This week’s album is Mobb Deep’s Murda Muzik.
Oh. My. God. This is one long album. It’s 19 tracks of predictable Mobb Deep music. It’s 19 long tracks. And of those 19 tracks one is an intro and one is an interlude. That’s 17 tracks of pure music. There may not be such a thing as too much of a good thing, but this album is a fine example of too much of a mediocre thing. Or more appropriately “too much of something that was novel two albums ago and now just seems as bland as oatmeal.”
But to be fair, the album does start off on a solid note. The intro is an audio clip of Ronald Reagan condemning the Mob(b), followed by a transitional cue that sounds like something out of a 70’s detective program.
Even the first actual song is worth listening to. For the most part. At least until Big Noyd gets on the mic. From there it’s downhill. As one would expect, and everyone’s heard before, Queensbridge is a hard place and both Havoc and Prodigy are hardcore. And you get that message in every song.
Honestly I tended to zone out before the album reached it’s halfway point. However I do wake up when “Quite Storm” comes on. That really is one dope beat. But then it’s down hill again. I’m pretty sure that “Can’t Fuck Wit” was the exact moment that Raekwon fell off.
The next closet thing to a highlight comes in the form of “The Realest” which feature Kool G Rap teaming up with Mobb Deep in a sort of “master/student” collabo. Though my favorite part of the song is the beat, a kind of bizarro twin to Mobb Deep’s contribution to the Sunset Park soundtrack, “Back At You.”
Of course one would be remiss for not ripping Nas his collabo with the Infamous on “It’s Mine” which jacks it’s beat from the Monica/Brandy duet “The Boy is Mine.” It was misguided then and hasn’t aged well at all.
Finally the best track of the album comes last with the “Quiet Storm Rmx” featuring Lil’ Kim, quite possibly at her career nexus; she still had a degree of credibility and people hadn’t grown tired of her yet. Plus no one was expecting her on the track and she ripped it, slaying everyone.
Still this album is full of lulls with the rare peak. I was completely right to ignore it.
