Why is Havoc of Mobb Deep so overlooked?

[King]

So brehs I was thinking,

We all know how crazy of a lyricist Prodigy was and his untimely passing, but the man right by him - Havoc legit gets almost no shine.

You’d think Mobb was a one man group considering how rarely Havoc gets mentioned. He literally produced their entire catalogue and was a pretty solid lyricist himself. Had a really unique voice that came out in his verses. Solid writer too, I’d say on par with Prodigy.

It’s crazy how he’s not really even on any best MC/producer lists, yet Prodigy is considered one to the best rappers of all time. I can get how his death could factor into that, but at the same time it’s kinda crazy.

I watched a recent Havoc interview where he states that he struggled with social anxiety for many years and really tried to stay out of the limelight when Mobb was big. He at first thought he was just shy before he got officially diagnosed a few years ago.

Prodigy, on the other hand, was bold and gregarious. He said that most of the beef they got into was because of Prod, but at the same time it got them a lot of street cred.

Maybe that’s why he’s not as popular and well known as he should be. I’m not super well versed on this so many some more knowledgeable brehs could chime in

 

[Asicz]

It's hard for havoc because on some songs from the first 3 albums like say on "Allustrious" Havoc's verse is hard as fukk

Or on "The Realest "Havoc has a nice verse but gets outshined by Kool G Rap's classic perfect verse

Havoc Is like the Scottie Pippen of Rap almost or maybe (Ron Harper?) A solid performer but he is on the same team and collabs with one of the greats


Also when I first started listening to mobb deep In the 90s I perceived Havoc as the superior rapper.
Prodigy had a on beat/off beat style and cadence which I thought was the wrong way or an irregular way to rap.

It seemed Havoc was more consistently on beat.
Also he gets outshined maybe partly due to the disadvantaged sequencing of his verse on a song. He raps first often and then Prodigy writes his rhyme and or the feature guest blazes it. The first person to rap on a song is almost always at disadvantage

Again look at Havocs bars on "Burn" single he kicks it off nicely on there andProdigy kind of winds up stealing the show with death threats at Jigga and fire rhyming.

What if Havoc went solo earlier?

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

i never thought prodigy was THAT much better than havoc.

and havoc did the beats on top of all that.

It seemed Havoc was more consistently on beat.
Also he gets outshined maybe partly due to the disadvantaged sequencing of his verse on a song. He raps first often and then Prodigy writrs his rhyme and or the feature guest blazes it. The first person to rapnon a song is almost always at disadvantage

What if Havoc went solo earlier?

yea, prodigy cant catch the beat at times.
its nothing irregular about it. hes just not very versatile.

i dont think either of them wouldve shined solo.
theyre meant to be together. PAUSE. REWIND.

 

[King]

It's hard for havoc because on some songs from the first 3 albums like say on "Allustrious" Havoc's verse is hard as fukk

Or on "The Realest "Havoc has a nice verse but gets outshined by Kool G Raps classic perfect verse

Havoc Is like the Scottie Pippen of Rap almost or maybe (Ron Harper?) A solid performer but he is on the same team and collabs with one of the greats


Also when I first started listening to mobb deep In the 90s I perceived Havoc as the superior rapper.
Prodigy had a on beat/off beat style and cadence which I thought was the wrong way or an irregular way to rap.

It seemed Havoc was more consistently on beat.
Also he gets outshined maybe partly due to the disadvantaged sequencing of his verse on a song. He raps first often and then Prodigy writrs his rhyme and or the feature guest blazes it. The first person to rapnon a song is almost always at disadvantage

Again look at Havocs bars on "Burn" single he kicks it off nicely on there andProdigy kind of winds up stealing the show with death threats at Jigga and fire rhyming.

What if Havoc went solo earlier?

I def feel like he could of had a solid career. I’m actually disappointed at his dry catalogue - he should have recorded way more when he was younger.

Idk what it is about his style but he has one of those crazy unique voices. Pause on this, hear me out. But somewhat like a male version of Foxy Brown. Real smooth verses come out like butter sometimes. Something like a Slick Rick appeal, especially when he flows off his lisp.



They actually did a track together so you can see what I’m talking about. I feel like he could have pulled it off, maybe being a solo artist wasn’t in him tho


But yeah, Prod was more of a wild dude and an opportunist. He made it bigger than just the track.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

Havoc actually had some of my favorite verses in their catalog he was good in his own right and a great producer. You have a point OP

 

[JMD]

I think that P being in the GOAT conversation really hurts the Hav appreciation, but he more than held his own and I think he is one of the most underrated MCs of his time

 

[TheDarceKnight]

i never thought prodigy was THAT much better than havoc.

and havoc did the beats on top of all that.





yea, prodigy cant catch the beat at times.
its nothing irregular about it. hes just not very versatile.

i dont think either of them wouldve shined solo.
theyre meant to be together. PAUSE. REWIND.

I think Hav is incredibly underrated. Mobb is my favorite group ever so obviously I’m biased but I think most heads on here respect P’s solo catalogue. HNIC , Albert Einstein, and Return of the Mac are all fire. And Hegelian Dialectic, HNIC 2, and Product if the 80’s are mad underrated.

Havoc has a dope solo catalogue too. 13, From Now On, 13 Reloaded, and Silent Partner are very good.

 

[TheDarceKnight]

I def feel like he could of had a solid career. I’m actually disappointed at his dry catalogue - he should have recorded way more when he was younger.

Idk what it is about his style but he has one of those crazy unique voices. Pause on this, hear me out. But somewhat like a male version of Foxy Brown. Real smooth verses come out like butter sometimes. Something like a Slick Rick appeal, especially when he flows off his lisp.



They actually did a track together so you can see what I’m talking about. I feel like he could have pulled it off, maybe being a solo artist wasn’t in him tho


But yeah, Prod was more of a wild dude and an opportunist. He made it bigger than just the track.

Hav admits he should’ve at least produced a lot more outside of his own camp before he did. He said prior to Why by Jadakiss he mostly produced in-house for IMD related acts or occasionally Big, Foxy, or CNN.

it’s a big reason he’s overlooked as a producer.

can’t wait for his upcoming album with method man

 

[ThirdAct]

Hav is easily a top 5 of all time producer. No debate. Some of the grimiest, hardest, most haunting beats ever came from Hav's lab.

As a rapper, he only got outshined by P because P is one of the greatest rappers of all time - anyone else would too. He's a dope MC nonetheless.

 

[Omar Little]

Hav is easily a top 5 of all time producer. No debate. Some of the grimiest, hardest, most haunting beats ever came from Hav's lab.

As a rapper, he only got outshined by P because P is one of the greatest rappers of all time - anyone else would too. He's a dope MC nonetheless.

 

[ThirdAct]

P on Infamous and HOE are GOAT-level performances. Is that really a controversial opinion lol?

 

[Homeboy Runny-Ray]

I think Hav is incredibly underrated. Mobb is my favorite group ever so obviously I’m biased but I think most heads on here respect P’s solo catalogue. HNIC , Albert Einstein, and Return of the Mac are all fire. And Hegelian Dialectic, HNIC 2, and Product if the 80’s are mad underrated.

Havoc has a dope solo catalogue too. 13, From Now On, 13 Reloaded, and Silent Partner are very good.

only die-hard lifetime mobb deep fanatics care about those releases.

im talking about debuting as solo artists and really blowing up and carving a legacy.
i dont see either of them doing that.

 

[Diddly Drogba]

Op what interview did you watch?

 

[King]

Op what interview did you watch?

 

[Crumple]

P on Infamous and HOE are GOAT-level performances. Is that really a controversial opinion lol?

prolly not...but Hell On Earth spelled out as HOE! Kinda fukks me up lol