hop and swore suit like NORE is true hip hop and should be getting burn. One nikka believed him and copped the album, we played it on the busand folks were laughing st how wack that nikka was. They slapped the shyt out of that NYC kid. That kid whole demeanor changed from that point on after that slap.
DAMN! I forgot he also had a lot of underground joints that people slept on.
Like "Magic & Bird" with Nature and "Triple Threat" with Nas and Nature, which is one of my favorite tracks from the late 90's. Classic sh*t!! Nore was really that dude for a minute.
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Nore is one of the more interesting cats in the game far as his rapper stats, persona and trajectory.
Rudimentary in so many ways but funny as hell. "I get head, and I don't even iron my pants"
Street certified and a known live wire while having that sense of humor and seeming like the nicest dude in the world. That always came through in his music.
In a different timeline we got the Pun-Nore collabo album![]()