Mobb Deep

Few Queens duos have shaped East Coast rap as directly as Mobb Deep. Prodigy and Havoc, who both rapped and produced, built their reputation on a dark, sample-driven sound that traced everyday life in New York's Queensbridge Houses with unflinching detail. Their hardcore delivery set them apart in the early 1990s, and their influence on the region's hip-hop remains widely acknowledged.

The pair met as students at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan and began as Poetical Prophets before Puff Daddy's courting helped prompt the switch to Mobb Deep in 1992. Their breakthrough came with The Infamous in 1995, whose remix "Shook Ones Part II" became a hit. Hell on Earth followed in 1996, debuting at number six on the Billboard Album Chart with guest appearances from Nas and members of Wu-Tang Clan. Murda Muzik arrived in 1999 after much of it leaked through bootlegging, forcing the group to record replacements. Prodigy died in June 2017, several years after the duo had reunited in 2013 following a brief split in 2012.