Havoc Compares "Shook Ones" to Mobb Deep's NBA Championship Ring

It’s pretty fair to say that Mobb Deep and Michael Jordan have a few career-defining similarities. Mobb Deep earned their hip-hop championship, while Jordan has six rings.

In this week’s episode of The Almanac of Rap, hosted by Donwill, Havoc reflects on what it means to leave a lasting legacy and how his and Prodigy’s 1995 hit “Shook Ones” is their version of a championship ring.

As one-half of Mobb Deep, Havoc’s production helped shape the sound of Queensbridge and an entire generation of East Coast rap. Even today, you’ll still hear their tracks, old and new, blaring through car speakers. But when he reflects on “Shook Ones,” it’s clear the goal was never to make the “best” song. It was to make something dope and memorable.

He compares that kind of impact to winning a championship ring. When you’re in the league, that’s the goal. Not just to play, but to win and to walk away with something meaningful. It’s beyond bragging rights. It’s a lasting legacy.

“I mean, it's what we set out for as artists, right?” Havoc explains. “You don't aim to have the best song, you know, in hip-hop or whatever it is, but you do set out to make something dope and something memorable... Like a championship ring, right? You in the NBA, what's the one thing you want? You want the championship ring. So, me and Prodigy just really really pushed the limits of what we could do.”

Later in the conversation, Havoc shows how that same mindset led to some of Mobb Deep’s most iconic records.

What started as a simple idea to get in the studio with Nas and Raekwon turned into something much bigger. It was the birth of "Eye for a Eye (Your Beef Is Mines).” There was no formula or overthinking. It was actually an impromptu moment where a beat was made in real time, and rappers did what rappers do: they locked in.

“We just wanted to do a song with Nas and Raekwon,” Havon says. “So we told them to come to the studio and then I made the beat right in front of them. So it was definitely right there.”

Havoc, who’s known for scrapping ideas quickly, jokes that having Nas and Rae in the room is probably the only reason that beat stuck.

It’s a reminder that some of the most important records don’t come from chasing perfection. They come from instinct, timing and trusting the moment.

Havoc also speaks on Mobb Deep’s final album, Infinite, fond memories of the late Prodigy, his relationship with Raekwon and more on the full episode of The Almanac of Rap below.

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