Early in 1996, Tupac released “Hit’ Em Up,” a Death Row Records funded attack on East Coast emcees, including Mobb Deep. The unfortunate demise of Tupac Shakur two months before Hell On Earth’s release was a sobering reminder that celebrity was inadequate protection against a violent death. The album was recorded and released when shots were being fired, both on wax and in real life. The perfect quiet storm of the right label, right sound and right time – along with their creative resilience – set in motion momentum which continued into Hell On Earth. Mobb Deep encapsulated the subtextual menace prevalent in the mid-90s New York ecosystem. Its balance of knucklehead nihilism and world-weary wisdom that defied its creators’ teenage years was both enthralling and terrifying. By 94’, Mobb Deep inked a new contract with Steve Rifkind’s Loud Records and their sophomore album, The Infamous, received glowing feedback from the streets and critics upon release in the spring of ’95. The album didn’t sell, and they ended up losing their deal, but all they needed was a second chance. Just three years earlier, a fresh-faced Havoc and Prodigy had dropped their debut, Juvenile Hell, on 4th and Broadway. Hell On Earth by Mobb Deep was released on Tuesday November 19th 1996 on Loud/RCA, right at the tail end of rap’s second golden era. Going to school in another borough always felt like I was leaving one world and entering another, but this time, as I sat on one of London’s world-famous red double-deckers driving over the Mitre Bridge listening to the new Mobb Deep album, I found myself teleporting to the concrete lava of New York. My friends and I would always claim spots on the 220 bus’ top deck, and today, the air was dense with adolescent bravado. Keep it that way by supporting Passion of the Weiss via a subscription to our Patreon.Ĭhris Mitchell stands and eats with the wedding photographers.Ī quarter century ago last month, I left the crib and popped a dubbed copy of Hell On Earth by Mobb Deep into my Walkman, pressed play and headed to school. 16 years of independent rap journalism with no end in sight.
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