Long considered New York's most rugged and hardcore
rap
group of the '90s to ever make it big,
Mobb Deep
finally soften up a bit on
Infamy
. The album is a turning point for
Prodigy
and
Havoc
-- and a timely one indeed. Shortly before
hit the streets,
Jay-Z
had blasted
-- as well as
Nas
-- on
"Takeover,"
berating
in particular for being fake.
fired back on his
Stillmatic
album with the cutting song
"Ether"
;
didn't. Instead, the Queensbridge duo went about their business and released
, their most accessible album yet -- the sort of album many fans never would have expected. Granted,
still rep the street life here, as songs such as
"Kill That Nigga,"
"My Gats Spitting,"
"Hurt Niggas"
no doubt illustrate. However, songs such as
"Pray for Me,"
"Hey Luv (Anything),"
"There I Go Again"
sent quite a different message; the first features
Lil' Mo
, the second
112
, and the third
Ron Isley
-- each there to smooth out
's rough sound. And it works, particularly in the case of the thug
ballad
which garnered the most exposure the duo had yet experienced and introduced
to a broader audience. ~ Jason Birchmeier