Lady Cab Driver IS essential P. This is, on another level, basically P competting against The Time. P gave The Time some of his "funkiest" material during this period. Before the 1999 album, P was still trying to figure out what market he should target. P had his eye on crossing over big time. That was his main goal. BUT, he fucked around and gave great material to some cats that could throwdown live, and he HAD to figure out how he could keep from getting showed up by his own creation. So, u have "Lady Cab Driver". That's P saying "Hey ya'll, look at this. Fuck The Time. This is REALLY how it's done." After seeing P for the first live on the Controversy tour, I already KNEW P could bang. (slang for being a great musician). So, I wasn't surprised when I first heard this song. That's just P getting down, period. As a musician, I've always adored this song because of his "conviction" in his playing. P sounds "pist off". U can actually hear this in his playing, like he has something to prove. The instrumental breakdown is one of the truest things, musically, P has ever done. The lead guitar section is just "stoopid", it's so good. His drumming is in the pocket. P, I don't think, would have ever even recorded this song if The Time didn't exist. 1999 album has always been and always well be my favorite album of his, and this is one of the main reasons why.