Mobb Deep - "The Infamous... Instrumentals" (2009)

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01. "Shook Ones Pt. 1"
02. "Shook Ones Pt. 2"
03. "Give Up The Goods (Just Step)"
[prod. by Q-Tip]
04. "Survival Of The Fittest"
05. "Front Lines (Hell On Earth)
06. "It's Mine"
07. "Quiet Storm"
08. "USA (Aight Then)"
[prod. by Epitome, Shamello & Buddah]
09. "The Learning (Burn)"
10. "Keep It Thoro"
[prod. by The Alchemist]
11. "Still Shining"
12. "G.O.D. Pt. 3"
13. "Dealt With The Bullshit"
14. "Hungry"


produced by Havoc and Mobb Deep except where noted.

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first of all thanks to Jammin for putting me onto this instrumental Mobb Deep compilation via his breakdown thread. i downloaded it yesterday (might cop later tho) and played it through this morning; it's filled with nothing but classic Mobb cuts but, of course, the instrumental versions. so while we all know that these tracks made classic joints with vocals on top this thread is made for you to voice your opinion on how you think this plays as an instrumental album/experience.

if you ask me, this worked very well, all tracks are from the '94-2000 era which definitely was when Havoc's production peaked and slowly decreased imo. most of the songs on here, especially the ones from "The Infamous" and "Hell On Earth" works suprisingly well as instrumental songs without getting repetitive at all. a few of them allowed me to hear some masterful shit that i probably would've never noticed on the full vocal mixes. the flow of the album is great too, despite it being made up of songs from 4 different albums.

my complaint is that a few of these gems, while still being great hip-hop beats, gets too repetitive and none-saying when played without vocals. mainly "The Learning (Burn)" could have been replaced (although it's one of the definite MD joints in the 00's). 80% of the album is produced by Havoc, while The Alchemist and Q-Tip have one beat respective on here. that's fine since both their songs are classic material and they both helped out the Mobb alot in their careers during different eras - but i can't really understand why the song "Aight Then (USA)" from 'Murda Muzik' was included. it's an ill song, but the beat was laced by Epitome, Shamello & Buddah and therefore should have been replaced by another choice cut from the album imo (such as "Streets Raised Me" or "What's Ya Poison").

the cover looks nice, ill vintage picture from back in the Infamous days - and packaging is always a plus in these days of downloading. all in all this shit is fucking incredible, a great instrumental LP imo that i didn't have any problem listening all the way through. also the previously unreleased Havoc beat "Hungry" that closes the session was a great listen; that the type of beats i hope Hav cook up for the next Mobb LP when "P is Free".

thoughts?

[Rob-]

got this on vinyl, along with the hell on earth instrumentals.