Mobb Deep
Still Infamous

      By
Rohit Loomba

First off, tell us a little about
Amerikaz Nightmare. Who are some
of the people u worked with ? Prodigy :
We’ve  got Nate Dogg. We got Lil Jon. We
got our hometeam, Littles and Noyd. As far as  
production, Hav (Havoc) did like the whole
album, as always. Kanye did a joint for us.
And umm..... Red Syder. There was a  
rumor spread that the Kanye, Nelly, and  
Lil Jon tracks didn’t make the album. Is  
this true ? Prodigy :Naw ! The Kanye and  
Lil Jon tracks made it. The Nelly track
didn’t. It’s speculation, that, it was the  
record company, Jive, that wanted u to  
include the Nelly track on there. Is that  
true ? Prodigy: Naw ! We control our own  
creativity. All the time. From day one.  
Amerikaz Nightmare has gone thru a  
few push backs, as far as the album’s  
release. What’s caused that ? Prodigy:  
Just workin’ on tracks. We put it out there  
when we feel we ready. U know what I
mean ? The label might throw dates out
there, but it ain’t a go til we say it’s ready.
Not many artists can go platinum with -
out that one huge radio hit. Yet, Mobb  
Deep has done just that. What sets u  
apart from most artist and allows u to  
do that ? Prodigy: Basically, we’ve got our
own style of music. We started our own
style of reality rap. That hard crazy shit.  
Like Hav’s beats. People always say, like  
yo, he got them dark beats. Nobody’s  
beats sound like his. I guess we just stand
apart. Know what I mean ? From every
one in the game. We don’t follow no
trends. We stick to what we do. Know
what I mean ?  Havoc: A lot of our singles,
it be us club bangin’. It’s like, they’re able  
to bang in the clubs, at the same time.  
Know what I mean ? A lot of artists, they
can’t do that. They do music for them-
selves. U gotta be poppin’ in the clubs.
That doesn’t mean that u have to compro-
mise your sound. But, u need to find a way
to make em pop in the clubs. If u can’t do that,
then u gonna have a hard time. Tell us
what happened with the collapse over at  
Loud Records, and how is Jive different,  
as a home for u ? Prodigy: Basically, with  
Loud, their time was up.... for their deal.  
And they got bought out by Sony. The only
difference I see between Jive and Loud is,
billions of dollars. Jive’s got billions and  
Loud didn’t have that much. Now, Queens
Bridge has been selling for a while.  
There are quite a few releases on deck
or have just come out. Like,  Infamous  
Mobb with Blood’s Thicker Than Water.
Then u have Cormega with Legal Hustle
coming out soon. Then there’s Nas with  
Street  Disciple. And u guys with
Amerikaz Nightmare. What do u think  
has led to this period of silence, from
Queens Bridge ? Prodigy: There never
was no period of silence. Know I mean ?
We always had  
stuff out there.
Like, we put
out the Free
Agents mix -
tape. We
always put stuff
out on the  
street. To keep
our name out
there, and keep
some music out
there. We just
ain’t had nothing out there in the main
stream for a minute. It was just ground
level shit we was puttin’ out, until we could
get our deal together. U know what I mean.
Word !! Infamous Mobb recently put out,
Blood Thicker Than Water. They were
setting out to make a name for them-
selves and to separate themselves from
the usual associations that people make
with them, i.e., Mobb Deep. What has
Blood’s Thicker Than Water done for
Infamous Mobb and what level of
success do u think they’ll have with the
album ? Prodigy: I mean, that’s their own
independent company. So they gone do
good with that. Know what I mean ? They
just showin’ that they can make moves.
They don’t have to wait for anybody. They  
grown men... just doin’ their thing. U know
what I’m sayin ? I know u, Prodigy,  u were  
on that dvd quite a bit, when it was
being shot. I didn’t see Havoc around,
though. Where was he ? Havoc: I was
workin’ on them tracks. Oh, O.K. A lot of
people have been wanting to see a Nas
and Mobb Deep collaboration on a
track. Is there a possibility of that hap -
pening, soon ? Prodigy: Yeah, u definitely  
gonna hear much more music with Nas
and everybody from QB. It’s just that every-  
body’s workin’ on their own thing. But we
gone get together, though. We got songs
already done, that nobody’s ever heard  
before. Timing is everything. It’s not just
ready when yall wanna hear it. Know what
I’m sayin ? It’ll be out when we ready to put  
it out. Know what I’m sayin ? How has it
been, working with a bigger label like  
Jive, as opposed to working with
Loud ? What has been your musical  
progression ? Prodigy: There’s definitely a  
bigger catalog of artists to work with here
at Jive. Like, if we want to do a song with a
Britney Spears or an R. Kelly, they’ve got a
lot of major people over here. U know, if
we wanted to do something like that, the
option is definitely there. More than it was
at Loud. Street credibility has been the
bases of your success. Jive has usually
taken on projects with more of a main-
stream radio type approach. Has this
affected your work on Amerikaz
Nightmare and how you’ve promoted it?  
Havoc: Not at all. They’re fully aware of the
type of act we were. We’re not gonna com-  
promise our song for no label. They knew
that when they signed us. So we went in
there, and we did us. They didn’t come in
there and say, we need this, we need that.
They had confidence in us. We went in and
we came out with a good album they could
work with. Prodigy: That was one of the
reasons they offered us the deal. Cause
they wanted what we had to bring to the
table. Know what I’m sayin ? They wanted  
that street shit. They never had it in their
mind to try and change our sound, at all.  
Do u guys have any shout outs that  
you’d like to end this with ? Prodigy:
Yeah! Shout out to the whole Infamous
Records family, and the QB. Alright.  
Thanx Prodigy and Havoc. We appreci-
ate this. Peace.

     www.mobbdeep.net
     www.jiverecords