SOHH Squad
Mobb Deep's Havoc recently discussed his come-up in the hip-hop game and why today's production scene is nothing compared to what it used to be in the 1990's.
According to Hav, he had no choice but to transition from an emcee to producer at the start of his music career.
“I definitely started off as an emcee first,” Hav said in an interview. “That’s how I started, that’s how I came into the game. Basically, how I became a producer was because we couldn’t afford the beats. These producers were charging like a million dollars a track. We invested in a little bit of equipment, started making tracks and it had a life of its own. It was crazy. It was a lot of pressure, but I love pressure. Pressure creates diamonds. I just did it.” (Converse Rubber Tracks: Oh, Hello)
The Mobb Deep hitmaker also pointed out what key issue he has with today’s music production.
“You miss those times because more effort was put into the music,” Hav added, referring to the 1990’s music scene. “Music was album-orientated. Now it’s just single-orientated. Now, it’s so many producers out there, music is just like [instantly made]. It’s not really a special event anymore. Not to really criticize the game like that because it is what it is. If you want to make money, then okay, you’ll just make these cookie cutter beats but if you want to stand out and leave your mark on the world, you’ll make something that sounds different and take a risk. No risk, no reward.” (Converse Rubber Tracks: Oh, Hello)
Fellow producer DJ Green Lantern previously crowned Havoc SOHH Underrated for his hit-making ability.
“I want to say my SOHH Underrated pick is Havoc. Havoc has some of the illest beats and never was really looked at as one of those “super producers.” You know how they put that “super producer” title on you and he’s crafted some of the most classic beats in hip-hop. I had him on my [radio] show one time and I remember asking him, “Why do you think you’re underrated?” This was years and years ago but I recall him saying something along the lines that he kept that production somewhat in-house as opposed to a lot of guys like a Just Blaze will go and produce for a lot of outside artists not necessarily associated to their camp. Hav just kept it in-house all those years. I’m gonna go with Havoc as being underrated on the producing side specifically. And you can definitely say Hav on the artist side. He’s really stepped it up on those last few albums he’s put out too.” (SOHH Underrated)
This week, Hav released his new Royce Da 5’9-laced “Tell Me To My Face” track.
One half of Mobb Deep, Havoc, returns today with a dope a** new track for our listening enjoyment called “Tell Me To My Face”. The track finds Hav linking up with Royce Da 5’9 for some rather lyrical wordplay in which they take aim at their critics. “Tell Me To My Face” is built around an infectious horn and key combination that gets surrounded by some hard hitting, dope drums thats provide one hell of a home for the fellas’ bars. Havoc leads things off and tears shit down before passing the mic to Royce, who holds his own rather nicely. These two sound f*cking amazing on the track together. (Stupid Dope)
Check out Havoc’s interview:
