Lukewarm take: I've never gotten why The Infamous vs. Hell On Earth is a debate

[Frump]

I see what y'all mean, but we didn't really hear that side of it on the album. Which goes to the crux of my issue with Hell on Earth, which is the overall lack of substance. It's basically just 14 songs of really dope superthug shoot em up bars, while The Infamous you had more conceptual songs and commentary on their circumstances. Which is what I meant about the lack of humanity. Like, it would've been nice if we heard some songs about dealing with Killer Black's death, etc. Like this:



Hoodlum feels WAY more like an Infamous song than anything off Hell on Earth

As much as P elevated his game on a technical level on Hell on Earth, nothing hits me like:

I got the powder, combine wit the powder, and water
It oughta, drop in a half and hour
In the, form of oil, watch the cocaine boil
Keep my eye on it so the shyt won't spoil
Then I pause... and ask God why
Did he put me on this Earth, just so I could die
I sit back and build on, all the things I did wrong
Why I'm still breathin, and all my friends gone
I try not to dwell on the subject for a while
Cause I might get stuck in this corrupt lifestyle
But my, heart pumps foul blood through my arteries
And I can't turn it back it's a part of me
Too late for cryin, I'm a grown man strugglin
To reach the next level of life, without fumblin
Down to foldin I got no shoulder to lean on but my own
All alone in this danger zone
Time waits for no man, the streets grow worse
fukk the whole world kid my money comes first
Cause I'm out for the gusto, and trust nobody
If you're not family, then you die by me
Cause nikkas will have you locked up the snitch'll be your man
Givin police the run down on your plans
We're never goin down like that
So I, shut my mouth and hold my words back
Illegal business, forever mine, fukk payin taxes
The last kid that shytted and gave police access
To my blueprints, used names as evidence
Skipped town and I haven't seen the snitch nikka ever since
The moral of the story is easy to figure out
A lesson that you can't live without

I think they were just in a angry and dark place on HOE I don’t think they were introspective about it yet they were trying to process sh1t

 

[HARLEM AL]

Hell on Earth..... Soon as I hear that "No doubt.." that shyt sends chills down my spine.

The Infamous is my 3rd favorite from them.

my list Goes

Hell on Earth
Murda Muzik
The Infamous

 

[BmoreGorilla]

I always preferred HOE from the moment I heard it. The highs on the Infamous are higher to me but HOE is more consistent to. Both Hav and P stepped up lyrically and Hav created that QB sound that we all came to love

 

[FunkyFresh]

I prefer Hell on Earth and it was written to the Infamous and Illmatic

 

[HARLEM AL]

I prefer Hell on Earth and it was written to the Infamous and Illmatic

I agree with this.

 

[Jigganaut]

I ain't going to lie this is going to have me listening to these albums all weekend . Man some times with these streaming services it's too much to choose from.

 

[Art Barr]

Infamous = gateway album

Hoe = lp that builds on to the group's artistic skill credibility. from infamous acting as a gateway to them as adult artist s and contemporaries. From their debut lacking vision, skill, and cultural hiphop scope and direction.




Art Barr

 

[2ATMsYouSteppinOrWhat]

I see what y'all mean, but we didn't really hear that side of it on the album. Which goes to the crux of my issue with Hell on Earth, which is the overall lack of substance. It's basically just 14 songs of really dope superthug shoot em up bars, while The Infamous you had more conceptual songs and commentary on their circumstances. Which is what I meant about the lack of humanity. Like, it would've been nice if we heard some songs about dealing with Killer Black's death, etc. Like this:



Hoodlum feels WAY more like an Infamous song than anything off Hell on Earth

As much as P elevated his game on a technical level on Hell on Earth, nothing hits me like:

I got the powder, combine wit the powder, and water
It oughta, drop in a half and hour
In the, form of oil, watch the cocaine boil
Keep my eye on it so the shyt won't spoil
Then I pause... and ask God why
Did he put me on this Earth, just so I could die
I sit back and build on, all the things I did wrong
Why I'm still breathin, and all my friends gone
I try not to dwell on the subject for a while
Cause I might get stuck in this corrupt lifestyle
But my, heart pumps foul blood through my arteries
And I can't turn it back it's a part of me
Too late for cryin, I'm a grown man strugglin
To reach the next level of life, without fumblin
Down to foldin I got no shoulder to lean on but my own
All alone in this danger zone
Time waits for no man, the streets grow worse
fukk the whole world kid my money comes first
Cause I'm out for the gusto, and trust nobody
If you're not family, then you die by me
Cause nikkas will have you locked up the snitch'll be your man
Givin police the run down on your plans
We're never goin down like that
So I, shut my mouth and hold my words back
Illegal business, forever mine, fukk payin taxes
The last kid that shytted and gave police access
To my blueprints, used names as evidence
Skipped town and I haven't seen the snitch nikka ever since
The moral of the story is easy to figure out
A lesson that you can't live without

pretty much this

 

[FunkDoc1112]

I ran these albums back and was also working on some remixes and it's even MORE apparent to me how superior The Infamous is. Dealing with Acapellas forces me to listen to P's words a lot more - I have this beat where I structured he first verse to have 24 bars but I also thought P's first QU-Hectic verse fit perfectly on it - only problem is, it's 16 bars. I thought maybe I could just insert some bars from the second verse in the middle, and while it sounded good, P's subject matter is so dense, concise, focused and full of depth that I pretty much killed the whole flow of the picture he's painting in the first verse of how the high stakes of the crack era have turned fisticuffs into gunfire, while on the second verse he's just kind of withdrawn himself to accept the lifestyle.

On the flipside, G.O.D Pt. III also fit the general vibe of my beat, especially the hook - and the verse is 32 bars. And honestly? P's saying a whole bunch of nothing - it sounds cool, and his wordplay and technical skill is good but the lyrics are just interchangeable, empty superthug talk - and abot 90% of his Hell On Earth verses sound like that. I was able to chop off any 8 bar sequence without losing a damn thing, and in the end I didn't like it as much. There's none of the focus or substance of The Infamous; no verses like Up North Trip, QU-Hectic, Temperature's Rising and so forth. I said it in another thread but it's like efil4zaggiN to the The Infamous' Straight Outta Compton

 

[TheMailMan]

Hoe made them famous. Em on 8mile blew them up

 

[Road20]

Hell On Earth and Murda Muzic are my favorite MD albums in that order

 

[Road20]

Hell on Earth..... Soon as I hear that "No doubt.." that shyt sends chills down my spine.

The Infamous is my 3rd favorite from them.

my list Goes

Hell on Earth
Murda Muzik
The Infamous

1996 ask ya bytch, my crew run wild snatch chains and bracelets

 

[ShaDynasty]

Hell on earth is more polished but I think infamous is more well rounded. Hell on Earth's production is very dark and gloomy. And some of the beats start blending in with eachother. Where on the infamous every single beat sounded different. You could definitely hear the Q-tip influence on there. Just think the infamous has more replay value because of that fact. I gotta be in a certain mood to play hell on earth.

This is true. Every beat on HOE is minor key strings and piano. Its fantastic but it sticks to that aesthetic 100%. Most of the songs on The Infamous are more varied musically, a lot could fall into the Jazz rap category.

With songwriting, I think they made HOE faster, and some of those verses are heard on earlier demos and freestyles. They killed it, but theres less storytelling and songs with different topics than Infamous.

 

[FunkDoc1112]

This is true. Every beat on HOE is minor key strings and piano. Its fantastic but it sticks to that aesthetic 100%. Most of the songs on The Infamous are more varied musically, a lot could fall into the Jazz rap category.

With songwriting, I think they made HOE faster, and some of those verses are heard on earlier demos and freestyles. They killed it, but theres less storytelling and songs with different topics than Infamous.

Q-Tip mentioned on Stretch & Bobbito in 1996 that Havoc reached out to him to help put the finishing touches on Hell On Earth but he was still waiting on Matty C to cut him a check for his help on The Infamous I'm assuming it wound up never happening because you don't see the influence that much aside from the general groove of the drums and that snare reverb

 

[ShaDynasty]

Q-Tip mentioned on Stretch & Bobbito in 1996 that Havoc reached out to him to help put the finishing touches on Hell On Earth but he was still waiting on Matty C to cut him a check for his help on The Infamous I'm assuming it wound up never happening because you don't see the influence that much aside from the general groove of the drums and that snare reverb

Q-Tip taught Havoc a lot. He had only produced a few beats officially before that and they were not on the same level.

Hav is pretty consistent in style and mood so he obviously had his own creative ideas but Tip elevated them as a group. They should do a making of documentary for that album. I don't think Tip has talked about it much.