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The Infamous (stylized as The Infamous...) is the second studio album by the American hip hop duo Mobb Deep, released on April 25, 1995, by Loud Records. The album features guest appearances by Nas, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, and Q-Tip. It was largely produced by group member Havoc, with Q-Tip also contributing production while serving as the mixing engineer. Most of the leftover songs from the album became bonus tracks for Mobb Deep's The Infamous Mobb Deep album (2014). Upon its release, The Infamous achieved notable commercial success, debuting at number 18 on the US Billboard 200 and number 3 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums charts. On February 21, 2020, the album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album produced four singles; "Shook Ones, Part II", "Survival of the Fittest", "Temperature's Rising", "Give Up the Goods (Just Step)"; the first three singles achieved varying degrees of chart success, with "Shook Ones, Part II" being the most successful. The album's dark style, defined by its evocative melodies, rugged beats, and introspective lyrics concerning crime in New York's inner city neighborhoods, received special recognition and critical praise. Along with albums such as Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Illmatic and Ready to Die, The Infamous is widely credited as a major contributor to the East Coast Renaissance. Furthermore, the album is credited with helping to redefine the sound of hardcore hip hop, using its production style, which incorporated eerie piano loops, distorted synthesizers, eighth-note hi-hats, and sparse filtered basslines. In 2020, the album was ranked 369th on Rolling Stone's updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
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Reviews
Banger
Wasn't excited to listen to this after reading the description but this is a great, melodic, interesting album! Really surprised how much I enjoyed this as this is not my usual thing. Great!
My brother introduced me to this 20 years ago, what must have been pretty close to its release. I've never been big on gangsta rap. I get that it is in a long tradition of outlaw music, but the persistent violence and rigid machismo in the attitude gets me down. The tendency to homophobia and misogyny I'm less willing to make excuses for. However, within the genre this is among the cream of the crop, and the array of talent on this is deep. Prodigy's young death was a Hip Hop tragedy.
Been a while since some solid hip-hop ended came up on the user list. This LP felt classic through and through, the gritty production and beats immediately invoking the 90s’ and providing a kinetic backdrop for Mobb Deep’s bars. Not the most memorable performance lyrically, but there’s enough variation and a host of features to keep things interesting. Definitely think the fat could’ve been trimmed to make this a meaner, focused album – drop all the distracting interludes and a few throwaway tracks and the experience would feel much more intense. Still, this was a great listen and adds some needed variety to the user list.
Pretty good
Really rather dull. No new ground being broken here, doing the same thing as other artists but not as well.