Harold Stallworth has flats in other continents.
Mobb Deep’s brief tenure with hip-hop’s evil empire G-Unit Records had few salvageable moments. But such moments certainly did occur. I’d like to think of “Shark” as the belated fruit of 50 Cent’s puppeteering, a remnant from that steep trough in the duo’s corrugated career arc. The Alchemist-produced cut was liberated by G-Unit’s own DJ Whoo Kid, and unveiled last week on his satellite radio gig. Predictably, they sound right at home over second-generation cassette tape hiss and white-knuckle organ stabs. Prodigy namechecks the Year of the Horse: “We got 90s money, 2014 dough.” This proves nothing. The Mobb has always been forward thinking in regard to murder plots and counterplots. The exact age of this recording is unknown; its recipe is timeless.
