Mobb Deep - Murda Muzik

Murda Muzik leaked so comprehensively before release that Mobb Deep had to rebuild it, cutting tracks that had already been bootlegged across New York and replacing them. What arrived in August 1999 is the group's most commercially successful album and the one where Havoc's production finally opened up.

"Quiet Storm" is the centrepiece, a beat that hits like a slammed door with Prodigy delivering the most confident verse of his career over it. The Lil' Kim remix, added to the back of the record, took it to radio and made it a genuine hit. Elsewhere the guest list stretches wider than the Queensbridge circle ever had: Nas on "It's Mine," Kool G Rap on "The Realest," Raekwon on "Can't Fuck Wit," Lil' Cease, Cormega and 8Ball scattered through the rest. Alchemist turns in two beats early in what became a long partnership.

It is longer and glossier than The Infamous, and some purists have never forgiven it for that. It also went platinum and proved the Mobb could sell records without softening a single line.

Legacy Certified Classics double LP on black vinyl for Loud Records, pressed in the EU.