I said it once and I say it again: Mobb Deep - The Infamous is the greatest rap album of all time

[TheDarceKnight]

Nice album

But it is weed plate status compared to the G.O.A.T album

at calling The Infamous a weed plate in any capacity. Is it objectively better than Illmatic? Probably not. Illmatic is probably the greatest rap album of all time but it's not a ridiculous take for someone to say The Infamous is better. I think Illmatic is the better album but I listen to The Infamous more and prefer it a little bit.

Calling it a weed plate is silly though. If you want to make that analogy work then you've gotta pick a Mobb album that's really good but not a 5-mic classic. If you said Murda Muzik was a weed plate compared to Illmatic you'd still get a lot of eye rolls but the analogy would at least make sense. By definition no 5-mic album is a weed plate in any regard.

 

[Dafunkdoc_Unlimited]

I disagree.......

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Puhleeze......

Bar for bar NASTY NAS Makes Prodigy sound like Lil Pump if you compared those albums

Maybe it's Prodigy untimely death that makes yall wanna exalt Mobb Deep to GOAT status...

But I'm sorry.. Just because you pour syrup over sh1t Dont make it pancakes

I know my avatar is going to take away all credibility in your eyes, but this is nuts. I'll be the first Prodigy stan to admit Nas is a better rapper. But let's not act like Nas didn't use P's flow on this joint here, or didn't say P wasn't one of the best. Prodigy in his prime was a top 5 rapper on the planet. Period. Granted, he did change his style a lot and a lot of people didn't like the style change, but P held his own with Nas at various stages of both of their careers. fukk it, Nas and P was only a notch or two below Nas and AZ and it's a shame we never got at least an EP with Nas and P.

Nas used P's exact flow on a joint with him because he respected it so much


Then even when P was past his Hell on Earth spaz out era he still held it down alongside Nas


And even in what was arguably P's worst era of flow and delivery, the two delivered a total gem here

 

[RasNas]

Hell on earth is arguably better than the infamous. But other than that I agree two of the greatest albums ever period!

 

[Ashtrey]

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Hell on earth is arguably better than the infamous. But other than that I agree two of the greatest albums ever period!

I don't wanna hijack or derail the thread but this is true. I will speak for most of my Mobb brethren on here and say that even though some of us prefer Hell to Infamous, that most of us still acknowledge that The Infamous is the slightly better album, but for almost reverse reasons. Hell on Earth has P at his peak and Hav arguably at his, and so for that reason there are better performances on it, but I also think I speak for most of us when I say the heights on Hell on Earth don't quite match the heights of The Infamous.

So for example P's 2nd verse on the title track, or his verse on Apostle's Warning are insanely high, but Shook Ones and Survival of the Fittest are still probably a notch above. Then just knowing The Infamous was the first time anyone had heard anything like that elevates it. And then just random gems like no one figuring out the Shook Ones sample for a decade and a half...IMO those things put it slightly ahead of Hell on Earth, but most of the time I'd rather listen to Hell.

I hope I didn't ramble too much.

 

[Dilltastic VolWon(derful)]

Idk about greatest but damn I was listening to this the other day and it felt like I was a kid again back in the original NYC streets.
RIP P

 

[ExodusNirvana]

Infamous is a classic but I don't even think it's the best hip hop album from that year

 

[WaveMolecules]

Top 3 for me but I'm not at it.

 

[qnsfinest]

1. Illmatic
2. 36 chamber
3. Low end theory
4. OB4CL
5. Infamous

Obviously one of the greatest albums I’ve ever heard, but it’s not the pinnacle of hiphop to me. That belongs to illmatic

 

[KENNY DA COOKER]

Prodigy in his prime was a top 5 rapper on the planet. Period. Granted, he did change his style ]

Boy stop....

Prodigy was NEVER mentioned in the BEST RAPPERS ON THE PLANET CONVERSATION of 95-96

He was never mentioned in the same Convo with BIG.. JAY Z.. NAS..

Fool this was 1995...COMPETITION WAS FIERCE... THIS WAS THE STRONGEST FIELD SINCE 88

you had not only BIG JAY and NAS

you also had REDMAN... BIG L... LORD FINESSE... GHOSTFACE... O. C.... hell even KRS ONE was still bringing heat on the mic

And let's not forget KEITH MURRAY lyrically he ran circles around Prodigy

Only reasons people like P.. is the fact he had a ILL VOICE... GREAT DELIVERY OVER DARK BEATS and the PERSONA OF THAT GRIMY GULLY EAST COAST PERSONA that we all felt defined authentic East Coast hip hop

Great rapper.. But NOT a wordsmith or top 5 lyrical mc

Truth hurts

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Boy stop....

Prodigy was NEVER mentioned in the BEST RAPPERS ON THE PLANET CONVERSATION of 95-96

He was never mentioned in the same Convo with BIG.. JAY Z.. NAS..

Fool this was 1995...COMPETITION WAS FIERCE... THIS WAS THE STRONGEST FIELD SINCE 88

you had not only BIG JAY and NAS

you also had REDMAN... BIG L... LORD FINESSE... GHOSTFACE... O. C.... hell even KRS ONE was still bringing heat on the mic

And let's not forget KEITH MURRAY lyrically he ran circles around Prodigy

Only reasons people like P.. is the fact he had a ILL VOICE... GREAT DELIVERY OVER DARK BEATS and the PERSONA OF THAT GRIMY GULLY EAST COAST PERSONA that we all felt defined authentic East Coast hip hop

Great rapper.. But NOT a wordsmith or top 5 lyrical mc

Truth hurts

See, you didn't specify lyricist though. I never said he was a top 5 "lyrical wordsmith". You're talking about great delivery and persona, and that shyt goes a long ways as an overall rapper, and that's what I'm talking about. Although I do think his lyricism is understated and therefore underappreciated.A song like You Can Never Feel My Pain is hardly lyrical in a traditional sense but it's a powerful song with incredible words in it. Is that great lyricism? I'd say yes.

Hell on Earth '96 era Prodigy is arguably as top 5-10 emcee on earth at that point. I'm not ramming my opinion down anyone's throat and claiming it's a fact. There are good arguments that he wasn't, but it's not a bold faced lie or some ridiculous claim.

Is he a wordsmith like Big, Jay, Nas, Redman, etc? Nah not really. But he can paint a picture and take you to a zone in vivid detail. That's an extremely dope quality in an emcee and it's not lyrical miracle or punchline heavy like Big L but it's an incredible skill.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

You have good rep and clearly know your history, so @KENNY DA COOKER I'd also I'd just like to add that there's a difference between revisionist history and people realizing things they didn't at the time. For example Dilla's name exploded posthumously and although he had a diehard fan-base while he was alive, it was nothing like what happened after he passed (RIP). There's always going to be a small group that takes things way too far (ie. some of the Mac Miller being a genius comments) and then there's understandable push back when people go let's keep it in check.

It seems to me like that's what you're doing with Prodigy, which is understandable. His name has been elevated significantly since he passed (RIP) and I would say the casual fan perceives him as being a better emcee than was talked about while he was still here. Which is sad.

Myself and other quality posters on here have been saying things like P's skills as an emcee, his overall artistry, and especially his catalogue is severely underrated for years and years now.

So I just wanted it to be know that I'm not just jumping on some bandwagon trying to push a narrative now that he's not here. I've been a fan since Hell on Earth. I wasn't old enough to catch The Infamous when it dropped. But ever since Hell on Earth I've been a Mobb Deep fan, and again I'm not saying you're dead wrong. Your opinion seems to be well thought out. All I'm trying to say is that I'm not spewing some crazy shyt, and there are at least some good arguments for P being a top 5-10 emcee in '96.

 

[pointproven214]

love mobb deep but nah it's not even the goat east coast rap album let alone goat rap album to me imo

 

[BmoreGorilla]

Boy stop....

Prodigy was NEVER mentioned in the BEST RAPPERS ON THE PLANET CONVERSATION of 95-96

He was never mentioned in the same Convo with BIG.. JAY Z.. NAS..

Fool this was 1995...COMPETITION WAS FIERCE... THIS WAS THE STRONGEST FIELD SINCE 88

you had not only BIG JAY and NAS

you also had REDMAN... BIG L... LORD FINESSE... GHOSTFACE... O. C.... hell even KRS ONE was still bringing heat on the mic

And let's not forget KEITH MURRAY lyrically he ran circles around Prodigy

Only reasons people like P.. is the fact he had a ILL VOICE... GREAT DELIVERY OVER DARK BEATS and the PERSONA OF THAT GRIMY GULLY EAST COAST PERSONA that we all felt defined authentic East Coast hip hop

Great rapper.. But NOT a wordsmith or top 5 lyrical mc

Truth hurts

P was definitely top 5 in the mid 90s. I’m MC debates his name was brought up more than everybody you named except Nas and Redman. Jay was initially slept on and Ghost didn’t get that mention until Supreme Clientele