are you deep enough to roll with the mobb?

In the winter of 1994, a duo from the Queensbridge projects in New York quickly went from riding the major label coattails of one their brethren, Nas, and single handedly released the dopest single of the year, "Shook Ones Part II." That duo, Mobb Deep, is easily one of the most likeable, dirty, and talented groups since the Beatnuts. Having been under the tutelage of producers such as Large Professor and Q-Tip, Havoc's sample heavy beats, combined with Prodigy's street savvy rhymes probably made them a little bit more likeable in the 'hood than Nas (i.e. dope beats + ignorant gun talk = ghetto hit). Throughout the last 10 years, we've seen the Mobb evolve from young thugs to older thugs, and though they've never had a hit as large as "Shook Ones," (save for maybe "Quiet Storm," but that's probably because Lil' Kim was the guest emcee) they've surely had their share of imitators.

Jamal (of Illegal)
a.k.a. Mally G
Evidence: Last Chance, No Breaks (Rowdy, 1995)
In the tradition of the Mobb as tough-talking midgets (big up to Gossiping Bitches), former kid rapper (a la Kris Kross), Jamal quit Illegal and went for self in 1995, hooking up with Erick Sermon and the Def Squad to pull together somewhat of a decent solo album. Though Illegal's debut "The Untold Story" came out in 1994, months after Havoc and Prodigy's "Juvenile Hell" record (the two albums ran similar subject matters in Illegal's "Head or Gut" and the Mobb's "Hit It From The Back), Jamal relentlessly rips off Prodigy's street swagger on his debut; the first track "Live Illegal" samples a line from "Shook Ones." Just really fucking blatant.

Da Youngstas/Illy Funkstas
Evidence: I'll Make U Famous (Pop Art, 1996)
Signed in the wake of Kris Kross, Philly's Da Youngstas put out three happy, Native Toungue-esque Posi-rap records. When that style started to die, they hooked up with Marley Marl and Havoc and got all thugged out.

Despite having a stupid name (just change the damn name, who cares if they don't remember Da Youngstas?!?), their album "I'll Make U Famous," which not only had production from Havoc, but also guested Mobb Deep as well as more vocal samples, wasn't half bad, making it one of the better forgotten records of '96.

Big Noyd
a.k.a. "Avoid The Noyd"
Evidence: Episodes Of A Hustla (Tommy Boy, 1996)
Big Noyd? Like the Noid? Like the Domino's Pizza villian? Were we really short on MC names in the mid-nineties? Anyway, preceeding Tony Yayo by nearly a decade, Noyd dropped a dope verse on the Mobb's "Give Up The Goods (Just Step)" and went to jail. Then he put out a series of crappy solo albums before being relegated to mixtape freestyles.

Capone N Noregea
a.k.a. CNN, that guy and N.O.R.E.
Evidence: The War Report (Tommy Boy, 1997)
Capone N Noregea took the East Coast thug image and made it their own. They referred to their respective projects and other boroughs by places in the Middle East (LeFrak, for example, became Iraq). They had Havoc do some production on their album, but rolled with Tragedy The Intellegent Hoodlum to juxtapose their ignant-ass lyrics with some kind of cred. Eventually that relationship gave way to beef, Capone went to the pokey, Noregea became a massive success with "Superthug" and then he went insane. If you can find his interview with Life Sucks Die, that pretty much says it all.

50 Cent (G-Unit)
a.k.a. Fiddy
Evidence: "How To Rob" (Columbia, 1999), Get Rich Or Die Tryin' (Shady/Aftermath, 2003)
His first taste of wax "How To Rob" is more or less a detailed version of "Survival Of The Fittest." Then Fiddy gets shot a couple times and has a hit with "Wanksta," which is his version of "Burn." Ultimately 50 Cent gets the upperhand over any of the other Mobb Deep imitators because he signed them to G-Unit. Gross.

Shook Ones
Evidence: Sixteen (Endwell Records, 2005)
Check the name, dorks!

Puff Daddy & The Family (The Lox, Mase, 112, everyone except Biggie)
Evidence: No Way Out (Bad Boy, 1997), Harlem World (Bad Boy, 1997), Money Power Respect (Bad Boy, 1998)
Basically between 1996-1999, Bad Boy was just Mobb Deep gone glam, complete with homoerotic shiny suits. Way to go, Diddy. Since then, The Lox broke up and now Jadakiss is getting potshots from Fiddy and G-Unit; Mase signed to G-Unit (ha!) and Diddy is a joke.