Mixtape Review: Havoc-From Now On

Posted On: August 20, 2009
Posted By: odeisel
Comments: 0

By Odeisel

Havoc has come a long way as an emcee. From the early incarnation of Mobb Deep, he’s always been the least lyrical of the duo but he more than made up for his shortcoming with his hauntingly ominous production. Musically, he’s the author of many songs that made you grab your d**k if you love Hip-Hop and angry walked through a weed filled club. Combined with the menacing flow of rhyme partner Prodigy, the Mobb had an almost perfect balance.

These days though, it ain’t all sweet. With the HNIC behind BARS, Havoc is left to his own devices to hold the name down until P comes home. While he has advanced as an emcee over the years, has he advanced enough to carry the bulk of an album by himself? If From Now On-The Mixtape is any indication, he may have a better shot than you think.

The first thing that you notice upon viewing the credits is that there is an inordinate amount of guest spots. We see that Havoc is at least smart enough to not attempt a solo 60 minutes of funk. There are some really good guests on this tape, including not only the aforementioned Prodigy, but also Lloyd Banks, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and Freeway. However, there are quite a few songs where he goes alone and they aren’t necessarily the weakest songs on this work.

A few solo joints that impress are “Always Have a Choice,” a melancholy, yet lush track that finds Havoc at his most introspective. A nice vocal sample and some dark angel production give this song a really nice feel. It’s immediately followed by an ill flippage of “Have You Seen Her” for the track “Letter to P.” As you can guess, it’s an aural epistle to the homie Prodigy in the vein of Nas’ “One Love.” He deads any rumors o him not being tight with his rhyme partner and gives him a lowdown on what’s going down in the world. Another surprisingly ill joint has his boy rhyming over a jail phone on “Call From Cousin Ferb.” The track has no beat, but the rhymes are clear, logical, and hardcore without being outlandishly unbelievable. Real ill.

A couple of the solo tracks lack consistent energy and sustained quality. Two consecutive joints “Going OT” and “Sex Tape” are weak and retread tracks that don’t add any value to the tape. Overall though Havoc delivers on the microphone.

The guests pretty much all nail their parts with zest. Raekwon sounds fresh out the box on the very ill “24K Rap.” Lloyd Banks comes with renewed vigor on “Bang Bang” showing that G-Unit love. His voice however may be weakening as it has that same raspiness we’ve heard on his recent appearances on other tapes. The enigmatic Ghostface Killah also shines on “Evil Deeds.” The highlight however is probably the Mobb Deep reunion track “Keep on Talking.” Like ham & cheese, peanut butter & jelly, Puffy & Ma$e, some things just belong together and Havoc and Prodigy can be added to that list.

From Now On is not a groundbreaking mixtape. It is far from wack , though and Havoc acquits himself ably on it. As soon as you tire of hearing him alone, a well placed guest appearance renews your interest. Musically it’s not classic Havoc all the way through but it’s certainly something you can rock too. Think of this as Mobb lite and when P comes home we can look forward to Mobb dynamite.

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