State of the Mobb
pcmr
5,591 Posts
Found this on spine mag and thought this was an interesting well formed opiniative rantYet another Strut-rap thread..including G-Unit..sellin out and sparked by none other than Phonte from Little Brother 
however...
however... Our boys done got rich and stopped trying.DISCUSSMobb Deep is gone. Club Mobb is what you have now. And you can either take it or leave it.To me the last classic, dark, moody, make-me-wanna-open-fire-on-a-group-of-innocent-schoolchildren Mobb Deep single was "Quiet Storm." Hav and P were sharp as ever on the boards and on the mic respectively......and then.......Enter Hov.I'm sorry.....but I've never seen ANY emcee past or present be as VISIBLY affected by a dis as Prodigy was by that Summer Jam screen. All of a sudden, the same emcee who gave us countless quotables for 3 albums sounded as flustered and unfocused as ever. Hell, most of the time he wasn't even RHYMING..... Thus, we saw the beginnings of what I call "Club Mobb," a group that had had their street cred tested so many times (see: unfavorable incidents with TruLife and Keith Murray), that they figured 'fuck it.....let's take niggas to the club' and the results ranged from dope ("Burn"), to dope-once-it-grows-on-you ("Got It Twisted"), to horrid ("Hey Luv" feat. 112). So what exactly happened?Most people don't realize that the magic of Prodigy (and Mobb for that matter), lied in Prodigy's first bars. Literally......Prodigy has some of the most classic and memorable first bars in hip hop history, and that made for their best singles. Don't believe me? "I got 'chu stuck off the realness....." -Shook Ones"The saga begins.....we go to war/ I draw first blood be the first to set it off...." -Hell On Earth"I put my lifetime in between the paper lines...." -Quiet Storm"I break bread, r i b s, hunnid dolla bills...." -Keep It ThoroNow as you listen to "Blood Money" try to find that bar. Dig through that album and search for that one line.....that ONE bar from Prodigy that made you and your mans rap along in unison like "I used to be in love with this bitch named E&J/ don't fuck with her no more now I fuck with Tanqueray" from "Drink Away The Pain."You can't find it, 'cause its not there. For better or worse depending on how you look at it, Havoc is now the best MC in Club Mobb. I take my hat off to him. Dude sounds hungrier than ever. And although P still has his moments (his verse on "Capital P, Capital H" is dope), for most of the album he's the same rambling, non-rhyming, unfocused guy that he's been for the past few years. He really sounds clinically depressed. It's sad.So aside from its obvious artistic shortcomings, what does G-Unit have to do with people's hate for "Blood Money?"Honestly......everything.Like I told y'all so many times, even in regards to my OWN career.....in this game, PERCEPTION is reality. And if people's general perception is that you cashed in 13 years of hard-earned respect for a Porsche... AND you're rollin with the industry's hot new franchise boy (who DISSED you a year earlier, mind you)......AND gave him total control of your album...AND engaged in blatant cock-sniggling in interviews and on records by referring to him as Curtis Billion Dollar Budget Jackson.......AND the only features on the record are G-Unit (no Noyd or any other QB niggas).......Then what is the general consensus? "Maaaaaan, them Mobb Deep niggas sold the fuck out," that's what.Now personally, I have no problem with an artist selling out, or cashing in (however you look at it)....but I understand the ramifications of it. And the fact remains that when you sell out: 1) it damn sure better be financially worth it so that you NEVER have to sell out again, and 2) your post sell-out records better be artistically fucking BULLETPROOF. I mean, you better make the record of a lifetime or else there will be hell to pay.And from the looks of things, Mobb may fail on both counts. Cats are trashing the record left and right. Most die-hard Mobb fans have written them off by now. As dope as "Put 'Em In Their Place" is it ain't gon' get the 106 and TRL'ers, so those diamond numbers they were shooting for are looking more like Yayo's. Not to place all the blame on 50, because truthfully, the songs he's featured on are among the best on the album. And I always thought "Outta Control" was dope, because it felt like a natural progression for Club Mobb.....it was the grown and sexy Club Mobb and it knocked. The same can't be said for "Give It To Me" and "Backstage Pass." They are club attempts that sound forced and honestly, are downright laughable. I will always hold Hav and P near and dear to my heart, and they will always be viewed as hip-hop legends to me because of their first 3 albums (honorable mentions go to "H.N.I.C" and "Free Agents" tho). But I gotta call a spade a spade.For longtime Mobb Deep fans, "Blood Money" pretty much confirmed our worst fears of what we thought a G-Unit/Mobb Deep partnership would bring forth: Our boys done got rich and stopped trying.
Comments
I don't think this album is that bad. What do dudes want from them at this point?
Not if you read the whole thing. He more than give props to (old) Mobb and (contemporary) Havoc, and even 50.
Though I do agree this is a valid question for just about ANY artist that's been in the game for 10 years:
For some reason, Metallica comes to mind with that question. Many of their former fans have hated on them since AND JUSTICE FOR ALL for "selling out" or just "sucking," but realistically, what did they ever expect Metallica to do after that? Turn into Slayer or Discharge? Play 100-capacity dive bars for $5?
Artists that keep the same sound throughout their entire career are usually worse than the ones that "sell out" or change at some point. And with major success comes inevitable changes in the way an artists present themselves. Fans just don't seem to understand that. Or at least they don't like it.
DISCLAIMER: I was never all that into Mobb Deep to begin with, that's why I put my post in crotchety old rockist terms.
That's true, it seems expected in the rap business to mix money (singles, videos cameos) and creativity into a package some like TI, Luda and 50 do it well.
I think these peeps were expecting another 'classic' mobb record in the sense that they had seen prodigy and hav succeed commercialy without compromising 'realness'
But I mean it does not matter, they choose another road..phonte is right in that sense (change of directions
To put this in perspective..think about what MOP fans have been expecting and what kind of message the release of blood money gives them
They surely dont want to see GUnit release number 45AX34...(in between new releases) a single with a screaming hook and lloyd banks feat
50Cent is just tired.
I didn't expect anything, except better promotion for this album. In LA, I don't think people even realized this dropped... But then again the promotion probably was alot better in NYC?
I would never read a "whole" anything of such rambling.
Well, see, I think the problems with the album lie less in Hav and P's intentions than they do in their abilities. I think most of the production is quite good, the song concepts are passable, but that those dudes just don't have it anymore as MCs.
But if Phonte can't be rambling and gratuitous on the internet, where can he?
I gotta agree with that and I was sorta trying to say this. Still intentions could have gone a long way. I dont remember Prodigy killin it on the mic on HNIC but the beats and flow of the album had me liking it and was closer to the Mobb sound i liked. Swiching up formulas when you are getting weaker is not a good look. Mobb was done quite awhile ago..plus all this breakup shit and beef (remember littles) fucked up anything they had..reunited themselves under the $$$ and with fifty trying to capitalize on their name value to impress young fans that only know shook ones.
In that regards hopefully the raw talent of MOP (dre prod por favor) will shine through in their new release..although it seems they are still label forgotten until now
seriously heads need to stop being all revisionist about the second half of mobb's career. this is some of the nicest and most consistant production they've had in a minute. but, like faux said, they just can't hang as rappers.
whoever said that murder muzik had respectable singles must not remember that awful one with nas. but yeah "quiet storm" is a masterpiece.
on record?
marco - you should be studyin' your odds, instead of studyin' me
Silk shirts on my chest show what a flirt
Halle Berry blew a kiss at the Barbara Streisand concert[/b]
Silk pants colored pink, gators match gangster musical thing
And I front like my doo doo don't stink
Is it any wonder that within half a decade Nas would have progressed to rapping about the travails of getting one's daughter admitted to a good private school?
I revisited Mruder Muzik last week, and I gotta say the production was off the hook and Cormega was pretty ill. The lyrics were still there too, but you could tell that was gonna be their last decent effort... the production was sick though for the most part.
Cormega is horrible, dude. Please be serious. I don't know that I've ever heard so many punch-ins on such an untechnical verse as on that one.
The only two sensible sounding tracks on murder muzik were produced by alchemist.
I am being serious. I am not a Cormega fan, but that was some of his best that I have heard. But I wouldn't expect you to identify with that real schitt. Relisten and set your personal disdain for Cormega aside. Or don't and keep championing "Murder" Ma$e.
I have no "personal disdain" for him--in fact, on a personal level, I respect the fact that he has turned minimal talent, connections to more accomplished rappers, and an apparent street rep into something resembling a career. I just think he's a thoroughly uninteresting rapper. Keep repping "that real schitt," though.
Well I figured since you champion cats like Young Jeezy then you would like Cormega since they both:
"turned minimal talent, connections to more accomplished rappers, and an apparent street rep into something resembling a career"
I just don't hate until I listen. Keep repping those soundscan numbers homie.
Not really.
The only denigrating thing I said about him was that he has minimal talent, an observation he might even agree with. Like I said, I respect his hustle.
Now please refocus your stalking energies on somebody else.
no problem I'll just lay back in the cut and wait for your next smug, obnoxious, know-it-all statement
I'm hoping you spit another gem like handicapped white people should be thankful that at least they aren't healthy & black
Why don't you restrict yourself to getting ass-hurt over things that I've actually said? I think that will be a less complicated arrangement for everybody.
so you didn't say infer that despite a handicapped non-black family doing their best to raise a family, get off welfare, and be respected as human beings instead of charity cases they should know that if they were black and healthy they'd have it worse?
I think it would be better suited for you to actually act like a respectful responsible human being and realize that some of the things you say are completely foolish and insulting. Oh and maybe not talk on the lives of people who havent had the priviledge whiteboy college "hardships" that you've had to "deal" with
you got this tendency to shit talk and act like you didn't mean to incite when folks react.
do yourself a favor and don't make comments like the one that sparked my above statement and this issue wouldn't come up with me or anyone else.
Nah i think its a decent output. I just never could really listen to Cormega for long periods of time. He's always been a better guest IMO. Although i do need to revisit that album.
Rillz's assessment of Cormega's "rap career" is on point.
Even though I often agree with D*niel, I still have my SoulStrut preferences set to add a "Passive Aggression: GET FAMILIAR" graemlin next to every Faux Rillz post. It helps on those days when I
get ass-hurtdisagree with him.This is a long-winded way of saying that you reject my proposal that you restrict yourself to getting ass-hurt over things that people have actually said and that you will continue to let your mindgarden spill forth into the real world?
I mean, just so we're all on the same page.
no, I'm trying to say you had no right to speak on what I mentioned in that thread and you constantly jump in and speak on things with a smug "my opinion is the truth" attitude (see the "rap legends" thread).
It might be best for you to just walk away sometimes instead of attempting to make other people feel small.