Though this album was released on the major label Elektra Records, it is a prototypical underground hip-hop release composed of smoky loop-based beats and rapping about rapping. Throughout No Need’s runtime, Del snarls at the lesser MCs, demonstrating how much better he is than his mostly imaginary foes by deploying complex verses of battle-ready prose. The tone of this sophomore release is darker and more insular than the comparatively sunny meadows of his debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here. Subsequent releases have demonstrated that this was the public’s introduction to the “real” Del, a vicious MC who is mostly a regular, even nerdy, guy except when he’s in the vocal booth settling scores.

– Nate LeBlanc