Background: Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 1 singles ranking on July 26, 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open titles in 1997 and 1998 and consecutive runner-up at Wimbledon in 2000 and 2001.
Context: 1998 was a particularly strong year for Rafter, who won the Canadian Open and Cincinnati in a row (only Andre Agassi, in 1995, Andy Roddick, in 2003, and Rafael Nadal, in 2013 also have won both these tournaments in the same year). Rafter defeated ninth ranked Richard Krajicek in the Toronto final and second ranked Pete Sampras in the Cincinnati final. When asked about the difference between himself and Rafter following their titles, Sampras stated "10 grand slams", and that a player has to come back and win a Grand Slam again in order to be considered great. Following his title at Cincinnati, Rafter won a US Open warm-up tournament in Long Island, New York. Entering the US Open as the defending champion, he reached the final again by defeating Hicham Arazi, Hernan Gumy, David Nainkin, Goran Ivanisevic and Jonas Bjorkman before defeating Sampras in a five-set semifinal. Rafter pointedly took issue with Sampras' refusal to show him respect in defeat: "That is what really upsets me about him", Rafter said, "and the reason why I try to piss him off as much as I can." Rafter then defended his U.S. Open title by defeating fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis in four sets, committing only five unforced errors throughout the match. When asked about Sampras' earlier comments about having to win another Grand Slam in order to be considered great, Rafter replied: "Maybe you can ask him that question, if he thinks that now. For me, I won another Slam, and it hasn't sunk in yet. It's very, very exciting for me, especially to repeat it". Altogether, Rafter won six tournaments in 1998, finishing the year #4 in the world.
Question: Most interesting facts during that time?
Answer: Rafter then defended his U.S. Open title by defeating fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis in four sets, committing only five unforced errors throughout the match.

Background: Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former footballer and television presenter. Born in Leicester and of Nigerian descent, he was capped four times for England. Dublin started his career as a centre-back with Norwich City, but made his name at Cambridge United as a centre-forward. He had spells with Norwich City, Cambridge United, Manchester United, Coventry City, Millwall, Aston Villa, Leicester City and Celtic.
Context: Dublin was controversially excluded from the England 1998 FIFA World Cup squad, despite being the Premier League's joint top-scorer in the 1997-98 season, alongside Michael Owen and Chris Sutton. However, his exploits at club level were still attracting significant attention and in the autumn of 1998, he chose to move to Aston Villa for PS5.75 million. In his first four games for the club, he would score 7 goals including a memorable hat-trick against Southampton in only his second game for the Villans. As a result, he is one of only six players to score in the first four consecutive games for a Premier League club. In December 1999, whilst playing for Aston Villa against Sheffield Wednesday, he sustained a life-threatening broken neck, as a result of which he permanently has a titanium plate holding three neck vertebrae together. Just days before suffering this injury, it was reported in the News of the World that Dublin would soon be sold by Aston Villa for a fee of around PS6million as the club looked to finance a fall in its share value as a result of manager John Gregory's heavy expenditure on players. Incredibly, the injury did not end Dublin's career and he was back in action three months later. In April 2000, a week after returning to the team, he helped Aston Villa reach their first FA Cup final in 43 years, which they lost 1-0 against Chelsea, scoring a penalty in the semi-final shoot-out against Bolton Wanderers. Having regained his fitness, Dublin remained on the Villa Park payroll until 2002. Faced with competition for a first team place by Juan Pablo Angel and Peter Crouch, Dublin spent several weeks on loan at First Division Millwall. In his time there, he scored two goals, against Stockport County, and Grimsby Town in five league matches to help them into the play-offs where despite Dublin's goal in the first leg of the semi final, Millwall lost to Birmingham City 2-1 on aggregate. Returning to Villa, he found himself again a first choice striker, partnering Darius Vassell up front. Dublin was sent off at Villa Park for a headbutt on Robbie Savage in the Birmingham derby match, which ended 2-0 to Birmingham City.
Question: Why did he leave?
Answer: Faced with competition for a first team place by Juan Pablo Angel and Peter Crouch,

Background: Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones was born on September 14, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Olu Dara (born Charles Jones III), is a jazz and blues musician, from Mississippi. His mother, Fannie Ann (Little) Jones, was a Postal Service worker from North Carolina. He has one sibling, a brother named Jabari Fret who is best known as "Jungle", a member of the hip-hop group Bravehearts.
Context: Columbia Records began to press Nas to work towards more commercial topics, such as that of The Notorious B.I.G., who had become successful by releasing street singles that still retained radio-friendly appeal. In 1995, Nas did guest performances on the albums Doe or Die by AZ, The Infamous by The Infamous Mobb Deep, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx by Raekwon and 4,5,6 by Kool G Rap. Nas also parted ways with manager MC Serch, enlisted Steve Stoute, and began preparation for his second LP, It Was Written, consciously working towards a crossover-oriented sound. It Was Written, chiefly produced by Tone and Poke of Trackmasters, was released in mid-1996. Two singles, "If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)" (featuring Lauryn Hill of The Fugees) and "Street Dreams", including a remix with R. Kelly were instant hits. These songs were promoted by big-budget music videos directed by Hype Williams, making Nas a common name among mainstream hip-hop. It Was Written featured the debut of The Firm, a supergroup consisting of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, and Cormega. The album also expanded on Nas's Escobar persona, who lived a Scarface/Casino-esque lifestyle. On the other hand, references to Scarface protagonist Tony Montana notwithstanding, Illmatic was more about his early life growing up in the projects. Signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment label, The Firm began working on their debut album. Halfway through the production of the album, Cormega was fired from the group by Steve Stoute, who had unsuccessfully attempted to force Cormega to sign a deal with his management company. Cormega subsequently became one of Nas's most vocal opponents and released a number of underground hip hop singles "dissing" Nas, Stoute, and Nature, who replaced Cormega as the fourth member of The Firm. Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album was finally released in 1997 to mixed reviews. The album failed to live up to its expected sales, despite being certified platinum, and the members of the group disbanded to go their separate ways. During this period, Nas was one of four rappers (the others being B-Real, KRS-One and RBX) in the hip-hop supergroup Group Therapy, who appeared on the song "East Coast/West Coast Killas" from Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath.
Question: What was this debut album called?
Answer:
The Firm: The Album