Mobb Deep
As part of the Red Bull Music Academy World Tour in 2011, five hip-hop legends took the couch over five days, discussing five classic albums from five boroughs. At night, the artists re-created their seminal work for a special concert, bridging the gap from old to new school.
In their conversation with Ego Trip co-founder Sacha Jenkins, Mobb Deep proudly repped Queensbridge and discussed making their classic album, The Infamous, as well as the Dunn language and their lasting influence.
Hosted by Sacha Jenkins So, Havoc and Prodigy. Here we are, years later. We see where hip-hop has come
and gone, but I wanna start out with before hip-hop. Havoc, for instance, I
first met Havoc as a graffiti writer. Havoc [laughs] Yeah. Sacha Jenkins We were in Queens, and the middle track
where they park the train is called the layup. When trains are out of service,
that’s where they would park them. And the first time I met Havoc was with a
guy from Queensbridge who wrote DMC, who was a friend of mine, who was in my
crew. And he was like, “Yo, my little man is a real ill artist. You know, he
has the fever, he wants to hit these trains.” And so, the thing about hitting
the trains was you didn’t want to go from the platform. So you’d have these
beams on the side that hold up the... Where the trains are elevated. I just saw this little dude
climb up the beam like it was nothing. So, I knew from a very young age that
he was artistically inclined. And then I also know that the gentlemen to his
right, they both went to art and design high school. [applause] So, a lot of recording artists are also fine artists. And because their minds are
wired differently, fine art is a way to express themselves. So, I wanted to
ask you guys about, you know, your interest in art or drawing, and how you
guys wound up at a specialized high school for art. Havoc Well, I started art, like, from a young age. Since I was like maybe three or
four. You know, I drew a picture of my mother when she was pregnant, when I
was like three. And it just started from there. My father was an artist, and I
always liked to draw. So naturally, choosing a high school, you know, Art and
Design was one of the best places for me to hone in on my artistic skills and
the rest was history after that. In 1988, that’s when I went to Art and
Design, and met P. Sacha Jenkins How about you, P, in terms of drawing, or how that’s just another
manifestation of your creativity? Prodigy Yeah, I mean, I really went to Art and Design ’cause a lot of my friends in the
neighbourhood were going there, so I just wanted to be with my friends. I
really wasn’t into art that much. I got into it by going to that school and
being around everybody like Hav and certain people that I met that was really
into art. They got me more into it than I was. But Hav is like incredible with
it. Havoc I’m all right. [laughter] Prodigy Nah, when we was in the crib one day, he drew my face perfectly with a pen,
just making dots. Like, no mistakes, with a pen. He’s ill with it. But I just
really went to be there when my friends was there. And I ended up, me and Hav,
and it just ended up being something else. Sacha Jenkins So then the art went from... Maybe in the studio he’s drawing perfect pictures of you, but together, in
the studio as artists you were painting different kinds of pictures. And
that’s when the first record, soon after, came. Tell us about those early
days. Prodigy Yeah, the early days was like, when we first met, started hanging out, we both
had love for the music. It was a lot of traveling on the train. We would
take the train every day to Coney Island, to the only studio that we could
really use for a good price that we could afford, was in the projects out in
Brooklyn, in Coney Island. We used to go out there and every day we used to
cut out of school and take the train. It was like an hour, two hour ride, you
know, work on songs, work on our demo, put together a nice demo so we could
start shopping around. So a lot of those early memories, it’s just like, being on
the train with some 40s, smoking weed between train cars, and on the train,
stuff that you can’t even do today in New York, really. Sacha Jenkins And you were also interested more in the production end back then, right? Prodigy Yeah, you know I was just trying my hand at it back then, that was when I
first started really getting into it. I think Hav really inspired me to do it
because we used to go to his crib, I think it was the one in Ravenswood. And
you used to have the records, with a stereo cassette deck, with record on it. Havoc Double cassette tape deck. Prodigy Yeah, and he used to do record and pause, record and pause, record and pause,
and loop a beat up on cassette. That was the first time I ever seen something
like that, and he was actually making beats like that. He would record songs
from the radio. He would listen to radio shows late at night and catch some
ill samples. And Hav’s pop was a DJ, so he had a lot of records and that was
the first time I seen somebody sampling and looping like that, and it got me
into wanting to try that, too. Sacha Jenkins Who did you say was a DJ? Havoc Oh, my pops. Sacha Jenkins I mean, your pops was an artist, a DJ; tell us about him. Havoc Artist, DJ. You know, we fell asleep to banging music. You know, we were like
five years old and the music is just banging in the little-ass apartment. So,
we was just so used to music and, you know, after Pops bounced, he left the
records. So, I kept them sh--s, put some use to it. Sacha Jenkins So, language is a big part of what you guys do. I’m from Queens, and different
boroughs have different ways to express where they come from. You guys were
big proponents of the Dunn language [East Coast hip-hop slang], and,
you know, English obviously is the foundation of how we speak, but you guys
are architects of your own language, and that’s an important part of Mobb Deep
is, because that also traveled, and had an influence, and helped to create
different dialects based on what you guys created. Talk about language. I
mean, I know it’s a little all over the place, but I think it’s a big part of
what you guys bring to the table. Prodigy Yeah, that really like came from, like Queensbridge, period. Like,
Queensbridge is the biggest projects in America. You know, it’s 96 buildings,
and it’s just a lot going on out there, man. And there’s so many styles and
slang, it was just like a breeding ground for uniqueness out there. So when I
first came out there, I seen all that immediately. The way they dress
different, talk different slangs, and like you say, each neighbourhood, each
region got their own way of talking. Down south they’ll say something, Queens,
Brooklyn, The Bronx, they got different slangs everywhere. So, Queensbridge
just had a real unique slang and dress and all that. One of our friends from
out there, his name’s Bumpy. You know, he had a speech impediment, and every
time he used to say “Son” – you know everyone was like, “Yo! What up, son?” –
he used to be, “Yo! What up, dunn?” He used to talk with a lisp, so we started
all just saying it, “Yo! What up, dunn? What up, dunn?” [laughter] You know what I mean? And it just all came from there. That was like a part of
it, and then we turned it into a whole, like, our version of pig Latin. Like,
we wanted to talk to each other, and if we didn’t want somebody around us to
know what we were talking about, we be like, “Yo, dunn! Dorty over there got
the datty.” [laughter] Like, you know what I mean? So that’s where that came from, the
dunn language. Sacha Jenkins Havoc, can you hip us to any other dunn language jewels we didn’t know about? Dainy, tell us about Dainy! Havoc Oh yeah, I mean, exactly; it [a brand of malt liquor] was called St. Ides, but we called it Dainy. We used everything with the dunn language, and it just turned into that sh--. It was crazy. [applause] Sacha Jenkins OK, yeah, give it up for him. I mean, that’s a serious cultural McNugget right there, where that came from.
Who knew? Speech impediments. Queensbridge during that era, when you guys were making that music... I mean what a lot of people don’t understand is, you know, I did an article for Vibe, I think it
was about ’95, I interviewed everyone from Queensbridge and what was going on
then. And a lot of guys who were down with these guys are no longer with us.
And the climate and the intensity that you feel on this record, if you
understand where they come from, you understand when this guy says, “There’s a
war going on outside,” there literally is a level of intensity that. I can’t
say it’s necessarily on par with someone who is in the Middle East or
something right now, but for a lot of these young black and Latino individuals, it
was a very intense time. So, talk about what you remember, sitting on the park
bench; talk about some of the cats who aren’t with us anymore, who are
integral to what created that album. Havoc I mean, it’s a lot of situations out there like, you got six blocks out there.
Each block is like its own neighbourhood, and [that] just makes Mobb Deep. I
mean, Queensbridge, you know what I’m saying? So, you might have dudes from
two different blocks, that might used to have been friends. And now the next
thing you know, they beefin’ over who can sell drugs on the hill. And next
thing you know they’re just shooting at each other, killing each other like,
you know? My man Draws, god bless the dead, he used to gun it out all the
time. And my brother, Killer Black, rest in peace, god bless the dead, he
was one of the wildest dudes out there. And he used to hang with dudes from
the other block, like, the opposition block. And our block, where we was from,
was where he was hanging with them. So, he used to have to come home to where
the beef was at, you know what I’m saying? And niggas used to have to come to
me like, “Yo, son! You know, your brother, he’s from the block,” but they knew
not to touch him. So, the thing is, when you’re going through things like
that, where you could just come outside, and your brother got beef with
somebody, he shoot them, and the next thing you know, you gotta watch
yourself, because your brother done shot somebody in the face, and you sitting
in your car, nigga wetting your whole car up, what other kind of music you
gonna make? [applause] Prodigy Yeah. [laughter] Sacha Jenkins So how many cats who were on skits, who were on the records, who were part of
your crew back then, how many of them are still around? Are a lot of them
still around? Prodigy There’s very few. We lost a lot of friends to jail, murder. A lot of people you
just outgrow, you know what I mean? People go they separate ways, man, down the line. When you get
older you see that certain people got hidden agendas and certain people were
loyal. Sacha Jenkins When you look back now, looking at literally, you guys were in a war. When you
look at that album, what do you think it represents in terms of where you guys
were in your lives at that time? Havoc I mean, it represents the struggle, the hunger, the will, to wanting to make a
better situation for yourself, get up out of the projects, make a better living
for your family. But to make it out of there is nothing short of a miracle.
Just any kind of circumstances could put you in the grave. From police, planting
stuff in your car and in your pockets, putting you in jail, from the dude
that’s jealous of you because you’re shining a little bit more than him. Like I said,
it’s nothing short of a miracle, making it out of there. And that era right
there, the album that we did, it just describes just that. If you listen to it word
for word, you got a lot of rappers out there, they be rapping, and they just be
lying a lot. But the sh-- that we went through is just so real, it’s just a
blessing that we, us two, are still here. [applause] Sacha Jenkins And to bring it full circle, I mean, this is the same cat on that album who
said, no matter how much loot he gets, he’s staying in the projects forever.
That’s how you felt. Havoc Yeah, that was metaphorically ’cause people always come to me, “Yo! I thought
you wasn’t leaving the projects.” [laughter] You know what I’m saying? What I meant is that my heart would never leave the
projects. It’s like, I always will remember where I came from, you understand
what I’m saying? When people would take these words literally I’d be like,
“What grade you graduated from? What school? Oh, you didn’t finished, just
like me. No doubt.” [laughter] Sacha Jenkins Well, your heart obviously, you guys represent that to the fullest, and this
album is the epitome of that. Talk about how you guys came up with the title
The Infamous Mobb Deep. Prodigy Well The Infamous, that came from one of our homeboys that got killed, god bless
the dead. His name is Jammy, and he was from Brooklyn, from Brownsville, and
he had moved to Queensbridge, and he was back and forth always. Jammy was like
one of our strongest in the crew. He was a Golden Gloves boxer, and he was out
there busting his hammer, too. He was a dangerous dude. We used to chill all
the time. He had this tattoo on his arm that said “The Most Infamous,” I
believe, right? Havoc Yep. Prodigy It said “The Most Infamous” on his arm. He gave us that name. He was like,
“Yo! Y’all the infamous Mobb Deep. Y’all infamous.” We just ran with it
from there. Sacha Jenkins And then you took it to another level with the imagery, using the sort of
Queensbridge, you know, “Welcome to Queensbridge.” Havoc The housing authority sign, yeah. We just took that and just put it as Mobb
Deep, you know what I mean? Word. [applause] Sacha Jenkins Give it up for using the projects... Here’s an example of using the projects to take you to the next level. Prodigy It was like, using it was just like, welcome to our world. Just like it say
welcome to whatever houses all over New York, for the projects. You know, the infamous Mobb Deep; in other words, welcome to our world. Sacha Jenkins Getting back to your dad a little bit, Havoc, your last name is Muchita. Havoc Yeah. Sacha Jenkins Is that Latino? Havoc No, from what my grandmother told me, it’s like Creole or something like that. Sacha Jenkins So your people are from New Orleans, Louisiana? Havoc Yeah, you could say that. [laughs] Sacha Jenkins The brother to your right, he has an amazing
book [My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy]. How
many people have copped this book? [applause] I want to hear more claps. You should buy
it because it’s probably… Prodigy Yeah, go get it. Go get it. Sacha Jenkins I don’t even know how to feel about it. Very few people in hip-hop have the
foresight, the will or the guts to sort of put out a lot of the things that
he put out there, and I think it’s really healthy. For those people who don’t
know, you got a bit into your family background. Where are your people from? Prodigy My family is from the South. Virginia, Texas, the Carolinas, and they moved up, up
top to New York, chased that fast money and that dream. My grandparents, my
immediate grandparents, they were into music. My grandfather was a famous jazz
musician by the name of Budd Johnson. He played the saxophone and the
clarinet. He taught music, actually, at a national community college. My
grandmother, she was one of the first Cotton Club dancers up in Harlem, so she
was real big into dancing, and she created her own dance company called the
Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center, which was based down in Queens. They
were always into music, and I grew up around them watching them conduct their
business and how they went about it in the music industry. Sacha Jenkins I mean, the two of you both, between your dad as a DJ and you, all your
people, that obviously had some kind of impact in terms of your interest in
music, would you say? Prodigy Yeah, it was definitely influence. Even my mother and my father, they were in
doo-wop groups. My mother was part of The Crystals. She had a lot of big
records, like “Da-Do-Run-Run” and records like that. So I grew up hearing all the
stories from my grandmother, all her concerts and the people that she dealt
with in her business. My grandfather, all his tall stories with the old-school
jazz cats and all that. He knew all of them. From my pops and my moms and all
that. It was definitely a big influence in my life, just music, period, and
entertainment. Sacha Jenkins You had been coming to Queensbridge from a very young age, kind of coming from
where you come from in Long Island, and so you, like Nas as well, his dad is a
well-known jazz musician, and he had access to a certain understanding of
cultural things. So here you are, a cat who has his background and is enlightened
to certain cultural possibilities in terms of everything from dance to music, blah blah blah.
What was it like, the juxtaposition of being where you are in Long Island and
coming to Queensbridge and being in this kind of intense war
situation? How did your family feel about it? Did they feel a way that you
were putting yourself in danger? Prodigy My mother worked for the housing authority. She used to help people get their
apartments in the projects, ever since I was like a little baby. That was her
position, and she actually worked in Queensbridge in the early ‘80s, and I
used to go to day camp in Queensbridge during the summer when my mom was at
work. I went to the Ruach Day Camp on the hill in Queensbridge, so later on in
life, when I met Hav, and I was back out there again, I seen a lot of old
friends that I used to hang with in day camp and all that. The part of Long
Island where I’m from is called Hempstead, and… [cheers] Yeah. Sacha Jenkins Give it up for Hempstead. [applause] Prodigy It’s got its little bad parts, its good parts, but it’s predominantly a good
neighborhood. It’s Long Island, but it’s got its rough parts out there that’s
serious. When I went out to Queensbridge, it was basically like a whole
‘nother level of that. That’s what it was really. It wasn’t too much of a
culture shock, but I definitely seen both sides of the track, grew up on both
sides of the track. Sacha Jenkins Cool. So we have this album, The Infamous. [applause] I want to maybe play a little bit of some songs and get some of your memories,
thoughts, stuff like that. Havoc Let’s do it. Prodigy Let’s do it. Sacha Jenkins All right, all right. (music: Mobb Deep – “The Start of Your Ending (41st Side)”) Give it up for that song. [applause] You know, Queensbridge is the largest housing project in America. He said with
great glee, “The 41st side, get bent, run wild.” Now, for those that don’t
know, Queensbridge is separated in two sections in terms of streets. These
gentlemen represent the 41st side, Nasir Jones [Nas] is from the 40th side. Tell us
about the differences between, are they more thorough on the 41st side? Havoc I mean, you know, I love the whole Queensbridge, but the 41st side was the
real side. The 40th side was like the corny side. They didn’t really know how
to dress really on that side, you know what I’m saying? But they just got one
ace card and that was Nas, so it was all good. Sacha Jenkins Poet and Hot, isn’t Hot Dave from the 40th side? Havoc Yeah, yeah, yeah, Hot Dave’s from there, too. But we got Marley Marl, Roxanne
Shante, MC Shan... We got all of them on our side, you know what I’m saying, so
go figure. Sacha Jenkins I think everyone’s riding with the 41st side. Havoc There you go. Sacha Jenkins So Prodigy, what do you remember about this song, recording it? Prodigy This song right here? “Start of Your Ending,” we titled it that, first of all,
because it was like, all right, it’s Mobb Deep time now. We was on our game. We
was on our A game, more than we had ever been before that, so we knew that it was
the start of the ending of a lot of bullsh-- in music. Havoc Truer D. It was, even though it’s the first song on the album, it was the last
song we recorded for the album, so everybody, we had like 50 dudes in the
studio. Everybody drinking, getting bent. The album was just about done, and
that was like the last song, so in the middle of the song, we let everybody
give their little bit of shout-outs and stuff like that. Sacha Jenkins At that point, were you guys feeling good? You knew you had a banger? The
whole album was on fire? Havoc Very good. “Shook Ones” was playing crazy. It was right. Sacha Jenkins Do you remember when you finished recording that song, what did you guys go
out and do? Drink some Dainy, go to the club? What happened? Prodigy Blurry memories. Havoc Word. I don’t even remember. Prodigy It was definitely a lot of 40 ouncers, man, at that time. You know what I
mean? The whole floor used to be full of 40 bottles. Havoc OE. Prodigy St. Ives, OE, Ballantine Ale. Havoc Word. Prodigy Champale, all that. Havoc Seagram’s gin. Sacha Jenkins Bartles & Jaymes? Prodigy You got to watch, when you drink… Havoc [laughs] He said Bartles & Jaymes. Prodigy Bartles & Jaymes. Havoc That’s Kool-Aid, man. Prodigy That was way before that. That’s when you first start drinking, you get a
Bartles & Jaymes. Sacha Jenkins I was eighth grade. Prodigy Yo, there used to be so many 40s all over the floor. When you put your bottle
of beer down, you got to be careful you got to pick up the right one, because
we used to be pissing in bottles because we ain’t feel like going to the
bathroom. Havoc Yeah, you fu-- around, pick up the wrong one, you’d be drinking piss. Word. I
never got caught out there like that, because I got to feel it, if it’s cold
or if it’s hot. Word. [laughter] Prodigy We used to really do that too. Havoc Fu-- that. [laughs] Sacha Jenkins You drink a 40 of piss, it will be the start of your ending right there. Havoc It will be, because you might drink the wrong piss. Prodigy Not just piss too. It’s like molded piss with cigarette buds in it. Havoc Nasty. Prodigy All kinds of foul sh--. Havoc Disgusting. Yeah, man. Sacha Jenkins That’s definitely the start of your ending right there. All right, track
search, OK. This one should be interesting right here. (music: Mobb Deep – “The Infamous Prelude”) All right, you had some things on your mind that night in the studio. Prodigy Yeah, I had to get some steam off my chest, you know? Word. That’s just how we
felt at that time. Sacha Jenkins First of all, explain to the young folks here who don’t have the same kind of
club experience that us older gentleman might have had, tell us about what it
was like in the clubs, like the Tunnel, the Muse, how you could get cut,
stabbed, shot up, knuckled down, or one or four of those options. Tell us
about the intensity of being in the club back in the days. Prodigy Oh, man. Yeah, New York, period, man. New York was a different place back
then. You know, it’s still definitely wild right now, you can get killed in
New York right now. But it was very different back then, because there wasn’t
a lot of cameras everywhere. It wasn’t so much, the police wasn’t on-it on-it,
like how they on it right now with all this terrorist talk and all this stuff.
It’s crazy, man. It was crazy back then, you know? And clubs, you know, it was
just wild, it was off the hook back then. The music was different, you know
what I mean, the music was wilder, so it just amped the people up even more.
So, just all around, period. The environment was definitely more intense and
more dangerous in those days. Sacha Jenkins But you were on, your music was on. You’re with your crew, you got your new
whip, you got your cell phone, pager, whatever. You’re hyped. Like, talk about
that experience of feeling that, being in that moment, being in the club,
people knowing who Mobb Deep is, people wanting to test Mobb Deep. All of that
goes with the territory. Talk about that. Prodigy I mean, to tell you the truth, the first one, two albums, we was taking the
train to our shows. Like, we would all, there’d be like 30, 40 of us, and we
would all hop the train, you know, get on the train or whatever, go to the
show. After the show, hop the train, go back to the projects, so... That’s how we
were moving for a little while, that’s just how we was moving. And we was just having a lot of fun. And a lot
of it is just, you know, being high as hell, drunk as hell, you’re 18, 19 years old. You got a nice record playing on the radio, videos, you’re feeling
yourself, you got all your people with you, it’s just a big celebration. And
not to mention who we are, where we come from, the lifestyle that we living,
we just bringing all that baggage along with us to the celebration. Havoc Yeah, but it wasn’t too many people trying to test us, though. ‘Cause when you
see like 30 dudes coming up in the club, niggas just show their respect. It
wasn’t too many people, really. You never heard us really getting into too
many altercations like that, because you know where we come from, they know it
was real. So, real recognize real, you know what I’m saying? So we ain’t had
many problems like that. Sacha Jenkins But the other thing that was really interesting about what you were saying
was, you said, “I’m a little dude;” like, there’s something very honest and
real about you saying, “Listen, I’m not saying I’m a tough guy. I’m a little
dude, but really, it’s about who gets who first.” I thought that was really
honest. Prodigy I mean, that was like the reality of the situation. We were very grounded,
still are, reality-based. Our head is not in the clouds. We know exactly what
can happen. We know exactly what the fu-- is going on. That’s what it is. Sacha Jenkins So why do you think so many rappers aren’t realistic about what it is and
where they come from? Why do you think there’s such a disconnect? Havoc ’Cause a lot of people’s just in the game to make money. They’re not really
real artists, you know what I’m saying? And then they come with this fake
persona, and trying to be, like, the rapper, and they’re not really living it.
But then, when they go somewhere and get smacked in they face by somebody, then
they know that it’s really real ‘cause this ain’t a game to really play with.
Music should be fun, but this is street music, you know what I’m saying, so we
not going to fool ourself. So, if you rhyme about a certain thing, dudes is
gonna test you. And a lot of dudes is coming out here, rhyming about, “Yo! I
sold drugs on this block,” and this, that and the third, and as soon as they
get stepped to, they fold. Sacha Jenkins Like an ironing board? Havoc All day long, just put that nigga on the wall real quick. Sacha Jenkins Like a subway map. Havoc All day, fold him up, he out of here. Prodigy Like a subway map. [laughs] Havoc Word. [laughs] Sacha Jenkins Seriously, but the other thing was, people analyzed this man’s rant for years
and years because he said, “People are on some,” quote-unquote, “crazy space
sh--. They’re high, we don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.” Some
people caught feelings behind that. Now what I’ve read is you said, “I’m not
even thinking about you like that. I was just expressing myself.” But it must
have come from somewhere. You must have felt in the air, in the ether, that
there was people rhyming about crazy space sh--, right? Prodigy I mean, there really wasn’t nothing like Mobb Deep at that time. We were like
real unique the way we were bringing it, the lyrics, the lifestyle. Everything
we were bringing to the table was unique, and I was just saying, making a
separation and trying to explain that separation to people. “This ain’t that.
We’re something else. We’re different, a whole other animal.” A few people
took offense to it or whatever, but like I say, if the shoe fits… I ain’t
saying nobody. I’m not talking to nobody directly. I was speaking in general. Sacha Jenkins You said, “Back then there was nothing like Mobb Deep.” Do you feel like in
the years since that there have been people who have kind of followed in your
footsteps or you feel might be in a similar, not exactly like you guys but in
a similar vein? Prodigy Definitely, there’s been people that come. And you know, they were influenced by Mobb Deep. Sacha Jenkins Any names? Prodigy I mean, it’s obvious. Just look at the crews that came after us. Sacha Jenkins Look at all the crews that came after them, and then you want them to figure
out who it is. Prodigy Anything that’s similar to our style of music that came after us, we had to
influence them. Sacha Jenkins [addressing audience] You guys have any suggestions of, because he’s humble, can you name some
groups that have come in the wake of this wonderful group? Audience member The Lox. Sacha Jenkins The Lox. Interesting. Audience member Clipse. Sacha Jenkins Clipse! Interesting. Audience member 50 Cent. Sacha Jenkins 50 Cent, interesting. And you guys were signed to G-Unit at one point. Prodigy Yeah, we were there with 50, yeah. Audience member CNN. Sacha Jenkins CNN, Capone-N-Noreaga. Yes. This is interesting. Are we reading his mind? He
won’t let us know. Prodigy [laughs] Sacha Jenkins He’s smiling, though. Anyone else? CNN? Someone keeps
saying… All right, CNN. Interesting, CNN. Interesting. Havoc Yeah, very, very. Sacha Jenkins Very interesting on many levels, some of which we don’t necessarily need to
get into here. Havoc Right, right, right. Sacha Jenkins What do you remember about you guys were coming up, and then other groups like
CNN and our dear friend Trag[edy Khadafi], that whole movement? What was it
like with all that stuff coming up? Havoc I mean, it was flattering. They from the hood too, so you can’t knock nobody’s
hustle. From day one, we wished them all the best. It’s like, they’re trying
to do what we’re doing, and I always was hoping that it worked for them, and
it did, in a way, with The War Report, a classic album. And they’re Queens
brothers; we was fu--ing with them at that time. Sacha Jenkins They was fu--ing with them at that time. Give it up for fu--ing with them at
that time. [applause] That’s definitely a classic album, and it fits into the era that you guys
ushered in. Prodigy Right, exactly. Sacha Jenkins I’m glad I can ask Prodigy questions that the audience can answer for us.
Thank you very much for that. Let’s keep going here. Let’s see where we can
go. (music: Nas, Raekwon & Mobb Deep – “Eye for a Eye (Your Beef Is Mines)”) Havoc Eye for an eye. Sacha Jenkins So tell us a bit about the making of that song. A lot of legendary cats on
there with you guys. Havoc Yeah, Nas and Raekwon.Yep. [applause] Sacha Jenkins The hook is not about being friends. Can you give us the hook? Prodigy It was about taking somebody’s eyeball if they take your eyeball. Sacha Jenkins In the biblical sense. Prodigy Yeah. Sacha Jenkins So tell us about taking people’s eyeballs. No seriously, tell us about the song, how it came together, what you remember about it, being in the studio... Havoc Well, that was like, towards, like, the middle of the album. It was a lot of
good energy going on at that time. We was label-mates with the Wu-Tang [Clan], and we
clicked with Raekwon and them really good, like, we really gelled with them.
And Nas is from around the way. To this day I can’t even really remember how
we got all of them into the studio, because it’s hard to get dudes in the
studio all at one time. Prodigy I remember. Havoc How did we do that? Prodigy Schott Free used to work at Loud [Records], with Matty C. They were the two
A&R’s up there that signed, Schott signed, got Wu-Tang signed, and Matty
signed us. Schott wanted us to meet Raekwon and them, so he took us to Staten
Island one night, and we got drunk and high with Rae and Ghost[face Killa], and some other
niggas out in the harbor. Sacha Jenkins Were you smoking some dust? That’s big out there. Prodigy I think they might have slipped some dust in one of our blunts or something
like that, ’cause I was feeling higher than I ever felt in my life. Havoc Yeah, when I got home I was walking in slow motion, like this [waves arms]. They put some
sh-- in my sh--. Sacha Jenkins So you were on some crazy space sh--. [laughter] Havoc Yeah I was on some space sh-- that night. Word. Prodigy Yeah, and that night I remember Raekwon, he drove us back to Queensbridge,
’cause we had took the ferry out there. And on the ride back, he was like,
“Yo, what’s up with that dude Nas, man? We trying to do a song with him. I
want to put him on my solo album.” And I was like, “Yo, we gonna hook that
up.” So then the next day we hollered at Nas, and through that conversation we
ended up just all doing the song together. Sacha Jenkins So you had to go do the song past 40th side to talk to Nas? Prodigy I don’t even know how we reached out to everybody, I think Hav reached out to
him. Havoc You know, I be fu--in’ with both sides anyway, you know what I’m saying? But,
you know, I was already hanging with Nas before all of this anyway, so I guess
we must have made that happen, or whatever, but, it happened. Sacha Jenkins So, you have the line, Prodigy: “You watch me while Jake’s tryin’ to knock me
and lock me.” Bringing it back to the dunn language, explain here to our
friends in the audience, who’s “Jake”? Prodigy Yeah, “Jake” is the police. That’s a slang term that come from Queensbridge
for the police, from that TV show, Jake and the Fatman. It was a cop show,
so we used to call the police “Jakes.” You know what I mean, and... Yeah, “You watch
me while Jake’s tryin’ to knock me and lock me.” That means the police trying
to arrest you and lock you up. And Asti Spumante [a sparkling white wine], that sh-- just sounded good
but it tastes disgusting. Sacha Jenkins So there’s no dunn language slang for Asti Spumante? Prodigy Nah, it’s just some sh-- that sounded good right there. Sacha Jenkins But do you know how many people drank that sh-- because you said that? That’s
foul, son. You got brothers drinking that nasty sh--. Prodigy Let me know. I said it in a rhyme and I said, “Let me try that sh--” one day.
That sh--’s disgusting. Word. Sacha Jenkins Speaking of “Jake,” talk about the relationship between the police and cats in
Queensbridge. It’s complicated. Havoc I mean, we all know the Ds, you know what I’m saying, the Ds knew us. We
used to know the Ds by they first names. Sacha Jenkins “The Ds,” as in, for those who don’t understand, the detectives. Prodigy Or the dicks. Havoc It was like a cat and mouse game. It’s like, they’ll see you, they say what’s
up, they be friendly, but in the meanwhile they looking at you like, “You
know I’mma get you, you know I’mma have to get you.” So, it was like that. Sacha Jenkins Let’s look at some lyrics from Havoc from this song and pick his brain. Let’s
see. “Try to infiltrate my fort, get caught dead up in New York. My brain is
packed with criminal thoughts.” Where does that come from, my friend? Havoc I mean, it’s just like, your fort is like your crib or your block. A lot of
times, a lot of stick-up kids used to try to run through and try to rob people
and stuff like that. So it’s like, if you come through here, you’re going to
get hit, because my brain is packed with criminal thoughts. Straight up. Sacha Jenkins Can you relate to that, having a mind packed with criminal thoughts? Havoc Everybody got criminal thoughts. You be like, “I want to kill that nigga.” I
mean, everybody goes through that. Sacha Jenkins This is true, but not many people have the ability to use music as a way to
express those criminal thoughts, which is better than expressing it in real
life. Havoc True indeed. Let your frustration out through the music. Sacha Jenkins Where do you think Mobb Deep would be, honestly, if Mobb Deep didn’t have The
Infamous, which was the thing that kind of liberated you after coming off of
your first album, Juvenile Hell, that according to industry standards wasn’t necessarily a
hit, but it had an impact. It made people aware of you, but if you didn’t have
The Infamous, where would Prodigy and Havoc be right now, if that didn’t come
together? Havoc Me, myself, I probably would’ve finished high school and just become an
architect or something like that, because that was my major, until I really
started fu--in’ with rap real hard, then I kind of fell off with the school
thing and just really pursued a rap career. I definitely had a direction other
than rap. I wasn’t trying to fall victim to the streets like that. [applause] Sacha Jenkins The other thing that I think is important, what people don’t understand, it’s
like the projects doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad person, you’re a poor
person, or you’re an uneducated person. The projects were created for
affordable housing so people can actually save money and eventually, even
though you said you never want to leave, you did exactly what the projects is
supposed to do. You’re supposed to save your money and get out. Obviously,
there are plenty of people who are like you, who want to be architects and all
kinds of other things, right? Havoc Yeah, but for some reason, some people just get caught up in that mentality,
like in the poverty mind-state, and think that they can’t have more for
themselves, and then they just get stuck there. I’m not trying to knock
anybody or make fun of anybody or anything, but my whole objective was, I just
found myself in the circumstance. My parents moved to Queensbridge, and
obviously, this wasn’t a place of permanent residency. It was a place to get
your sh-- together and move on. That was the whole objective. Sacha Jenkins And you, Prodigy, if it wasn’t for The Infamous, how do you think you
would’ve turned out? What would you have gotten into? Prodigy I really don’t know, man. I really don’t know. There was a time in my life
when I was young, I wanted to be a dick. I wanted to be a detective, or FBI
agent. Sacha Jenkins Really? I’ve never heard this. OK. Tell us about this? Was it from watching
Jake and the Fatman as a young man? Prodigy No, it was just something before I got into music, I always just had that idea
in my head that I wanted to be like… To me, they had power with that badge,
and like just power of information. It was just intriguing to me when I was
younger. Sacha Jenkins Obviously, there was a point when that changed. When did you realize maybe
being po-po wasn’t a good look? Prodigy It had never really crossed my mind being po-po ain’t a good look, but just my
interest just changed. My interest just changed to music. I decided to just
get into something else, and the po-po thing was gone from my head. Sacha Jenkins Any members of the police in the audience today? Prodigy If they are, they not going to say. Sacha Jenkins OK, is that snitching? Prodigy They probably ain’t here. Sacha Jenkins They don’t want to snitch on themselves, OK. I’m sure there are plenty of
police officers who like Mobb Deep because it’s incredible music. Prodigy It’s all good, man. We don’t got problems with police, man. Just dirty cops. We got problem with dirty cops. Sacha Jenkins Right. All right, we’re going to get into another banger. (music: Mobb Deep – “Temperature’s Rising”) Give it up for “Temperature’s Rising.” [applause] You know, one of my favorite songs on the album. It shows a level of sensitivity that I
think is important in hip-hop, in terms of creating... What they, go back to what they’ve
been saying about reality and being honest, you know, and I think that is one
of the reasons this album has stood the test of time. As I read it, you guys
are reaching out to a cat who’s locked down. Havoc That cat is actually my brother. Sacha Jenkins OK, tell us about it. Havoc My brother that passed away, rest in peace, god bless the dead. That was a
real situation, a real story about my brother who was on the run for a
homicide. We was like kind of protecting him, helping him run and not get
caught by the police and stuff like that. We was just giving him advice on the
record and stuff like that. While we made the record, and while the record was
out, he was actually on the run for the homicide. He eventually got caught,
but we beat the case, we won trial, and he was free behind it. And that was the
story behind the song. Sacha Jenkins But it’s interesting, like the hip-hop police, the task force, weren’t that
sophisticated back then, but if they were, basically, that would’ve implicated
you in some way. Havoc Yeah, we was kind of under the radar at that time. I guess they wasn’t like,
“Oh, let’s listen to this record and find out stuff.” And not to mention, we
wasn’t even saying where he was at anyway, so even if they would’ve listened
to it, it wasn’t like we said he did it, or we was saying where he was at. We
was like being mindful of that of what we was saying on the record. Sacha Jenkins How did he feel about it from what you remember? Havoc He didn’t get a chance to hear the record at the time while he was on the run,
but he heard it eventually later on. He thought it was ill. He was like, “Oh,
that’s what’s up.” Word. Prodigy If you listen to the words, we very careful about what we saying on there. If
you listen to the words carefully, you can see that the writing was real
calculated on that song. Sacha Jenkins But I mean, what’s running through your mind? You’re in the middle of changing your
situation, recording an album. Things are on the up-and-up, and then you got
to write a song about your brother, who’s on the run for murder, accused of
murder? What’s running through your mind at that point? Havoc It’s like, “Damn! I got to spend all this money on a fu--in’ lawyer. I just
made money, now I got to spend money on a lawyer?” Then, for the most part,
he’s my little brother, so I don’t want to see him go to jail for the rest of
his life, so I want him to run as long as he can. It’s just a fu--ed up
situation. Nobody don’t want to be in [that position]. It’s your little
brother, so it was real personal. Sacha Jenkins Where did he wind up going? Havoc He was all over the place. We was right under the cops’ noses. We was like in
The Bronx, and then later on he was in North Carolina, but they eventually
caught him through phone conversations. It was like fu-- it, whatever. I had
got arrested one day, and the cops was like asking me, “Yo, where’s your
brother at?” I was like, “I don’t know.” They was like, “Well, we know. We
just caught him.” I was like, “Word?” They knew they had him all along, but
they was just fu--in’ with me. That’s when everything just hit the fan. Sacha Jenkins Any other recollections? What about recording the song itself? Do you remember where you recorded it? Havoc Yeah, Q-Tip helped us do
that song right there. He actually came up with the sample, and the drum
pattern and all of that. And he was in there just kinda guiding us through.
’Cause the sample was “Temperature’s Rising,” that was the original sample,
was “Temperature’s Rising.” Sacha Jenkins By who? Havoc The one now is with Patrice Rushen, but the other one, the “Temperature’s Rising”
that actually had the “Temperature’s Rising” sample in it, I can’t remember at
this time. But the original one said “Temperature’s rising,” actually in the
sample, and that’s what made us reflect on what we was going through, because
it just fit so well in what we was going through. And then, later on we did it
over, and we sampled Patrice Rushen. I can’t remember the song, but it was
Patrice Rushen. Sacha Jenkins And talk a bit more about Q-Tip’s influence, working with him at that point,
overall on the record. I know he was instrumental early on in your careers.
Tell us about Q-Tip’s involvement. Prodigy Q-Tip, we use to cut out of school and we used to look on the back of the
cassettes for the address of the record labels, after we made our demo out in
Coney Island. You know, we used to cut out of school and take the train and go
to the different labels. One of our main labels that we wanted was Def Jam, so
we used to just stand outside the door at Def Jam and just wait for like the
rappers to come out, or wait for somebody to come out the door, and just be
like, “Hey, excuse me. You listen to this song real quick, man, we’re a rap
group.” So, a lot of people was like, “Yeah, get the fu-- outta here,” or just
act like they ain’t hear us or whatever. Q-Tip actually came out the building
and was the only one that stopped, and actually was like, “Alright, let me
check it out.” And he put on the headphones and he listened to us, listened to
our demo. He sat there and listened to a few songs, actually, and he was like,
“Yo, I like you dudes.” And he’s like, “Come on, I’mma bring you into the office and
introduce you to some people.” So, from that point, it was like three years
later when we was working on The Infamous, maybe three, four years later. We
just reached out back to him, like, “Yo, man! We got this new sound that we
created. It’s real hot, we got these hot records, we about to drop this hot
album. We want to bring you in as a producer, and help us out with the sound.”
To make our sound that quality sh--, that quality level like he was doing for
A Tribe Called Quest. We was always a fan of his and Tribe’s music. So, yeah,
he came in and he blessed us, man, with a few tracks, and tweaked up some of
the beats, and, you know, did the bass, drums and all that. Yeah. Sacha Jenkins So, when you guys went to wait outside of Def Jam, how long did you wait until
someone was nice enough, like Q-Tip, to say, “OK, I’ll listen to your demo”?
Were you out there for days? Prodigy It probably took us like two or three days of going over there and just
chilling until we finally caught a break. Sacha Jenkins I mean, would you pack a lunch? Did you have headphones? [laughter] Prodigy 40 ouncers, man. 40 ouncers and butter crunch cookies. [laughter] And a dream. Sacha Jenkins And just the two of you, not the whole Queensbridge [crew]? Havoc Nah, just the two of us, that’s it. Thirsty. Sacha Jenkins What if you had brought all of Queensbridge? You think it would’ve happened? Havoc Nah, probably wouldn’t have happened, because they probably would’ve tried to
bum rush the building or something. Sacha Jenkins Right. All right. Let’s see what other jewels. Give it up for these men. (music: Mobb Deep – “Up North Trip” / applause) Now, I got a couple of questions about that song, you guys can tell me, but mainly,
obviously prison is nothing to joke about. A lot of brothers wind up in prison
for really unnecessary things, but I must say, that is like the happiest
prison beat. [laughter] Everything else from Mobb Deep is all like dark and like, “Yo!”
And it’s like, “I’m going to prison,” it’s like, kind of happy. I mean, the
lyrics aren’t happy, but the beat is all bright. You know, tell us about the... You know, it’s complicated
right there. Prodigy That beat. That beat, when Hav came with that beat, it just reminded me of a
story, like telling a story. Havoc Right, right. Prodigy Something about the beat just reminded me of telling a story, so I decided to
just start writing about going to jail. There was a lot of people around us
that was going in and out of jail at that time, do a year, come back, six
months, come back. Go back in. It was just something that everybody was going
through, at that time around us. It just came out naturally like that on that
beat. Sacha Jenkins Havoc? Havoc I just made the beat. I just be making beats, and I just played it for P, and
then he just started rhyming about jail and sh--. I was like, fu-- it, I just
followed his lead. I mean, the whole thing about music with us is to be
unconventional. To rap to that beat, to try to match its tone, probably
would’ve been about a mistake. We kind of just put the opposite on it, just
mix two different elements together. You got this flute-y beat, with a bunch
of flutes in it, and then we talking about something very real, like being
incarcerated. So who does that? Mobb Deep. [applause] Prodigy Another thing, part of that chorus, I’m saying, “Living the high life.” Having
fun, partying. That part fits the beat. “Living the high life, making moves at
night.” At the same time, you’ve got to pack your heat in this war zone.
Niggas is strife. It’s just like you’re dealing with all elements on that. Sacha Jenkins But also it deals with, unfortunately prison is like college for a lot of us.
There is an allure to it, in a strange way. So even though I’m saying, yeah,
it’s real light-hearted, but that’s what makes it interesting. Havoc That’s true. That’s true because a lot of young brothers out there in their
young teenage years, they see a lot of older dudes going to jail, and they
want to emulate that. They want to get that experience so they can come home
and be like, “Yeah, I just came home.” You don’t have to come home from there.
And it’s just real like that. Sacha Jenkins Can you tell us anything about the sample itself? Havoc I can’t even remember where I sampled it... I don’t even know if I got it
cleared, to be honest with you. Sacha Jenkins No snitching. No snitching. Havoc Yeah, but you know what, though? We did it, and it’s part of our album. If
they want to come back and sue us, they going to have to sue the motherfu--ers
that own the masters, because we don’t own it right now. Sacha Jenkins That’s real right there, all right. Give it up for these gentlemen once again. [applause] It’s funny, because I used to do a magazine called Ego Trip, and our first
office was up the block in Queen’s Plaza, and I remember getting the advance
cassette. I had a fax machine, and I’m faxing loud, trying to get money for
advertising. I remember thinking, “Damn! Havoc [and Prodigy], these cats are
just up the block.” I’d walk through there to go home and just feel the
intensity of what was going on. Havoc Yeah. Sacha Jenkins And to be hearing that album for so many years and to have the access to these
cats now to ask them random questions that I’ve always wondered, like, why is
that beat so happy when people are going to prison? It’s incredible. Prodigy I never thought about that sh--. Havoc Yeah, you just put me onto some new sh--. You’re right. The beat is kind of
happy, but we did it. Sacha Jenkins All right, let’s go. I believe this is my favorite track on the album. (music: Mobb Deep – “Trife Life”) Give it up for “Trife Life.” [applause] So much going on on that track. First of all, you guys are in Marcy Projects.
Interesting, interesting. Marcy Projects is where Jay-Z is from, and you
probably weren’t even aware of Jay-Z at that point? Havoc Not at all. Prodigy Nah, he wasn’t around back then, as far as in the music industry. Sacha Jenkins Right. That’s just like, is that a real story, some chick from Marcy calls you
up? Prodigy No, actually, that story was just fictional. I made that up, but the whole
concept of the song isn’t fictional. That really happens to people. Girls will
set you up. They tell you, “Yo! Hey, come pick me up, over here, boom-boom.”
They don’t really know you, and it’s just a set-up. They’ll set you up to rob
you our whatever. People was doing that a lot. Sacha Jenkins But it’s interesting, the second verse is kind of like from the other side of
it. Havoc Right, like a dude coming around the way and actually having something happen
to him, and getting robbed for kind of taking where he’s at for granted and
thinking that he could just come out here. A lot of times, a lot of chicks in
the projects, they think they tough, so they’ll be like, “Oh, don’t worry
about this sh--. Just come over here. These niggas is pussy.” She bringing you
around a bunch of a fu--ing wolves. I don’t never listen to a girl. When she
be like, “Oh, don’t fu--ing worry about it. Just come over here. These guys
ain’t nothing.” It just be bullsh--, and then next thing you know, nigga
getting robbed. Sacha Jenkins Let’s just imagine the scenario. These two gentlemen are on a park bench on
12th Street. Their whole crew is famous. They’re sipping Hennessey, right?
Some dude, some pretty-boy dude is walking through. It’s Friday night and he’s
got mad jewels on. Take us there, bring us to the mind state of what’s
happening. You don’t know who this guy is, and he’s walking like sh-- is
sweet. Explain what goes down. Prodigy I mean, there’s a story that really happened like that. Havoc Yeah. Prodigy One night, we were on the block, and we were all just chilling. There was a
whole lot of us. We was drinking, chilling, whatever, playing dice, and this
girl, I think she was from 12th Street... Havoc Yeah, she from the block. Prodigy She came through the block with some dude, and we didn’t know who this was. He
was just some dude that she met, I guess she messed with from somewhere else,
and they came through the block. One of our dudes was like, “Damn, shawty.
Come here, come here.” She’s walking with this dude and that. So she comes
over, talks to us, whatever, talks to them, and got the dude waiting over
there for like 20 minutes. He’s getting pissed off. He’s like, “Yo! Yo! Come
here, what you doing?” He starts saying that. Now, we’re like, “What? Yo,
dawg, shut up, dawg! You’re not even from out here, dawg. Calm down!” Then it
just got heated after that. It got kind of crazy. Havoc Yeah, crazy. Sacha Jenkins Then you just wanted his chain, but you put a couple of slugs in his brain. Havoc Not that night. Not that night, but some sh-- went down. It was just crazy. He
had pulled out, and… Sacha Jenkins Wait, wait, you’re talking about a real story? Havoc Yeah, it was a real story. Sacha Jenkins When he says a line, “Come through truck, how you figure?” Havoc “How you figure?” Sacha Jenkins I felt that. “Are you crazy for coming? Are you stupid?” That’s what I felt. Havoc Yeah, because if dudes come through with their jewelry all out like that, he
got to have a gun on him or something. He must have it or he’s just stupid. I
mean, we all know how the hood is, you don’t got to explain it. I
mean, it’s just stupid coming through somewhere without protection. And if
you’re going to be wearing like thousands of dollars of jewelry on. That’s
just like dangling meat in front of wolves. You can’t do that. Sacha Jenkins One of the most compelling lines is when Prodigy says, “Hypnotic thug life,
get that ass paralyzed.” Where does that come from? Prodigy That was just like a freestyle. I just said it like off the top of my head,
the end of the song. What I meant by that is, that lifestyle, the thug life
lifestyle, the street lifestyle that we’re living... It’s hypnotic. It pulls you
in. It’s fun, it’s dangerous, it’s mysterious. It’ll pull you in and hypnotize
you, and you can get your ass killed or paralyzed, or locked up. Sacha Jenkins Let’s talk about the track itself, do you know the sample? Havoc For “Survival [Of The Fittest]”? Sacha Jenkins Yeah. Havoc Nope. I don’t even remember the sample. I used to just be grabbing a bunch of
jazz records sometimes, and just listen to it and just fu--ing listen to it, like... Sacha Jenkins “Trife Life” we’re talking about. Havoc Oh, you talking about “Trife Life,” but that line, “Hypnotic thug life, get
your ass paralyzed” is from “Survival,” but that’s why I was thinking that. Oh
yeah, I know where we got the “Trife Life” from. That was Norman Connors,
“Starship,” something like that. It was like one of those famous records. People knew it from the ‘70s or
the early ‘80s or something like that. I always liked the song. It’s a real
nice song, “[You Are My] Starship.” I just wanted to sample it, seeing how I
could turn it into a hip-hop track. Sacha Jenkins You made it dark, and it fit. Again. Havoc Yeah, I filtered the sample and turned it into a bassline, and just like kind
of followed in Q-Tip’s footsteps with the drums, making the drums real tight
and really clear and stuff like that. Sacha Jenkins But the song ends, and then it kind of fades out, and then it comes back again
real strong. What was the feeling about that? Just when you thought it was
over and you’re wrapped up in the emotion, it kind of sweeps you back in. Havoc When you have a good engineer, they kind of add they little thing into it,
and the engineer that we had at the time, that’s what he did. Engineers used
to be part of the production, post-production, and kind of do little things,
so that’s what the engineer did, and brought it back. Sacha Jenkins Give it up for these gentlemen. (music: Mobb Deep – “Drink Away The Pain (Situations)”) “Drink Away the Pain,” ladies and gentlemen. [applause] That’s a drinking song. Havoc Yes, it is. Sacha Jenkins Tell us about that. Prodigy That came about one night, it was late one night, me and my man I grew up with
named Cary, we were in Hempstead, Long Island, in the park, drinking 40s, and I
just started freestyling, and that’s how that whole verse came about. “I used
to be in love with this bitch named E&J / Don’t fu-- with her anymore now
I fu-- with Tanqueray.” I was just freestyling and then my man was like,
“That’s hot, yo!” So I just memorized it until I got back down into the crib,
and I wrote it down. It was just on the block drinking, whatever, having fun
with your people. Then “Drink Away the Pain,” that’s like something everybody
can relate to, like all different types of pain, whether it’s relationships or
family or friends, anything, or physical pain, anything. You just want the
pain to go away. Sometimes, you just want to drink away the pain. Like, you
get so drunk you just forget about everything. Sacha Jenkins The interesting thing about it is, once again, in true Mobb Deep fashion, you
brought something to life. The alcohol became like a person or someone. In one
sense, you’re enamored by this person, but on the other sense, this person’s
kind of bad, depending on how you handle it. And so to me, it seems like you guys
were processing your own feelings about what you were going through at the
time with alcohol in an interesting kind of way. Prodigy Yeah, it’s just how it came out, man. Like I said, I was just freestyling,
drinking, having fun, and it just came out like that. Sacha Jenkins I mean, the subconscious mind is one incredible fort. Is that what you called
it? Prodigy Yeah, exactly. Havoc Yeah, the fort. The mind is the fort. Prodigy I mean, plus, I’ve got sickle-cell anemia, so when I drink, I’m not really
supposed to do that. Nobody’s really supposed to drink because it can affect
everybody, but it especially affects my health. It can trigger my sickle-cell.
The parts in there where I’m talking about: “My friends tell me she ain’t good
for my health, put it back on the shelf.” That’s where that came from. And:
“She only want you for one thing, that’s your wealth.” A lot of people,
they’ll spend their last dollar for a beer or a bottle of liquor. Sacha Jenkins In terms of health, I must say you look like fitness celebrity right now. Havoc No doubt, yeah. Prodigy I’m getting there. Sacha Jenkins I had the pleasure of co-hosting their first show at the Best Buy Theater,
which was incredible, and I was backstage for two seconds, I said hello to my
man, I met Alchemist for the first time. We had a nice conversation, and then
I just saw you doing pull-ups on a pipe or something. Like, “Damn! My man is
Diesel, son!” Prodigy Yeah, I mean, there was nothing else to do in that jail but get your head together
and your body together. Sacha Jenkins Right. And so you can see his body’s together, and in terms of getting his
head together, once again, I encourage you to purchase his new book, which
will explain to you how he got his mind right and where he is. Give it up once
again. [applause] So we’re starting to wind down, so I’m going to play one more joint that a lot
of people really get excited about. (music: Mobb Deep – “Shook Ones Pt. II” / applause) I just want to say, there’s a young lady there with orange, she’s got glasses
on. She was texting and listening and knew every word while she was texting,
saying crazy stuff, so give it up for the power of this song. Havoc A’ight. Sacha Jenkins So, Havoc, I’ll start with you. All the record-collecting sample weirdo-weirdos
want to know about the sample [“Jessica” by Herbie Hancock].
I know there was an article about it, any interesting thoughts on that? Havoc Obviously, I sampled it from a record, whatever, but for years and years and
years, I forgot where the fu-- I sampled it from. And then recently, an
article came out, and somebody figured it out. It was the Herbie Hancock
record, and when I heard it, I was like, “Oh, sh--! Yeah, that is the fu--ing
record.” Back then, I was just sampling sh-- and going, “Yeah, come on, let’s
go,” without really paying attention, until sample clearance and all that other
business stuff, but it worked. Sacha Jenkins Did Herbie Hancock holler at you? Havoc Nah, but he don’t need to holler at me no time soon. No. Sacha Jenkins All right, give it up for not hollering at Havoc behind sample clearances. [applause] So, everyone’s favourite... One of my favorite lines, there’s so many on that song, but “Rock you in your
face, stab your brain with your nose bone.” Prodigy Nose bone. Sacha Jenkins Is that from watching karate flicks? Prodigy I probably seen that in a movie or something, and I was like, “Oh, I’m going
to do that to somebody one day.” [laughs] Sacha Jenkins But I’m saying, first you’re rocking them in the face, then you’re saying, “You’re
all alone in these streets, cousin.” You’re calling him fam, and then he’s all
along, rocking him in the face. I mean, there’s no love. Prodigy There was a lot of fights, man, going on. That was the Muse, the Tunnel, the
Palladium. Those were them fight nights, man. Sacha Jenkins You know, bringing it back to the video, I mean, people went bananas for the
Hennessey throwbacks, which you guys just made. That’s the innovation in the
projects. Like, “Yo, son! We just going to get throwbacks that say Hennessey
on the back. Yo!” Prodigy Yeah, we just got some football jerseys. It was just like out there. We had
bought some jerseys, throw Henny on it with the year, ’95, for the football
number, whatever. It worked. Sacha Jenkins Back then, if you were messing with Red Bull, you had Red Bull on the back,
they would’ve laced you with some cash. Havoc We’d have been straight. Sacha Jenkins Right. Give it up for Red Bull once again. Give it up for Red Bull. Prodigy If you look at the video, we even spell Hennessey wrong, because I ain’t know
how to spell that sh--. [laughter] Sacha Jenkins I didn’t even notice. Word! Prodigy It’s spelled wrong on the shirts. Havoc Yeah, that was so they couldn’t sue us, right? Prodigy Nah, I actually spelled the sh-- wrong. I didn’t know how to spell that sh--. Havoc No, that’s because they wouldn’t sue us, right? Prodigy Oh, yeah, yeah. Havoc I’m just fu--ing with you. I’m always fu--ing with you. Sacha Jenkins Where’d you get those jerseys made? Prodigy It was from this place in Rockville Center, Long Island. It was like a
football jersey place right next to the Long Island Railroad. I used to take
the Long Island Railroad to Queens all the time or the city, so I used to
always see that store. Something told me to just go in there and get some
shirts made for the video. Sacha Jenkins Every time I ride over the upper deck of the 59th Street Bridge, I hear that
song in my head, and I wish I have a jersey on me. [laughter] Prodigy And the plastic cup. Don’t forget about the plastic cup. Sacha Jenkins Yeah, pouring a little out over the 59th Street Bridge, thinking about you
guys. But anyway, man, these guys have been through a lot, they’ve influenced a
lot of people. They’re still here. They’re music is still relevant. These guys
are real people, making real art, and it’s a blessing to have them here today.
It’s a blessing that they’re still making great music. It’s a blessing that
they’re in good health mentally and physically, and we’re all excited about
the next moves these guys are going to make. Please give it up for these two
gentlemen, Mobb Deep. [audience stands / applause] Havoc Thank you. Prodigy Thank you.