They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)

Peter Phillips and Corey Penn are the credited writers, Pete Rock produced, and it was recorded in 1991 and released April 2, 1992 on Untouchables and Elektra, 4:45 as a single. The single carried the original, an instrumental, and "The Creator (Slide to the Side Remix)". It reached 58 on the Hot 100, 10 on the R&B chart and 1 on the rap chart. The subject is Troy Trouble T-Roy Dixon, born October 19, 1967 in Mount Vernon, a dancer with Heavy D and the Boyz from 1987, who died on July 15, 1990, aged 22. Heavy D and the Boyz dedicated Peaceful Journey (1991) to him.

Pete Rock told Complex in 2011 that he does not know how he made that beat while depressed for such a long period, that he and Charlie Brown of Leaders of the New School just started crying at playback, and that deep in his heart he felt this was gonna be something big. He has said that Q-Tip had nothing to do with making the beat beyond suggesting they keep the horn riff, and that CL had come up with the lyrics even before the beat.

The main sample is the saxophone line from "Today" on The Honeysuckle Breeze (1967) by Tom Scott and the California Dreamers, a cover of the Jefferson Airplane song, entering around 1:37; Slick Rick used the same riff a year earlier on "It's a Boy". A blog, Flea Market Funk, adds that the intro flips the Beginning of the End's "When She Made Me Promise". Lupe Fiasco's "Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)" (2012) built on the same sample, which Pete Rock objected to publicly, and reports differ on how the dispute ended. On April 2, 2014, the 22nd anniversary, he played it with a live band at Electric Lady Studios for the CBC. Rolling Stone ranked it 12th among its 50 greatest hip-hop songs in 2012 and 430th on its 2021 list of 500 greatest songs; Pitchfork placed it 35th on its Top 200 Tracks of the 90s. We cannot tell which version our upload carries.