Friday 3 October 2008

Mobb Deep's Gun Love and Claudja Barry's Sweet Dynamite


Back in about 1999 I picked up a Bootleg Mobb Deep 12" from London's now closed down Mr Bongos. I've always been partial to a nice bit of Havoc and Prodigy especially if its Havoc behind the boards. I like the dark ominous production style that Havoc fathered and their style of morbidly threatening raps has always cheered me up. At the time I had only heard 3 the Hard way and Gun Love on a couple of mixtapes and had liked what I heard despite the wack DJ shouting all over the tracks. So of course being a big QB fan I had to grab this bootleg 12"
The track Gun Love is about a love affair and how it lasts through the various ages of Prodigy's life and how much this love means to him. I know what your thinking this doesn't sound like the usual Mobb Deep subject matter but the love that he's talking about is as the title indicates his Gun Love. I know this sort of thing has been done before by a few other decent MCs but Prodigy drops the rhymes with such dry humorless lyrics that give this track its unique flavor.

The beat is made up a of a Claudja Barry sample taken from the track Love For The Sake Of Love from her 1976 album Sweet Dynamite. Claudja Barry was at one time a member of Boney M and was a well respected Disco artist in the mid seventies. The beat isn't the usual dark and suspenseful Havoc produced joint but a rather up beat and almost happy joint, which I guess is Mobb showing how ironic they can be.

The rest of this bootleg is taken up with some rather unusual tracks. Flippin is on the A side along with the above mentioned Gun Love and is a pretty run of the mill Mobb track with what sounds like Big Noyd dropping some lyrics but as its a bootleg I can't be sure as there is no credits. The first track on the B Side is 3 the Hard way which is a dope track. It has a cool guitar loop with lots of static over it. Its a little short for my liking but I'm sure there is a full version out there somewhere. Once again I think I hear Noyd on this but I'm not 100% sure. The last track on this is terrible it has Mobb Deep rapping over a an upbeat piano loop that by the end of the track turns into Pavarotti's Nestle Dormer, I think with Pavarotti singing included. Its so wrong for so many reasons and its abruptly cut short.
Check these out and the Claudja Barry sample by clicking the link below
I used to let Noyd hit her

7 comments:

mick said...

any chance you want to sell this 12" - i wlll give you money for it

mick said...

very good money for it

scottajronan said...

Mick email me dude and we'll talk.

Swann said...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this exists on wax?

I'd be eternally grateful for a rip of this dude.

getatbrian|at|gmail|dot|com

scottajronan said...

There is a link on the blog above to a rip of this track and anyone interested in buying any records listed here should get in contact with me via scottajronan at gmail.co

Unknown said...

hi mate. i've tried downloading this a million times but zshare just wont work.

is there any chance you can upload this to another website? i'm desperate for the single version of gun love!

cheers.

Anonymous said...

Ayo fam u can post this white label single please?Gun Love Street Mix is too hard to find...

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