November 19, 2021

Mobb Deep "Hell On Earth" (November 19, 1996)


Queensbridge, New York's ice-pick-packing duo Mobb Deep (Havoc and Prodigy) has returned with a third album, Hell On Earth (Loud-RCA), that, believe it or not, is even darker than 1993's acclaimed Infamous. The raw elegance and jazzy-bop beats provided by A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip last time have been replaced by eerie, suspenseful bass lines and simplistic but jarring drum kicks, entirely self-produced. Grim tales like "Bloodsport," "Extortion," "Get Dealt With" and "Man Down" are violent narratives on the dangers of street life, detailed with the intense passion of young men who will do whatever it takes to survive in their troubled surroundings. This disc is not for the faint of heart... - CMJ New Music Monthly (January, 1997). I've posted the enhanced CD, press kits, album reviews and much more for this album. I regrettably didn't burn my copy of the album sampler before passing it off to someone else, that was a major oversight on my part. Either way, dig in the archives for a lot more and run this incredible winter album back, over... and over again. RIP, Prodigy!


The Infamous back in the house once again...