Mobb Deep became a street-level sensation with its second album,
The Infamous, and the duo saw no reason to tamper with its signature style on the follow-up,
Hell on Earth. The first words on the record announce "You know how we did on the
Infamous album, right? All right, well, we gon' do it again," and that's exactly what they do.
Hell on Earth refines the
Mobb Deep formula, amplifying much of what made
The Infamous a success. The bleak street narratives are even more violent and extreme, and the production is even grittier and creepier. It's still indebted to -- but more dramatic than --
the RZA's work with
the Wu-Tang Clan: eerie strings and bits of piano, underpinned by deep, echoing beats. Although the overall flavor is pretty much the same as before, it's a bit more sophisticated and cinematic. For those reasons, some
Mobb fans actually prefer
Hell on Earth over
The Infamous, although it's missing some of the thematic unity and clearly emphasized details that made the world of
The Infamous so cohesive.
Hell on Earth also lacks some of the freshness, but even if
Mobb Deep is repeating itself, it's doing so very effectively. The album is superbly moody and haunting, with the swirling horror-film atmospherics of
"G.O.D., Pt. III" and the hypnotic
"Hell on Earth (Front Lines)" standing out in particular.
"Drop a Gem on 'Em" is another highlight, an answer song in the
2Pac beef that happened to appear not long before the rapper's murder. Special guests
Method Man,
Raekwon, and fellow Queensbridge native
Nas all put in worthy appearances. Even if it isn't quite the landmark that
The Infamous was,
Hell on Earth is nearly its equal in many other respects. ~ Steve Huey
![Radio [Bonus Track]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0731452735225_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Radio [Bonus Track]")
