Mobb Fans have
been patiently waiting and waiting and waiting for the next street soundtrack
from The Infamous. The Queensbridge-bred duo left fans hanging since their last
album, Infamy, way back in 2001.
Die-hard fans of
the group got their pallet wet with 2002’s Free Agents, the double album mixtape,
which had enough heat to temporarily warm the projects.
One of the reasons
for the temperature surge is the Mobb’s resident beatsmith – Havoc. Certainly,
one of the masters in sinister soundscapes, Havoc has consistently backed Mobb
Deep and a number of rap affiliates.
The veterans got
more fire on deck. And as fan await the group’s debut on Jive Records, the revered
producer talks about his background, life, solo aspirations and the future of
Mobb Deep.
AllHipHop: What
can people expect from your solo album?
Havoc: sh*t, just
gangsta sh*t, ill songs. The songs are gonna be tight the way I’m gonna put
them together. I’m going to be talking about different issues, a couple of topics
– not just freestyling. Things that I wasn’t able to do on a normal Mobb Deep
album.
AllHipHop: You alluded
to it, but what’s the main differences between this and a Mobb Deep CD?
H: I’ll experiment
a little bit more alone because it’s just me and my little project. You’ll see
some things that won’t be on a Mobb Deep album, I’ll do that. I’m going to try
to push the envelope a lil something, you know?
AllHipHop: What made you
do a solo CD in the first place?
H: The reason
why I made a solo album is because P did one and on our last album, a lotta
cats was coming up to me like, "When you gonna make a solo album?"
I never really thought about it, but mad people were asking me. I said, "You
know what – f*ck it. Might as well. It ain’t gonna hurt. It’s just another album."
AllHipHop: What’s the name
of your label again?
H: Infamous
Records. That’s me and P’s joint right there. I got my own record company called
Done Deal, that’s by myself. You’ll see that in the future. But for right now,
everything is going to be umbrella’ed under Infamous Records.
AllHipHop: What is your
technique for making beats?
H: Really,
I don’t have no certain technique. I f*ck around with the keyboards or whatever.
I’ll go record shopping for some old records. My technique is just coming up
with some banging sh*t. Back in the days, I used to use the ASR-10 and the EPS-16
plus. Now I just the Triton and the MPC-3000 jump off. The MPC-3000 that’s my
joint right there.
AllHipHop: As far as you
a beat maker, you are certainly underrated as far a recognition…how do
you feel about that?
H: Certain
people know that I did this that and the third, but I don’t do much work for
people outside of the camp. The down side to that is that my name don’t get
out there how it should. Everybody knows [production] is where the longevity
is at. Most of the time its definitely behind the scene, but I am gonna balance
the two for sure.
AllHipHop: Do you feel
like you should have done more with other people?
H: No, I don’t
regret not working with that many people. I feel good. Mobb is successful. Maybe
a little underrated though.
AllHipHop: As a rapper,
how hard is it to give away or sell beats?
H: Being an
MC and a producer at the same time is kinda hard. Anybody out there that does
what I do, they probably can tell you. I started as an emcee so that’s where
my passion was at. So then to make beats and my passion is there too, it’s hard
to give up a track because I be wanting to rhyme on it.