Kool G Rap picks his favourite Mobb Deep song
Kool G Rap is an unsung hero and trailblazer within the rap culture. Beginning in the mid-1980s he was once a member of the legendary group Juice Crew, which also housed names such as MC Shan and Big Daddy Kane. This group ushered in a new age of hip-hop, but G is credited with fundamentally changing the tone and meaning of the genre, setting a new standard for what it meant to be a rapper.
G grew up with another legend of the game, Eric B, in Corona, Queens. Corona was a difficult place to grow up in the late ’70s and early ’80s, speaking to The Source Magazine, G detailed the influence of gangs on his lifestyle “it wasn’t that hard for a n-gga to be influenced by the street life type of mentality”.
Eventually, he started selling drugs, stating that it all came from a desire to have a little money, which eventually led to friends being shot and getting killed: “Eventually all my friends got smoked. Everybody was droppin”
It’s no surprise then that G is credited as a pioneer of street rap; a subgenera of rap that discusses the reality of what it’s like on the streets, coming from a heavy influence of gangs and violence. Although this started as a subgenera, as hip-hop was still considered hip-hop, with more of an emphasis on good mixing and samples, street rap grew rapidly in popularity. Looking at dominant artists of the 90s; Biggie, Tupac, Nas, the switch to street rap is evident, and G was one of the first.
Mobb Deep almost needs no introduction. The pairing of Prodigy and Havoc ranks alongside Outkast and Black Star as one of the greatest rap duos ever. Known for their dark lyrics and aggressive style, a collaboration with G made perfect sense. G met the duo whilst in New York promoting ‘Roots of Evil’.
Legendary producer The Alchemist, who later produced the beat for one of G and Deep’s collabs has stated that Mobb Deep “They’re not the type of crew who would take to new people”. Yet, when they met G they immediately called him over and told him how much they loved his music. Real recognises real and the genre that both G and Deep were building overlapped so much that something had to come of it.
Talking to Hot 97, G was asked about his favourite Mobb Deep song, and he responded with ‘The Realest’, a hit collaboration between G and Deep. The 1999 track featured on Deep’s fourth studio album ‘Murda Muzik’ which saw massive success debuting at number 3 on the Billboard Top 200 charts.
The lyrics are a perfect reflection of the change that these two presences were making to the rap game. The track starts with the chorus on the line “For street n-ggas livin’ with they lives on the line” and ends on “this be the realest shit you heard in your life”. True to their work and to their pasts, the track is a signifier of how street rap had taken over the scene.