| The Infamous Archives is a compilation of mostly previously unreleased music by Mobb Deep. The album was released without their permission.
The album contains 24 songs recorded between the mid-ninties and 2006. Some of them, were included more or less officially on various mixtapes including Young Luv, from 1995. Young Luv was considered for their third album Hell On Earth but ultimately not included on it as the group did not get the permission by Prince to use a sample of If I Was Your Girlfriend. The Infamous Archives includes Thou Shall Not Kill which contains an uncredited contribution by Prince on keyboards. Snoop Dogg also appears on the track who coincidently also had a refusal from Prince to use a sample from one of his song (Snoop Dogg wanted to use The Time ‘s Gigolos Get Lonely Too for his 1998 song D.O.G.’s Get Lonely 2 (on his Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told album).
Sessions and compiling
After Prince's passing, Mobb Deep's Havoc said that Prince happened to be in Electric Lady Studios in New York, NY, USA at the same time that Mobb Deep were recording, most likely in 1998 or 1999. When Havoc asked for his opinion on a work-in-progress beat (which ultimately became Thou Shall Not Kill), he just started jamming on a keyboard. Naturally, he walked out without even saying bye after he finished. Havoc kept in Prince’s contribution but didn’t tell anyone about it. The song was not included on Mobb Deep’s fourth studio album Murda Muzik released in 1999.
Promotion
Since the compilation was released without the group’s approval, no specific promotion was made.
The album failed to chart.
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2006: RS2 ◄
