The discovery and release of The Nonce '1990' is an important milestone recorded during the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. Recognized as innovators of the LA Hip-Hop Underground, The Nonce was formed by two seventeen year olds, Nouka Basetype aka Sach and the late Yusef "Afloat" Mohammed. As The Nonce, the duo was part of the Project Blowed collective.

Just after High School graduation in 1990, the young duo was given the chance to go into a professional studio. Their dreams of a record deal were soon dashed after the production company raised objections to their artistic choices. Unwilling to meet the demands, The Nonce walked away from the project, leaving behind the Masters of the very tracks that make up The Nonce '1990'.

Daniel Borine, of the independent Family Groove label, discovered the lost material for this album in 2017. Borine rescued the Master tapes from the studio where they were first recorded and subsequently misplaced, (but not forgotten), since 1990. Sach had assumed the tapes were destroyed or thrown in the dumpster bin.

These 14 rare tracks by The Nonce, predate their critically acclaimed 1993 single, Mix Tapes and the classic World Ultimate from 1995. Borine returned the found tapes to Sach with the idea to mix multitracks from the 2" tape master tapes and issue the album.