The Greatest Music
The Infamous
by Mobb Deep
The 304th greatest album of all time
The Infamous, released in 1995 by Mobb Deep, is a gritty East Coast hip hop album rooted in gangsta rap and boom bap. Havoc's sparse, sample-driven production uses dusty jazz and soul loops, minor-key piano motifs, and hard-hitting drums to create a cold, cinematic atmosphere, while Prodigy and Havoc deliver stark, street-level narratives about survival and violence. The album's dark, minimalist sound and tightly focused lyricism helped crystallize a raw New York City aesthetic in mid 1990s hip hop and includes the well known track "Shook Ones Part II."
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