62 newyork| september14–27, 2020
1.
Mobb Deep,“Shook Ones,Pt. II”(1995)Havocwassittingaloneat his
mother’s apartmentintheQueensbridge
housingprojects,reelingfromtheflopof
his debut album, when he warped apiano
line from Herbie Hancock’s “Jessica” to
sound like it was beckoning the listener
into hell. The song transformed Mobb
Deep’s career and New York rap writ
large, throwing floodlights into the city’s
darkest corners. Every word uttered
on “Shook Ones, Pt. II” has become
iconic, from Prodigy’s opening ad-libs
(“To all the killers and a hundred-
dollar billers”) to Havoc’s desperate
self-examination (“Do I deserve to
live?”), from the warm hearts turned
cold to the nose bones turned shiv. It’s a
note-perfect mission statement for one
of the genre’s greatest acts, referenced
ad nauseam but never replicated. PHOTOGRAPH: CHI MODU (MOBB DEEP)Mobb
Deep,
1994.percussion parts that would lead to
early-’80s gems like Run-D.M.C.’s
“Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1).”
A happy studio accident in the
late ’80s inspired Queens native
Marley Marl to invent the art of
sampling, setting the stage for the
plush jazz-rap stylings of acts like A
Tribe Called Quest and the abrasive
kung fu rap of the Wu-Tang Clan
in the ’90s as well as the Diplomats
and Jay-Z in the next decade. As
regionalism in rap began to ebb,
stars like 50 Cent—and later Nicki
Minaj—dominated via annexation,
picking and choosing popular
sounds and fashions to graft
onto their formidable arsenals.
To decide the “best” of New York
rap would only tell half the story—an
uneven one—so instead, we invited a
team of writers to rank a new type of
local canon: 100 songs that capture
the sound of the city. Old heads will
tell you that New York rap is a distinct
sound rooted in the thunder-and-
lightning interplay between kick and
snare drums in an East Coast boom-
bap track, but really, it’s an attitude, a
way to be. The ongoing spirit of New
York hip-hop is unbridled confidence,
limitless audacity. You can see it in the
aspiring musicians boosting sound
systems during the 1977 blackout,
then turning into professional DJs
seemingly overnight; in Run-D.M.C.
securing the first rap endorsement
deal after repping shell-toe Adidas in
their music; in a 14-year-old Roxanne
Shanté flaming UTFO in “Roxanne’s
Revenge”; in Raekwon’s mob epics
and Ghostface’s psychedelic crime
stories; in Bobby Shmurda’s gravity-
defying hat and Pop Smoke’s guttural
snarl. The spirit of New York hip-hop
springs eternal. Real heads know.
craig jenkinscontributors: Ivie Ani, Naima C Eric
Diep, Shamira Ibrahim, Craig Jenkins, William E.
Ketchum III, Dee Lockett, Starr Rhett Rocque, Gary
Suarez, Paul Thompson, Stereo Williams