Unheard Bounty On Mobb Deep's First Album In Eight Years — npr.org

Under most circumstances, the release of a new Mobb Deep album would be notable in and of itself. This veteran rap duo from Queens had a short-lived but very public falling out in 2012, casting any future collaborations into question; as it is, their new The Infamous Mobb Deep is the group's first joint project in eight years which, in rap years, might as well be eighteen years. The new album's title is, of course, a nod to the group's most lauded release: 1995's The Infamous. That album ranks amongst the greatest sophomore efforts in hip-hop history in terms of how it remade our idea of Havoc and Prodigy, taking them from gimmick-ish "kid rappers" in 1993 to adult purveyors of urban pulp on par with Nas, Biggie, the Wu-Tang Clan, etc., two years later. When Eminem used that album's hit single, "Shook Ones, Pt. II" as his sonic draught of courage in 8 Mile, he wasn't "immortalizing" it — the song already had that stature — he was merely paying homage. The point being: The Infamous was a Very. Big. Deal.

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