J-Love - Mobb Misses
“A group so ill even their unreleased songs are bangin’.”
Easily one of the dopest “Best Of” mixtapes ever, J-Love’s Mobb Misses is aptly titled, as it consists of a collection of rare, unreleased Mobb Deep songs rather than a litany of their well-known hits. Also from Queens, J-Love made a name in his borough and beyond for littering his tapes with never-before-heard gems. And though his Nas’ Finest series is often celebrated, the original Mobb Misses tape—which was followed by seven other potent volumes—is the crown jewel of his tape-ography.
Here’s an unreleased quote from our Do Remember! interview with MC/producer Havoc of Mobb Deep where he talks about the importance of Mobb Misses:
Havoc: "Take It In Blood, "We Got the Drop," "Everyday Gunplay." We used to just be doing a million songs, so only a certain amount could make the album. But I loved all of these songs that J-Love put out. I was just always curious as to how he got them. Like, this guy was working hard.
I was like, "How did he even get this song? We might use this on the next album." "Everyday Gunplay" was one of those that we kind of kept in the stash. We didn't have a place for it yet, but it got leaked. At the same time, I think it kept our relevance up.
Shout out to J-Love, because he was bringing light to a lot of songs that nobody would have heard had he not made his tapes. Nobody would have heard any of this music.
Nuff respect to J-Love, and a special thank you to Havoc for contributing to Do Remember! Look for him quoted at different points in the book, which of course features Mobb Misses prominently on the cover art.
Stream Mobb Misses below, and stay tuned for more 50 TAPES posts as we make our way toward the release of Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes, out October 3rd via Rizzoli.
J-Love - Mobb Misses (SIDE A)
J-Love - Mobb Misses (SIDE B)