The album features production by Ant Banks, Bosko, Mike Mosley, Rick Rock, Sam Bostic, Studio Ton & Tone Capone.

[3] The album features guest performances by fellow members of The Click: B-Legit, D-Shot and Suga-T, as well as Jayo Felony, C-Bo, Mack 10, WC, Busta Rhymes, Levitti and Master P. The second to last track, "Ballin' Outta Control", originally appeared on the 1993 extended play, The Mail Man.

Along with a single, a music video was produced for the song "Hope I Don't Go Back", featuring Otis & Shug.

A second single, "From the Ground Up", was also released as a music video, featuring Too Short and K-Ci & JoJo.

[4] The Element of Surprise debuted and peaked at number 13 on the Billboard 200, with first week sales nearing 78,000 units.