Mobb Deep’s years-long beef with Jay-Z is the stuff of rap folklore. The hostile back and forth mainly consisted of shots being fired at each other on diss tracks and ultimately simmered down.
During a recent appearance on Math Hoffa’s My Expert Opinion podcast, Mobb Deep’s Havoc opened up about the once bitter feud.
He was asked what the energy was like when they ran across Jay-Z. “We never really bumped into Jay,” he replied. “The crazy s### about the beef with Jay is Prodigy said something in a magazine…x, y, z and whatever, whatever. Jay-Z didn’t take it lightly. He came at us. I sent a sub but it wasn’t obvious but Prodigy…”
“Went the whole verse on him,” interjected another guest.
Havoc continued and recalled that though “he came at n##### necks and did the s### with the picture and all of that,” referring to the infamous incident at Summer Jam when Jay-Z pulled out Prodigy’s ballerina picture, their beef ” wasn’t about nothing.”
“So, when the years passed and when finally Mobb Deep and Jay-Z is in the same room walking, it made me feel like I had beef with him and I didn’t have no beef with him,” he explained. “I’d rather have been his ally than to have beef with him. It’s just weird because it wasn’t about nothing but now, I’m in the same room with him and I feel like it’s something but it’s nothing. So that s### just made me feel stupid”
However, Havoc said they have since spoken after Jay-Z reached out to do some business and things are now cool between them.
Watch The Clip From My Expert Opinion Below
Back in 2017, Jay-Z revealed he spoke to Prodigy and said that they were able to mend their relationship before he died.
I had super respect for Prodigy,” Jay said on the Rap Radar podcast. “In order for me to really spar with you, I gotta respect you. I sampled him for my first album, so you know I was aware of him and had respect for him. He and I spoke before he passed; I saw him in the club maybe five years ago. He just came over and we kicked it. It wasn’t about nothing. Just sad, you know? Blessings to his family. Young, young man…”
Meanwhile, Havoc recently linked with fellow New York native, Styles P for the collaborative project, “Wreckage Manner” which they discussed with AllHipHop. The first video from the project, “Dreams 2 Nightmares” was released on December 3.
Watch “Nightmares 2 Dreams” Styles P & Havoc (Official Music Video) Below