Havoc on Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones" Being Crowned the GOAT Rap Beat: "It's Better Than a Grammy"

Last week we published our list of the greatest beats of all time. At the top was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s "The Message—a song that has been interpolated and sampled numerous times over the last 40 years. The song still sounds like the future.

We ranked Mobb Deep's iconic breakout single "Shook Ones, Pt. II” No. 2 on our list. Not bad but not high enough. The Complex readership reranked our list. Not only did they bump "Shook Ones, Pt. II" to No. 1, they also put "The Message" down to No. 8, a steep tumble for what is considered one of the greatest rap songs of all time. It was actually the steepest fall for any beat on the list, falling seven slots, while the biggest bump on the list was Gang Starr's "Mass Appeal," which went from 96 to 82—a 14 slot improvement.

This new ranking is a testament to the legacy of "Shook Ones, Pt. II," which came out over 30 years ago and is still considered the crowning achievement for New York rap. The lore around the song is crazy: the beat was created by Havoc, one half of Mobb Deep alongside Prodigy, in his bedroom in the Queensbridge housing projects where he grew up.

"Shook Ones (Part II)" was a classic out the gate, standing out in an era where iconic songs were dropping regularly; the song peaked at No. 16 on the Hot R&B and Hip-Hop Charts.

The rapping—especially Prodigy's bone chilling verse and hook—was iconic. But it was the beat, which featured an eerie guitar and a snare that sounded like a stove, that took it to another level. There was also an aura of mystery around the sample, which was unknown until 2011, when the case was cracked.

What do you think is your greatest beat of all time?

I would definitely have to say "Shook Ones." The reason why I say that is because if it wasn't for "Shook Ones," then we wouldn't be having this conversation. "Shook Ones" is the song that kind of propelled us to where we are now. That song was like a staple in our career ever since we put it out. And we went on to do a lot of other great beats and songs and stuff like that. But "Shook Ones" to me is the one that stands out universally.

When did you realize it was a great beat?

I kind of realized it early, when we started promoting the song, when it was just a single and the album wasn't out, and all of the attention that the song was just getting. But it was cemented really in my mind a few years later, when the song just never died and so many people were just freestyling over the beat.

Do you remember what Prodigy’s reaction was when he first heard the beat?

I was in the crib making the beat. Everybody was outside, just chilling, doing whatever they was doing. And Prodigy had came upstairs to my crib just to check on me, see what was going on with the music. And when he heard the beat, he was like, "Yo, what's that?" And I was like, " It's just some track I made." You got to remember, I'm a new producer, so I really can't gauge if I made a dope beat or not. But Prodigy, when he heard it immediately, he was feeling it.

What would you say was the biggest influence on the “Shook Ones” beat?

It would have to be a mix of Nas and RZA. Even though Nas is a rapper, he's not a producer. But him coming out with Illmatic really was a dope inspiration. And me being on Loud Records and Wu-Tang being labelmates, the production of RZA made me realize you could make this grimy kind of tracks and play around with the samples.

Do you remember what RZA beat it was?

Man, it was a few of them, but probably all of them on [Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)’, to be honest with you, the whole body of work. I can't just pick out one song. It was dark. It was dope. So RZA really had an immediate influence on me.

I have to add one more producer there. And that was Pete Rock. Because Pete Rock used to make the beats where the high hats were prevalent. And I was just trying to emulate that. That's why when you hear “Shook Ones” the high hat is prevalent, almost like a Pete Rock track.

There have been various conflicting stories about the stove noise. Want to explain?

I mean, look, I made the beat and it had the high hats in there. And the video director—his name is [Froi Cuesta]—the high hat in the song must have reminded him of the project stove when he was doing the scene. With the stove cutting on. And then you got the high hats. So he put them together and then that's how this whole mystery happened.

What did Nas think about the song?

At the time, I didn't get a chance to see Nas and have him say like, "Oh yo, this shit is dope." But I remember seeing one of his peoples, Grand Wizard. I remember walking in the projects on 40th and I seen him and the song was just playing everywhere. Grand Wiz was like, “Yo, that shit is crazy.” So if he said that, I know that was Nas's sentiments too. 

What's your reaction to “Shook Ones” and other Mobb songs being freestyled over so much over the years?

It was always a sense of pride. As a hip-hop enthusiast and as a fan, we love beats to freestyle over. If you could freestyle over a beat, that means the beat is crazy. So for the fact that some of my beats was the most freestyled over, it just kind of really gave me a boost of confidence.

What do you think is the greatest hip-hop beat of all time?

I think Complex got really eerily close. I would have to go with “The Message.” It came out early when hip-hop was still super young. Hip-hop was probably only like 10 years old at the time, maybe even younger. And for them to make that kind of beat back then. And two decades later, I'm sampling it.

Do you remember your reaction to hearing that song for the first time?

When I became aware of the song, I was kind of listening to the lyrics first. I remember in the early '80s hearing it and I wasn't really into hip-hop as I am now. But hearing it, the song was like gold.

It was just the Murda Muzik anniversary. It doesn't seem like you’re big on doing re-releases. Or is that not true?

It's definitely interesting to me. And I think that's something that we definitely should be doing in the near future—capitalizing off of the old catalog and repackaging it and putting out anniversary editions.

It's a matter of pulling the team together to do it. We got to go to Sony and we got to cut through some red tape. It's hard to get the reels. You got to get the reels and they got to locate them. So it's kind of tough because a lot of that material is old and Loud is over here. Sony has got a brand new team running the legacy department. So it's a lot of different angles, but I'm all for that kind of stuff.

When was the last time you listened to The Infamous from front to back?

Maybe like a couple of months ago. I like to go back in time and talk to that Havoc. I like to get inside his brain. And so I listen to it. And to me, the album is flawless.

Are you still finding things about that music that surprises you?

Still one of the surprising elements to me is tracks like “Drink Away to Pain” and “Temperatures Rising.” It just sounds so descriptive and so detailed because it was a true story. I'm like, "Damn, how did we even come up with that?" And then “Eye for an Eye,” one of those records just spurred a moment. How do you get Nas and Raekwon and Ghostface in the studio at the same time?

That was completely spur of the moment that you guys all just happened to be there?

I wouldn't say completely spur of the moment, but it was kind of because it's like you don't know if whoever's going to be available to show up. And they all showed up. And I would say that's the power that “Shook Ones” had. It built confidence into our peers. Because “Shook Ones” is out, it's popping. We don't even got an album out yet. But that song alone made people want to fuck with us.

Were you annoyed when the sample got discovered?

Yo, to be honest with you, I wasn't annoyed. I was surprised. I forgot what I sampled. I used to just be sampling and just be like, "All right, whatever." So when it happened, I was really like, "How the fuck did they figure that out? How did you figure it out?" I would like to definitely talk to the guy that figured it out because the sample was slowed all the way down. What made him think that?

Any final thoughts? Is there anything about “Shook Ones” you haven’t been asked before?

I can't think of anything that I haven't been asked about the beat. I want to say thank you to the fans. Because there's too many dope beats out there. I don't take it for granted. I'm not sitting here saying I'm better than anybody that didn't make the top 10 or nothing like that because there's a lot of dope songs. But I appreciate the fans for the acknowledgement because there's a lot of times that Mobb Deep doesn't get acknowledged. It's better than a Grammy for me.

What's the most memorable conversation you've had with a peer or someone you looked up to about “Shook Ones?”

I remember going somewhere to see Just Blaze spin and him seeing me and then he was around his people saying, "Yo, everybody, everybody, this is the man that made ‘Shook Ones.’” I appreciate that. That was dope. I didn't even think people were speaking like that.

And then there's another time when I seen [Kanye West] outside of Battery Studios a long time ago. And he was like, "Yo, man, I remember just being in Chicago and all we used to just listen to was ‘Shook Ones’ and stuff like that." So to get that kind of recognition from those two guys—it's just good to see that your peers fuck with it. And they are not on no hating shit.