Stakes is High is the 4th studio album by de la Soul, releasedon July 2, 1996. Stakes is High was critically lauded for it'smusic, lyricism, and it's overall message concerning the artisticdecline rap music began to face in the mid-90s. The title trackand first single was produced by J Dilla and the album's secondsingle, "Itzsoweezee (HOT)", with only Dave on vocals, wasaccompanied by a creative music video. The album spawned athird single "4 More", featuring Zhane. The album did provide alaunching pad for future star rappers and actors Mos Def, whoappeared on the track "Big Brother Beat" and Common who isfeatured on "The Bizness".