\u201cI\u2019m gonna have to get on some old high school s___, start punchin\u2019 n____s in they faces for livin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prodigy \u2013 Havoc is the other half of Mobb Deep \u2013 unloads this hilarious line during \u201cThe Infamous Prelude.\u201d Most rap groups reserve short tracks like this for skits, but Mobb Deep make statements. Prodigy is fed up with fake thugs and doesn\u2019t want to be associated with any of them. But what I like most about \u201cThe Infamous Prelude\u201d is this smidge of modesty: \u201cAnd believe me, I know very well I can get shot, stabbed, or fucked up, too, whatever. I ain\u2019t Super N____. I\u2019m a little skinny motherf_____. It\u2019s all about who gets who first, though, you know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout The Infamous\u2026<\/i> you get the sense that Prodigy and Havoc aren\u2019t glorifying or criticizing thug life in New York. They share facts and reserve judgments for another party. And if they threaten someone (\u201cYou wanna bust caps? \/ I get all up in your area \/ Kidnap your children and make the situation scarier\u201d from \u201cEye For A Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)\u201d), you know the threatened party screwed around in the wrong game. <\/p>\n
The album is dark. Beats are harsh and stripped, you can often hear static, vocals reverberate in the emptiness, and any nonviolent moment is blissful. Ever wanted to dive into a bleak musical hole? Try \u201cTrife Life\u201d through \u201cCradle To The Grave,\u201d a five-track stretch that, both lyrically and sonically, gets more and more unsettling. After that you get a nonviolent song, \u201cDrink Away The Pain (Situations),\u201d with A Tribe Called Quest member Q-Tip tearing it up as usual (Tip also coproduced the track). \u201cDrink Away The Pain (Situations)\u201d reminds me of \u201cLife\u2019s A Bitch\u201d from Illmatic <\/i>by Nas \u2013 street-smart poets abusing drugs to escape reality. Cheery, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
The collaborations are inspired as well. Nas and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon \u2013 two rhyme-smiths I always welcome \u2013 appear on the discordant \u201cEye For A Eye (Your Beef Is Mines).\u201d Mobb Deep regular Big Noyd shows up four times, his best work on the Q-Tip production, \u201cGive Up The Goods (Just Step)\u201d (these guys clearly like using parentheses in song titles). Another superb guest is Crystal Johnson, whose singing on \u201cTemperature Rising\u201d is delightful soul on such a dark album. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ll be the first to admit that humor is a big reason why I enjoy rap, but I don\u2019t think this album needs as much of it. There are a few humorous moments (I already referenced \u201cThe Infamous Prelude\u201d), but they\u2019re wrapped with serious material. The Infamous\u2026 <\/i>is real-world storytelling, no bull. As daunting as the content may seem, it\u2019s quite easy to listen to the album all the way through. The production, vocals, and lyrics have a uniform magic about them. The best albums always do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":30098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8475],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41737","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mobb-deep","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41737"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}