Havoc of Mobb Deep reflects on the duo’s breakthrough album, a dark classic that came to define hardcore hip-hop in the mid-1990s.
“It was like we came off of that late-‘80s, super early-‘90s vibe and the West Coast was killing it,” Havoc remembers. “Nas was peeking through, Biggie was coming through. Those are two artists -- you can’t come with your B-game. It’s no f--king around. If you can’t level up to, you’re not gonna be remembered. Biggie and Nas and Rae and Wu set the bar high. That s--t was set. It could’ve really f--ked with a person’s mind, so you’ve got to be really, really confident.
, and after the jump, Q-Tip was brought in to help work on the album. The famed frontman of A Tribe Called Quest may have seemed an unlikely candidate to give an assist on a grimy, hardcore project, but Havoc was ecstatic to have The Abstract on board. “That was tough for us, man,” Havoc admits now. “The problems we was having with MTV and BET. All of these outlets -- they were giving us so many problems. We’d give them the record edited and censored and they’d send us backcensors! Imagine having to toe the line between making a street record and a radio record. It’s like an impossible balance."
MobbDeep Nothin' but pure, 100% LOVE for Mobb Deep and this album. All their albums from Juvenile Hell onwards, but this was the first of their LOUD reign. It was a certified hardcore classic from the get-go that does a rare thing: it gets better with time.