Rapper Havoc, one-half of the infamous Mobb Deep, recently revealed that the quintessential “Shook Ones Part II” track shared between him and brother-in-arms Prodigy almost never happened.
In a recent sit down with Pigeons & Planes backstage at California’s HARD Festival, the rapper and producer explained how the song that catapulted him and the late Prodigy into stardom was almost deleted before vocals were ever laid on the track.
“One specific time that I remember in making the album was actually in my house in the projects creating ‘Shook Ones’ and I was home upstairs by myself making the beat I really didn’t think too much of it,” Hav revealed about the definitve moment.
“And then you know Prodigy and the crew came upstairs to check out what I was doing and they said ‘Hey what beat is that you playing?’ I was like “Ah, you know, it ain’t nothing. Just a beat that I made.’"
“It ended up being shook ones and I was about to, like erase the beat,” he explained. “They was like ‘Hell no, save this beat we gonna use this,’ and it became ‘Shook ones.’
It was on June 20th that rapper Prodigy tragically passed on at the age of 42.
Initally, reports speculated that the veteran emcee’s death was the result of complications in his battle with sickle cell anemia as he died in a hospital while being treated for the illness that brings about a weakened immune system for those suffering with it.
However, it was later revealed earlier this month, that the “Shook Ones” rapper’s cause of death was actually the result of him choking on an egg.
Prodigy’s final performance was in Las Vegas, where he died, while on the Art of Rap tour alongside fellow rappers Ice-T and Ghotface Killah.
Since his death, Havoc has taken on solo shows throughout the remainder of the summer in memory of his partner and friend. His appearance at the HARD Fest was only one of the latest in which a special tribute performance was dedicated to the late Queensbridge rapper.
Watch Havoc's full account of the story and Prodigy's creativity below.