Artist : Havoc
Album : Hidden Files
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Label : KOCH
Year : 2009
Genre : Rap
Rip date : Feb-18-2009
Store date : Feb-10-2009
Size : 55,7 MB
Track Listing:
01 - Can't Get Touched 02:37
02 - I Clap Em Up 03:42
03 - Watch Me feat. Ricky Blaze 03:15
04 - Heart Of The Grind 02:58
05 - You Treated Me feat. Cassidy 02:58
06 - My Life 03:16
07 - That's My Word 03:42
08 - The Hustler 03:18
09 - The Millenium 03:13
10 - Walk Wit Me 03:09
11 - On A Mission feat. Prodigy 03:38
12 - This Is Where It's At feat. Big Noyd 02:55
13 - Don't Knock It Til You Try It 03:11
14 - Tell Me More feat. Sonyae Elise 02:51
44:43 min
Notes
2009 solo album from the Mobb Deep legend. The Queens duo of Havoc and
Prodigy (AKA Mobb Deep) are one of the biggest groups in Rap music,
selling over four million albums worldwide. With classic albums like The
Infamous, Hell On Earth, Murda Muzik, and Infamy, Mobb Deep have become
household names in the Hip Hop community. Not only a respected MC, Havoc
has also created the sonic backdrops for the likes of The Game, G-Unit,
Jadakiss, and others.
As golden age rap suddenly gave way to West Coast gangsta in the early
'90s, an East Coast variety of hardcore rap arose in turn, with Mobb
Deep initially standing tall as one of New York's hardcore figureheads
on the basis of their epochal album The Infamous. Released in April
1995, The Infamous was released almost exactly a year after Illmatic and
about a half year after Ready to Die — the debut masterpieces of Nas and
the Notorious B.I.G., respectively, both albums likewise of momentous
significance for East Coast hardcore rap. On The Infamous, Mobb Deep
(comprised of Prodigy and Havoc) set the tone for future generations of
hardcore New York rappers, from G-Unit to Dipset. Subsequent releases
from the duo were likewise influential, especially Hell on Earth (1996).
However, by the late '90s, Mobb Deep was no longer setting trends; in
fact, they seemed to be following them, and they lost some of their
stature as subsequent generations of hardcore rappers arose. For a few
years, Mobb Deep struggled to reclaim their commercial standing, until
they eventually drifted into the G-Unit camp, where they signed a
lucrative deal to join 50 Cent and company. Blood Money (2006), Mobb
Deep's first release under the G-Unit banner, rekindled interest in the
veteran duo, who enjoyed a substantial uptick in sales and airplay.
Prodigy (Albert Johnson, born November 2, 1974) and Havoc (Kejuan
Muchita, born May 21, 1974) grew up in Queens, specifically the
Queensbridge area, yet met in Manhattan, where both were students at
Graphic Arts High School. Their shared love of hip-hop resulted in a
natural companionship, and while they were still teens, the two young
men had themselves a record deal with 4th & Broadway, a major rap label
affiliated with Island Records. In 1993, the label released Juvenile
Hell, a confrontational album featuring noteworthy production work by DJ
Premier and Large Professor, who both within a year's time would move on
to produce the debut of another young Queensbridge rapper, Nas. Not much
came of Juvenile Hell, however, and it would be two more years before
Mobb Deep would return.
When they did return in 1995, it was on a different label, Loud Records,
and with a significantly developed approach. The Infamous featured a
mammoth street anthem, "Shook Ones, Pt. 2," but it was a solid album all
around, featuring also the in-house production work of Havoc and a
couple high-profile features (Nas, Raekwon). The Infamous was more
hardcore than its two key stylistic predecessors, Illmatic and Ready to
Die; the beats were darker and harder-hitting while the rhymes were
downright threatening yet still inventive and crafty. Moreover, there
were no crossover hits like "Big Poppa" or "Juicy." In fact, there were
no light moments at all. The Infamous was an uncompromising album for
the streets, and it was championed as such.
A year later, in 1996, Mobb Deep returned with a follow-up, Hell on
Earth, which was a little slicker than The Infamous yet still emphasized
hardcore motifs. It spawned a couple hit singles that were given
appropriately theatrical videos. At this point, hardcore rap was at its
peak, with Death Row Records flourishing on the West Coast and a legion
of New Yorkers jumping into the scene, following the lead of Nas, the
Notorious B.I.G., and Mobb Deep. So when it took over two years for Mobb
Deep to return with a new album, Murda Muzik, not released until April
1999, the rap landscape had changed significantly. Mobb Deep now had
significant competition, and since Murda Muzik offered few innovations
and lacked the spark of the duo's past two albums, it was met with some
disappointment. By and large, fans enjoyed it, yet the album didn't
appeal beyond the already established fan base, as the album only
offered one major hit, "Quiet Storm." The following year, Prodigy
released a solo album, H.N.I.C. (2000). It got a lukewarm reception,
appealing to the duo's fan base yet spawning no hits.
When Mobb Deep resurfaced, in December 2001 with Infamy, they showcased
a new willingness to reach beyond their fan base. "Hey Luv" was issued
as a single, and it was the first Mobb Deep song to flirt with R&B
crossover, or even to mention love, for that matter. The song got some
airplay, thanks in part to its hook, which is sung by the R&B act 112,
and its video, which played up the song's air of seduction. Nonetheless,
Infamy proved to be a relative disappointment commercially, and it
seemed like Mobb Deep was beginning to see their popularity erode with
each passing year. It didn't help, either, that around this time the duo
— and Prodigy, in particular — had been attacked by Jay-Z on "Takeover."
And too, that Loud Records would go out of business, leaving Mobb Deep
without a label deal. For the next few years, from roughly 2002-2005,
Prodigy and Havoc tried to regain their footing. There were one-off
albums released via various label arrangements — Free Agents: The Murda
Mix Tape (Landspeed, 2003), Amerikaz Nightmare (Jive, 2004), and The Mix
Tape Before 9/11 (X-Ray, 2004) — that made minimal impact. By this
point, not even the fan base was all that interested; it had been eroded
with each passing year, leaving few faithful.
Then came a surprise announcement that 50 Cent had signed Mobb Deep to
his G-Unit family and that an album would be forthcoming. First came a
quick remix featuring the latest G-Unit signing, "Outta Control," which
supplanted the original version when 50's The Massacre was reissued in
2005 as a CD/DVD. Too, Mobb Deep had become omnipresent on the New York
mixtape scene, releasing all kinds of streets-only material in attempt
to re-establish themselves. It evidently worked, as Blood Money debuted
in the Top Ten of Billboard's album chart and brought more exposure to
Mobb Deep than the duo had enjoyed since their late-'90s heyday. Not
everyone was convinced by the group's makeover, however, as the G-Unit
approach was substantially more polished than the Mobb Deep of The
Infamous. Still, Mobb Deep found a new generation of younger listeners —
the large G-Unit market base, in particular — who were mostly unfamiliar
with them. It had been over a decade since The Infamous, after all, and
Mobb Deep had been out of the spotlight for years. Then, in early 2008,
Prodigy went away to prison to serve a three-year sentence, putting Mobb
Deep's future in question.
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