This past week, one of my favorite duos of all time stated that they were the best duo of all time. That’s a categorical shift. The first thing is my loving dark, militaristic like rap music in which enemies are all about you and no one can be trusted. The second is a vast overestimation of the lengths such rap can go. Mobb Deep’s second project The Infamous is on par with Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket in its fiendishness. It is bleak and so devoid of all light that it sits at the soft of your neck, cutting into your airflow. More so because for many shorties embroiled in NYC’s mid 90s decrepitude the lyrics felt all too true. “There’s a war going on outside no man is safe from,” they said. And you couldn’t help but wonder what was happening up there in that concrete jungle spilling into the summer streets and out through bubble coats filled with goose feathers. But if you were at the corner of Nostrand and Flatbush on a summer day in ’95 you knew. The air smelled of rancor, and for every nub of truth or peace there was a whirlwind of activity. Hoods everywhere are always, if nothing else, active.
But they’re wrong. The best duo of all-time, like any other all-time list, is highly debatable. Then there are the other duos to consider who were active either just before or at the same time as Mobb. Gang Starr, EPMD, Eric B and Rakim, Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, and that’s just the folks from NY. There’s super group OutKast, which is probably in fact the best duo of the Golden era, out of ATL and UGK out of Texas as well as 8Ball & MJG out of Memphis. Of course, there was also Tha Dogg Pound out of L.A., and Luniz just to name a few. Despite all this competition, what would make Mobb Deep consider themselves the best of the best?
That’s where New York Hip Hop culture comes in. That towering bravado is sewn into the gravel, sand and asphalt of New York herself. Yes, the situation was and is suffocating stifling and brute, but it is not insurmountable. There’s a reason why Mobb feels so strongly. And that’s because it is indisputable that The Infamous is one of the best, hardest albums of all-time. It takes on this designation because of its grit but also because of its sadness. “Survival Of The Fittest” may be one of the most melancholy, rigid Hip Hop songs of all-time. And an album that great deserves to raise a group into a certain pantheon of artists, no matter what else they’ve done. That’s not to disrespect their 90s catalog at all, however. Both Murda Muzik and Hell On Earth were fantastic pieces of work, often overshadowed by their sophomore album masterpiece. In fact, I’d have an easier time saying Mobb Deep is the greatest 90s New York Hip Hop duo of all-time.
But it also says so much about the duo dynamic, itself. Havoc and P have gone through their fair share of trials and tribulations, but so have so many other duos whose dynamics while tied to greatness were incendiary. From Gang Starr to EPMD and even ‘Kast, two members on a team is a highly unstable combo. But when it’s good, it’s spectacular, as all these amazing duos have proven. Still, it begs the question, if Mobb didn’t suffer all of their ups and downs could they have had an OutKast like run of classic records? And if they did would we have an easier time granting them the distinction of the best duo of all-time. I guess we’ll never know. And that’s another symptom of 90s Hip Hop duos: missed opportunities. For how many of them have we looked up into the sky and thought, “Yo, what if they’d stayed together?”
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Eric B and Rakim, Gangstarr, Pete Rock and CL Smooth. I assumed they were talking about a duo where both the members were MCs.
Doesn’t matter. I won’t rank the duos, but suffice it to say that you would be hard pressed to put them in the top five with the groups meantIoned in the article. This is coming from a dude that was an immense Mobb Deep fan. They talked the most shit on record. I’ll give them that. For two little dudes, they talked like they would whoop Tyson’s ass!
Nice try at trying to get them a best duo nod “best duo of Thursday September 2nd 1998, the day their album dropped” stop it. Yall only got so many comments the day they said that dumb shit because everyone who reads hiphopdx was saying what you said initially… “GTFOH, 8ball and MJG, Outkast, UGK, etc.”
Blackstar…..
I dont regard black star as a duo. black star is more like mos and talib making a great album together
How is this even an issue? M-O-B-B is not just the best hip-hop DUO. . .of all time. . .they are the best hip-hop GROUP of all time. That’s considering we all know Wu-Tang Clan is on their own level, above all else.
Interestingly Good , for a leap into the vicious territory of ” Greats” debate. 4/5
Outkast >>>
UGK best Duo hands down followed by Outkast…
Great piece Andre, perfectly true and well written.
M.O.P
mighty outkast followed by gangstarr
Best duo is Rae n ghost on OB4CL.. Infamous, He’ll, n MURDA take the next spots
Y’all buggin. Mobb Deep IS the best rap duo of all time. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion but it’s not even a question for me. Outkast, M.O.P, Gangstarr, Doggpound, or whoever else y’all comparing them to are all great groups in their own right. But if you ask me they fall short when you talking about the greatest rap group “DUO”. Outkast comes close as far as their overall success but personally I’m from NYC and truth be told Outkast didn’t have an influence on me the way Mobb Deep did. Prodigy might have one of the best rap voices ever along with some of the most memorable rap quotes in Hip Hop history. Havoc is hands down one of the best Hip Hop producers of all time and if you don’t believe me listen to their albums or ask around. They’ve persevered through all the eras and have classic and very solid albums under on their catalog. The Infamous, Hell On Earth, Murda Musik, Amerika’s Nightmare, The Infamous Mobb Deep double LP they just dropped last year. Not only that but they’ve collaborated and made classic tracks with some of the greatest MC’s of all time. I would agree that Havoc isn’t as good as Prodigy lyrically but he makes up for it with his production skills. Not only that but sometimes Hav has outshines Prodigy on songs with balances them out well. Don’t be so quick to discredit the Mobb. They got my vote for greatest rap duo of all time any day. IMO That’s not even that hard of a choice
I say UGK hands down….neither havoc nor prodigy can mess w Bun B lyrically….Plus Pimp spit last some of the rawest realest lines period…and Pimp kills Havoc on the production side as well
Best hiphop duo: ORGANIZED KONFUSION! Not some fake ass gangsta wannebes
How is Outkast probably the best duo of the golden era when their first album dropped years later in 1994?
This is scary writing. This article makes no sense, AND has grammatical and factual errors to add to the confusion. Please, if you didn’t indulge in the essence of the 90’s era, don’t try to write about it as if you were.
Great comment!
Of course not. Outkast is.
1 Mobb deep
2 8ball mjg
3 ugk or outkast
Everyone got there own opinion but mobb deeps the only rap group to drop 3 classic albums in a row infamous, hell on earth, murda muzik u cant fucc wit that gritty shyt. The only group that compares in my eyes is 8ball and mjg that pimps songs classik shyt and in our lifetimes a classik
Outkast first 4 lp’s are the most legendary in hip hop history, there has never been a group that could compare from an artistic or sales point of view, except maybe run-dmc. Mobb deep resume is not on the level of epmd’s. Know way in sam hill they are on kast’s level.
Andre…you know Outkast didnt stay together either. They are 2 different people that moved in 2 different directions outside recording music. Both Mobb Deep and Outkast have put out individual solo records. I wouldnt consider Gangstarr a duo either. 1 rapper and 1 producer. So it depends also on how you want to categorize the duo. But The Infamous, Murda Muzik and Hell on Earth are all 3 fire albums! If any artist/group can produce 3 fire albums they are legendary in my book. Whether they are the greatest is a matter of personal opinion at that point.