Author Topic: Throwback With Mobb Deep... (Read 449 times)

Meho · « **on:** May 01, 2006, 12:16:52 PM »

Most of the groups that were around when New York's Mobb Deep debuted in 1993 have fallen to the wayside. But the duo — Havoc and Prodigy — have not only remained allegiant to one another, they've maintained their status as one of the premier groups in hip-hop.

If you ask the Mobb's new boss, 50 Cent (he signed them to his G-Unit Records last year and offered them two new Porches as added swag), he'll probably tell you that their May 2 release, Blood Money, is their best LP ever. Although fans will agree the album is classic Mobb, 50 will probably have a devil of a time convincing those who've been riding with "Hollywood" Hav and "Las Vegas" P since The Infamous that Blood Money is better than their definitive, 11-year-old breakout LP. But hey, Fif has a gift with flow: After all, he talked his way out of the 'hood.

Even though 50 has his stamp all over Blood Money, the LP definitely feels like Mobb Deep through and through. The duo (who, like Nas, are from the New York City neighborhood of Queensbridge) have their guns drawn on a bunch of records, the beats are so shadowy that they sound like they snuck out of Dracula's basement, and Mobb prove once again that they aren't afraid to talk about anything.

In fact, they went so far this time around that Interscope Records — home to outspoken rappers like Eminem and 50 — decided to intervene on the song "Pearly Gates" (featuring 50 Cent) and bleep out some lyrics they deemed offensive. What were the lyrics that caused such controversy?

"Now homie, if I go to hell and you make it to the pearly gates/ Tell the boss man we got beef/ And tell his only son I'mma see him when I see him/ And when I see him, I'mma beat him like the movie/ For leavin' us out to dry in straight poverty/ For not showin' me no signs they watchin' over me/ Yo! We a new breed in 2006, we don't give a f--- about that religious bullsh--."

"Basically, some people at Interscope was like, 'You have to change that,' " Prodigy explained. "It ain't worth fighting with them. It's nothing to fix it. We just started a relationship. So I changed it in my way and still got my point across." (A representative for Interscope had no comment on the matter.)

Getting their point across has rarely been a problem for Mobb Deep throughout their career, which we're about to take you on a ride through. Lace your boots tight and stay on point at all times — there's heavy partying with Puff Daddy, brawls at clubs, tons of money being tossed around and paying for Pampers with the studio budget. After all, as Prodigy says, the "Kids gotta eat."

Havoc: We almost signed with Puff back in the day.

Prodigy: We was little n---as. Going to clubs, networking.

Havoc: We was real tight with Puff. He used to bring us to all the parties. We was like 16.

Prodigy: We was running around with fake IDs. [Puff] had [his club promotion] Daddy's House poppin' in [New York club] the Red Zone. It was crazy.

Havoc: Juvenile Hell is us as kids. We was just happy to have a record deal. We had a little $60,000 budget, but we was just happy — we didn't know what we was doin', and we just made an album. We didn't know nothing about nothing.

Prodigy: We did a half-ass job!

Rating:

Havoc: I'd give that record like a 5 [out of 10].

Prodigy: I would say the same.

Havoc: That album was like, "All right, we did the Juvenile Hell album, it didn't work. We got lucky we got another record deal." So we just regrouped, got all our n---as together. I had the equipment in my crib and P's crib. And we was like, "Yo, it's now or never." You could call it a stroke of luck, 'cause [The Infamous] could've turned out any kinda way. The beat machine could've cut off.

Prodigy: We learned that you gotta be serious about making music. You [have to] like everything that comes along with it — the artwork, videos. It's a learning process. When we did The Infamous, we was starting to be young men, like 18. The funny thing, we was about to not use "Shook Ones, Pt. 2" [on the album].

Havoc: Oh yeah, because with "Shook Ones," I wasn't really feeling the beat at the time. ... But once I got my crew up in there and they heard the beat, they was like, "Are you crazy? You better not erase this beat." If I would've dumped that beat off, we probably wouldn't be sitting here right now.

Prodigy: It used to get real crazy in them days.

Havoc: A lot of our first beefs started during our very first shows. We was rolling [to clubs] like 30, 40 deep. Everybody was so happy, they were like, "Y'all got a hit song on the radio, we going." So we got 40 dudes with us, we were performing with another crew that got 50 dudes with them. You knew something was going to happen. We ended up tearing up a couple of clubs, throwing chandeliers. Then everybody went back to the block, like, "Yo, that was crazy." It was like the wild, wild West, but it was the wild, wild North.

Rating:

Havoc: Definitely gotta give that album like a 10. If I could, a 10-plus for the fact that it's a hip-hop classic, number one. Number two, it definitely jump-started our careers.

Prodigy: Yeah, definitely a 10-plus for real. There's crazy joints on it.

Prodigy: We started having kids during Hell on Earth. We started going harder, the seeds made it worse. We was already thirsty and hungry, but we was like, "Kids gotta eat."

Havoc: We was mad happy. We only sold 500,000 records, but back then, that was like going platinum. It was a happy atmosphere. It was like the whole block was cheering for us. We was officially in the hip-hop game. People [would] come up to us and want to be our friends. "Yo, what's up! You know you my n---a. You my dog!" I was tired of taking trains, so I bought me a little Camry, put some rims on it. I was still living on the block.

Prodigy: Once we did the Infamous album, we just snapped. We was in the zone. We ain't snapped out of it ever since. Same thing every album, that's how we feel. My favorite record off Hell on Earth was probably "Man Down."

Havoc: We tried to keep the same formula [as with The Infamous]: We went in there and tried to make nothing but hard joints. Our confidence level was really up.

Rating:

Prodigy: I give it a 10-plus.

Havoc: I'm a little more critical. I give it an 8. When I was making the album, I realized it got darker than The Infamous. I didn't care. I didn't want to make nothing happy. Making that album, a couple of our friends died while we was in the studio. We got a phone call like, "It was bad car accident." Two of our friends were dead and one of them was a twin. That completely stopped everything. There was no way you could keep working. [That incident] had a subconscious effect. It was like our peoples would want us to go on, but this is life, n---as is gone, n---as is dying.

Havoc: What did [this album] take, three years? We probably did 100 songs. We was wilding, partying, drinking. I don't know why it took so long.

Prodigy: We was wilding, son. We was on a rampage, straight-up. I was living in Brooklyn and [Long Island].

Havoc: I had just moved out of the projects. I felt like, "I have to do something with my money. Let me get a crib, let me turn into an adult."

Prodigy: We spent about two and half million [dollars] recording the album.

Havoc: I don't even remember why we spent so much. They built a whole new wing of the studio just off our budget. Sometimes we would go in the studio and not even work.

Prodigy: I was ordering Pampers off the studio budget. N---as was ordering milk, going home with groceries.
Havoc: The record company don't care. They want you to spend so you have to pay them back. They want you to owe. Picture a record company telling you you're spending too much — nowadays they might tell you that, but back then, it was like, "Go 'head. What you need? Take all the cars you want." They make it seem like it's free. Then you get an invoice and be like, "What? That ride to Connecticut — you charging me for that?"

Rating:

Havoc: It's our biggest-selling record ever. I give it a 10 because "Quiet Storm" became a hip-hop classic and it took us so long to come out with the album. It could have gone either way — you know, in rap, the fans change all the time. When you take a long time, they might forget about you. At that time, [Roc-A-Fella] was coming up and everything. We came and threw "Quiet Storm" in there and we were back up in the game.

Prodigy: I definitely give it a 10.

Prodigy: We was making Murder Muzik at the same time [I recorded H.N.I.C.] I was getting more business-minded. I was growing and maturing as a man. I stopped drinking and smoking on that album. That sh-- made me feel like Superman. I was wilding out in my verses, especially on "Keep It Thoro." I addressed my sickle cell anemia [on "You Can Never Feel My Pain" — Prodigy has suffered from the disease for his entire life]. That affected me a lot.

Rating: I was getting a good response from people. I would give that record a 7 or 8.

Havoc: It took us a little while to make that album too, but we was real sharp. No more drinking, smoking — I felt real good. I just got on my beat game. It was cool experimenting on that album with songs like "Handcuffs" and "Hey Luv (Anything)." Sometimes I like to just show my versatility. A lot of people bigged me up for that, especially chicks. They was like, "That 'Handcuffs,' yo, that's my song." I was like, "Word? I have to do more of that." "Hey Luv" turned out to be one of our biggest radio records ever.

Prodigy: "Hey Luv" wasn't really stepping out of our zone. We was just ... Hav was making the beat, and I was like, "This sh-- is ill, it sounds like 'Quiet Storm.' " We decided to put 112 on there because we thought they would sound good on the hook.

Prodigy: We was trying to get to the next move. We was getting more conscious of our money.

Havoc: It's so ironic [that our record label Loud folded shortly after Infamy came out]. It all ended, the era with Loud. It was like losing a good friend. Damn! People you knew for almost 10 years, and now it's over like that?

Rating:

Havoc: I love that album. It might not have sold as much as some of the other albums ... but if you listen to that album, it was well put-together. It had nice concepts, classic beats. I would give it around a 10.

Prodigy: 10, son.

Prodigy: We had a new situation with Jive. It was all right, but we didn't fit on their roster. They had different kind of acts, like Britney Spears, Justin [Timberlake].

Havoc: I gotta say, when we signed there, it didn't feel right. We didn't know nobody. Everybody was happy, like, "We love you guys." We was like, "It's all good," but then you hear whispers in the building like, "I don't know what they gonna do with the Mobb." When you hear that, you know it's a setup for failure. I respected them [at Jive], but they didn't know what to do with us.

Prodigy: The deal we had was ill, though, a 50/50 joint venture with a major label. We was supposed to get a lot of things with that deal, but as things progressed, we didn't get those things. Then the album didn't do good because they didn't put nothing behind [it]. They was like, "Just drop them."

Havoc: We were both happy about getting dropped. I called P and said, "We got dropped, son."

Prodigy: I was like, "We ain't have to go through no red tape? What happened to the red tape?"

Havoc: You could have the best deal, but if you don't have the best team, it don't mean nothing.

Rating:

Havoc: I give Amerikaz Nightmare a modest 9. I like the album, but the atmosphere wasn't right.

Prodigy: It's a 10.

Havoc: I produced about half the record. I'm comfortable with that, happy that I got a chance to work with other producers and share that workload.

Prodigy: This album is ... groundbreaking. You got the bests in the business: Mobb Deep hooked up with the G-Unit. We inspire each other. We play [Tony] Yayo our joints and get him hype. He plays us his joints and gets us hype.

Havoc: From the gate, 50 was open on the first songs we was doing.

Prodigy: On tour he was like, "Y'all done."

Havoc: And we was only a month into the situation

Prodigy: We just keep spitting sh-- we be going through in life. The most personal song ... "Pearly Gates" was one of them. [50 Cent's] "Outta Control" [featuring Mobb Deep] was the first time we spit over a [Dr.] Dre beat. That was one of the first songs we did [as part of the G-Unit camp] and it felt real good.

[With "Pearly Gates,"] you know me, man, I'm real outspoken when it comes to [religion]. I'm not an atheist — I believe there is a Creator who created everything in the universe. But I don't believe in [the traditional Christian] concept of it. When [whites] brought us over here as slaves, they forced their religion on us. The pyramids are millions of years older than any books they trying to put on us. You can talk about guns, drugs, anything but religion. It's a topic [record labels] don't want to deal with.

Havoc: Once the album was finished, [50] was talking about the album [being] a classic. It feels good to please the boss. If he's pleased, we pleased. It's not easy, though. We be in here making four songs a day. We're fortunate but we're working real hard. We don't take nothing for granted.

Rating:

Havoc: From 1 to 10, I give it 12! I can listen to it over and over again.

Prodigy: I give it 112.

UKnowWhatItIs: welcome to my traps....game over · « **Reply #1 on:** May 01, 2006, 01:13:35 PM »

Interesting read.

'EclipZe · « **Reply #2 on:** May 01, 2006, 01:22:15 PM »

ye nice read props, lol @ P's ratings

Eihtball · « **Reply #3 on:** May 01, 2006, 03:56:09 PM »

LOL @ them rating "Infamy", "Amerikaz Nightmare", and "Blood Money" higher than "Hell On Earth". That's easily their best album, and yet they don't like it all that much.

Diabolical · « **Reply #4 on:** May 01, 2006, 04:30:16 PM »

lol @ the ratings

J Bananas · « **Reply #5 on:** May 01, 2006, 07:35:16 PM »

Quote

Havoc: Once the album was finished, [50] was talking about the album [being] a classic. It feels good to please the boss. If he's pleased, we pleased.