Song Exploder - Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

It’s usually hard to pin down when a genre of music starts. But people point to this one party in August 1973 in the Bronx as the moment where hip-hop was born. That makes this year the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. In honor of that, I wanted to revisit an episode looking back at one of hip-hop’s classic tracks: Shook Ones, Part II, by Mobb Deep. Here’s the episode, originally recorded in June, 2020, when I spoke to Havoc from Mobb Deep:The rappers Prodigy and Havoc met when they were still in high school in New York. Havoc grew up in Queensbridge, the biggest public housing projects in the country, and as a teenager, Prodigy lived there for a while, too. The two of them formed Mobb Deep in 1991.In 1995, they put out their second album, The Infamous. It was a success when it came out, but in the 25 years since then, the influence of the album has only grown. Complex named it one of the 10 best rap albums of the 90s, and Pitchfork gave the album a rare perfect score, 10 out of 10. The Washington Post called it a “masterpiece” of hardcore rap, and in Slate, it was called one of the best albums of the ‘90s, and one of the best hip-hop albums ever made.Their biggest song from the album was “Shook Ones, Pt. II.” Havoc made the now-legendary beat that he and Prodigy rap over. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, Havoc told me the story of how the whole song came together. Prodigy passed away in 2017, from complications due to sickle-cell anemia, a debilitating disease he’d battled his entire life. But the legacy of Mobb Deep lives on.For more, visit songexploder.net/mobb-deep.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirwe. It's usually hard to pin down when a genre of music starts, but people point to this one party in August 1973 in the Bronx as the moment where hip-hop was born. That makes this year the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. And in honor of that, I wanted to revisit an episode looking back at one of hip-hop's classic tracks, Shukhuns Part 2 by Mob Deep. So here's the episode that I originally recorded in June 2020 when I spoke to Havoc from Mobb Deep. This episode contains explicit language. The rapper's Prodigy and Havoc met when they were still in high school in New York.

Havocke grew up in Queens, in Queensbridge, the biggest public housing projects in the country. And as a teenager, Prodigy lived there for a while too. The two of them formed Mob Deep in 1991. In 1995, they put out their second album, The Infamous. It was a success when it came out, but in the 25-year-Syses, since, the influence of the album has only grown. Complex named it one of the 10 best rap albums of the 90s, and Pitchfork gave the album a rare perfect score, 10 out of 10.

The Washington Post called it a masterpiece of hardcore rap, and in Slate, it was called one of the best albums of the 90s and one of the very best hip-hop albums ever made. The biggest song from the album was Shook Ones Part 2. Havocke made the now legendary beat that he and Prodigy rap over. To celebrate the 25th anniversary, Havocke told me the story of how the whole song came together. Prodigy passed away in 2017 from complications due to sickle cell anemia, a debilitating disease that he'd battled his entire life. But the legacy of Mob Deep lives on.

A new, expanded 25th anniversary edition of The Infamous just came out in April. The story of Shik Ones starts back in 1994. My name is Havoc, one half of the infamous Mob Deep. We had just secured the deal with the loud records, and it was like our second shot at life, you know, as far as music career goes, because we had a deal with Island Fourth of Broadway that didn't go so well, and we got dropped from the label, so we had to go back to the drawing board. But after the first record deal that didn't go so well, it inspired us. You know what it made us more hungry, you know what I mean?

Because we knew we had something. Prodigy's grandmother, you know, she was really in tune with us and seeing what we was trying to do. And she brought Prodigy some music recording equipment. It was the EPS Plus ASR 10. That's a keyboard sampler. You can record in a sample and then play it back like any other keyboard sound. And like some kind of like tasking trackboard with your standard microphone.

And that was really it. You know, once she bought that, you know, he called me, let me know he had it. I rushed over the Long Island immediately, went over to his crib. And I already knew that I wanted to make beats anyway because I used to use a double cassette tape and record, repeat, record, repeat, record, rewind, record rewind. And that was the only way that I could produce because I didn't have no money for equipment around 12, 13 years old. So finally, when I got my hands on this equipment, I said, yo, show me how you use this,

how you use that, how you use this. and he started using it. And prodigy being like an unselfish person, he saw how passionate I was. And I basically kind of like took over, you know what I'm saying? Like, man, it was like out of this world. And Shook One's part, one, was like one of the first beats I kind of made on that equipment.

We lived a life that of diamonds and guns. In numerous ways that we choose to earn funds on funds. Some liggas get shot, locked down, and turn guns. Cowan Lee Hart said straight up. The way that's a churno'n, shook one. He's a chump one. He's just a shirk one, shirk one. The way that the chorus came about with that song is

Prodigy came up with it, inspired by our homeboy that went to high school with us. His name was Ila G. He said something to P and P came up with the hook. There's a lot of dudes out there that be fronting a lot, acting like they're something that they're not. And, you know, we all know the reasons why people do that. when they portray somebody they're not because they just not proud of who they are.

And Queensbridge, man, is one of those places that, you know, just like a lot of city housing projects, it's really wild, you know, drug dealing going on, young kids shooting at each other, police brutality, just one of those places that you've got to be strong. It could be scary. But at the same time, you know, there's a lot of love out there too. You know, I mean, it's a community. But if you were shook one, you know what I said? It will be a scary place for you to live.

But growing up in it, you don't look at it as a scary place. You just look at it somewhere where you live and you just learn how to navigate. So we made that track. You know, we felt good about it because we was feeling the lyrics, the chorus content for the hook. but we just felt like something was missing. We liked the song. We liked it. So we didn't want to scrap the song entirely,

but we knew we could do better. At that point, we took all the studio equipment from Long Island, and we brought it to the projects in my apartment where I lived with my mother, brother, and sister. And, you know, I didn't know what I was going to do, but I knew I had to do something. One of the A&Rs, Maddie C, he told me about, you know, these record conventions that they be having

where they sell old vinyl and, you know, for sampling. and a lot of producers go there. And I went to one of those and, you know, found the drums for the Shook Ones Part 2. It was on this vinyl called Vinyl Dog. To capture the drums at this point, I had quiet an MPC 60, which had only about six to eight seconds of sampling time.

So once I got the drum loop now, I got something to guide me in the direction of where I really want to go. And now I'm just looking for, a sample to go over it that could fit those drums. I made the beat right in my bedroom. I had a whole bunch of records on my floor, a bunch of scratched-up vinyls from some of Prodigies,

grandfather's collection, some from my father's collection, because he, you know, used to DJ in the house just for fun. And, you know, I was always listening to those records. And I wasn't really organized. So after I would listen to a record, I just, you know, throw it to the side. and ultimately it would be on the floor, and we'd be just walking all over them.

When I would listen to those records, I was listening specifically to find samples for the beach that I was trying to make. And one of the records I happened to pick up was Herbie Hancock, Jessica. Herbie Hancock, you know, his record sound really weird, but in a good way. And I experimented with just that one little two seconds. I sampled into the EPS Plus,

and on the EPS Plus, when you sample into it, it's like a keyboard, you could move up and down the keys and change the pitch of the sample. And if you listen closely, you can hear the pop in the records. That's how you know the records is really on the floor. So the drums was there and kind of made me play the keys how I played them. Do you understand what I'm saying?

So at that point, I was like, okay, This is dope. It sounds dope, but I was like, I need a baseline. So I filtered a note of the piano, isolated it, and then used that as a baseline. And now I need something to say that, okay, the chorus is here, or this is the intro, because it would have just kept going and going and going, and you wouldn't have heard the change. And then I came across this Quincy Jones record, another weird record. Like, it's nothing about it is melodic.

It was, if you listen to it, you know what I'm talking about. Once I heard that, ooh, eerie sound, I said, yeah, it stands out, it's bright. When you hear it, you know something different is going on in the beat. So I just took that and said, okay, this is going to be the chorus. And once I grabbed that, I was done. Prodigy, when he first heard the beat, he was like excited. At that point, he was, like, kind of living with me.

me in my apartment in Queensbridge. So he was, had first dibs on hearing anything that I did. So when he heard it, he was like, he was bugging like, oh, shit. You know, I couldn't tell if I was making a dope beat. And I didn't know, you know, I'm still a new producer at that point. But something just lit up in everybody's eyes when they heard this beat. And it was like, yo, like, this is crazy. I was like, I was like, okay, cool.

You know what I mean? Once the A&Rs heard it, they was like, yo, let's just use this for the new show. and just do it over. You know, they had already been in the industry that me and Prodigy was trying to breakthrough to. And through conversation, I knew that they had good ears. So I trusted them, you know what I mean? I took their opinion seriously.

I was eager to learn things. So when they would tell me certain things like, yo, this be as good, let's try this. I would try almost anything that they had an opinion on. And, yeah, we went into the studio and that's where we re-recorded the vocals. changed the rhymes up a little bit, but I wasn't really too fond of changing my lyrics because I didn't want to take away from what I had already made or written, so I kept mine's the same.

And what the smoke clears, you be left with one in your don't, 13 years in the projects, my mentality is what kid, you talk a good one, but you don't want it, sometimes wonder, do I deserve to live? Am I going to burn the hell for all the things I did? Do you remember Prodigy doing his verse? Were you there for it? Yeah, I was there while he was doing his verse, and I was just, you know, really, for a lack of better words, amazed.

Why is that? Because he just changed his lyrics up. And, you know, when we first started recording together or became a group, I kind of was, like, writing some of his rhymes. So to see him right on his own, he blew me out the box lyrically. You understand? And people used to write his rhymes. But then when he started writing his own rhymes, he was better than everybody. When he comes in, he's like, I got you stuck off the realness.

We be the infamous, you heard of us, official Queensbridge murderers. Then he's going on about, I stab your brain with your nosebone. It's like, I'm like, this kid was coming from somewhere deep. I got you stuck off the realness. We be the infamous. You heard of us. Official Queensbridge murderers. The mob comes equipped for warfare.

Beware of my crime. who got enough shots to share for all those who want to profile and pose. Rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nosebone. You all alone in these streets, cousin. Every man for their self in his land, we be gunning. And keep them shook crews running like they're supposed to. They come around, but they never come close to. You know, from the gate, I already knew that he had sick or so, you know, shortly after meeting him.

I really didn't know what the disease was. I heard of it before, but never had no experience. and knowing anybody that had it personally, but I saw that he would end up in the hospital a lot, and I knew it was painful for him. It was the number one influencer. It really made him not give a fuck about a lot of things, you know what I mean?

And he displayed that in his lyrics. He wasn't faking about that. Don't make me have to call your name out. We crew is featherweight. My gunshots will make you levitate. I'm only 19, but my mind is older. When the things get for real, my warm heart turns cold. Another nigger deceased, another story is told.

It ain't nothing really. And yo, duns fuck the Philly. The way he would portray his lyrics and his feelings about life, I knew it was directly attributed to his sickness that he was afflicted with from birth. I didn't think it was just something like to act tough on the record. I mean, he really was living that. Growing up the way we did, we had to grow up fast.

You know, only 19, but my mind is old. That line is a testament, too. that. By 19, we already been through hell and back. You know what I mean? Things that, you know, the average teenagers shouldn't go through, but it just makes you who you are and you just accept it. Man, I owe a sense of gratitude. That song has given me the opportunity of a lifetime, single-handedly. I don't even think that I will be giving this interview without that song, to be honest with you. But it's bittersweet, right?

Telling the story about Shook Ones or, you know, anything with Mom Deep. It just feels incomplete because I can't celebrate it with the person I created it with. It's a permanent sadness that I'll never shake. You know, he was dead from its inception. It's not like friends that were close by. It's deeper than that. And now here's Shook Ones Part 2 by Mob Deep in its entire. To all the killers and a hundred dollar billers,

A billings, who ain't got no feelings, feelers, check it out then. I got you stuck off the realness, we be the infamous, you heard of us, official Queensbridge murderers, the mark comes equipped for warfare, beware of my crime family who got enough shots to share for all those who want to profile and pose,

rock you in your face, stab your brain with your nosebone, you all alone in these streets, cousin, every man for their self in his land, we be gunned, and keep them shook crews running like they're supposed to. They come around but they never come close to. I can see it inside your face. You're in the wrong place. Cowers like you just get their whole body laced up with bullet holes and such.

Speak the wrong words, man, and you will get touched. You can put your whole army against my teaming. I guarantee you it'll be your very last time breathing. Your simple words just don't move me. You're minor. We major. You're all up in the game and don't deserve to be a player. No made me have to call your name out. The crew is featherweight.

My gunshot. to make you levitate, I'm only 19, but my mind is older. When the things get for real, my warm heart turns cold. Enough, they get deceased. Another story is told. It ain't nothing really. Hey, yo, duns spark the Philly. So I could get my mind off these yellow back niggas.

While they still alive, I don't know. Go figure. Meanwhile, back in Queens, the realness and foundation. If I die, I couldn't choose a better location when the slugs penetrate. Feel a burning sensation getting closer to guard in a tight situation. Now, take these words home and think it through. All the next rhyme. might be about you son they shook

cause ain't no such things halfway crunk scared to death and scared the look they shook because ain't no such things is halfway crum scared the love living in the life that of diamonds and guns there's numerous ways

you could choose to earn funds and some get shot locked down to turn nuns cowherly hearts and straight up shook ones shook one it ain't a crook son he's just a shook one For every rhyme I write, it's 25 of life. There was so much of gas you trust, safeguard in my life.

Ain't no time for hesitation. The only leads to incarceration. You don't know me. There's no relation, Queensbred. Em's you don't play. I don't get time for your petty thinking mine son. I'm bigger than those. Claiming that you pack heat, but you're scared to hold.

And with the smoke clears, you'll be left for one in your don't. Thirteen years in the projects. My mentality is what kid, you talk a good one, but you don't want it. Sometimes I want it. Do I deserve to live? How am I going to burn the hell for all the things I did? No time to dwell on that because my brain reacts. Front if you want kid lay on your back.

I don't fake jazz kid, you know I bring it to your live. Stay in a child's place kid, you're out of line. Criminal minds thirst for recognition. I'm sipping. E&J got my mind flipping. I'm bucking. I'm always out of hole for hustling. Get that little kid, you know my function.

Because long as I'm alive, I'm but live illegal. And once I get on them, I put on my people's real. React clicks, but lyrics like Max a hit. Your domo, when I roll up, don't go sleep because of a freak bitch. Son, ain't no such thing, sad, weight crooks. Scared the death and scared to look. They shook, because ain't no such things, halfway crooks, scared to death,

and scared the look, they shook, because ain't no such thing, that's half way crooks, scared of luck, they shook, because ain't no such things, that's half a crooks. Living the life that bombs and guns and guns. There's numerous ways you can choose to earn funds. Unfunds

Some get shot, locked down and turn guns Cowellee hard said straight up Shook ones He ain't a crook son He's just a shook one Visit song Visit songexplor.net To learn more about Mobb Deep

You'll also find links to buy or stream this song The 25th anniversary Expanded Edition of The Infamous Also includes the original version of Shuk Ones Shukhans Part 1, plus the instrumentals for both versions. I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length,

and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishi Kesh Her Way. I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career. And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists, and it made me completely rethink my relationship to music and my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine, Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Wine Rope.

I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April, and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the podcast with me. So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album, with a different amazing guest moderator in each city, like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzuchas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin Cleon, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage, and then I'll play with my band.

The album is called In the Last Hour of Light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, Rishikash.co, or just go to SongExploder.net, slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live. Thanks. This episode was originally produced by me and Christian Coons with production help from Olivia Wood. Special thanks to Gabby Gibb, Will McKinney, Cody Schneider's Amith Ronchal, and Chris Goodwin. The reissue was produced by me, Craig Ely, Kathleen Smith, and Mary Dolan. The episode artwork is by Carlos Lerma, and I made the show's theme song and logo.

Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener-supported, artist-owned podcasts. You can learn more about our shows at Radiotopia.fm. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Rishi Hereway, and you can follow the show at Song Exploder. You can also get a Song Exploder t-shirt at songexploder.net slash shirt. I'm Rishi-Kesh-Hirway. Thanks for listening.