Big Noyd ft. Prodigy "Recognize & Realize (Part 1)"
Get clapped at your rap show.
Snowy days in New York always make me feel nostalgic, so I’m heading back to the ‘90s tonight—specifically 1996, the year of my high school graduation. It’s a holiday, so pardon my brevity as I blast through some Mobb Deep mixtape classics after watching the Knicks game (brutal) and cheffing up some food with the fam (chicken enchiladas).
I wanna start this post with a pair of bangin’ Havoc-produced tracks off Big Noyd’s 1996 album Episodes Of A Hustla, both of which were introduced to me on DJ Clue mixtapes.
First, Noyd and Prodigy’s back-and-forth duet, which is an all-time favorite. Extraordinary.
IP’S PICK OF THE DAY 1/19/26: Big Noyd ft. Prodigy “Recognize & Realize (Part 1)”
And next, the Mobb family posse cut “All Pro.” I love how Ty Nitty sets this one off—“5-7-75 my born day/I reach earth now I’m involved in foul play/Ty Nitty, New York City we stay right/The high life, flooded ice from jewel heist.” This brings me back.
Speaking of Ty Nitty and DJ Clue, here’s a classic Clue mixtape freestyle featuring Ty and Prodigy over the “Motherless Child” instrumental, off Springtyme Stickup 1996. This tape was crazy.
Mobb Deep (Prodigy) ft. Ty Nitty “The Infamous INTRO”
My bad, I gotta watch the original “Motherless Child” video right quick. Please join me.
Also featured on Springtyme Stickup 1996 and the Episodes Of A Hustla LP—“Recognize & Realize (Part 2),” featuring some Havoc bars and a pair of new verses by Noyd and Pee.
Springtyme Stickup 1996 had “Street Life” with A.C.D. on it, too. “M-O-B-B D-E-E-P, A-C-D/Burn somethin’, let’s get lifty, Queens is you with me”—classic Prodigy verse on this one, and some dope production work by L.E.S. I totally forgot this was on the America Is Dying Slowly project.
Mobb Deep, L.E.S., and A.C.D. “Street Life”
Okay, two more! This one is a real gem—Mobb Deep and Big Noyd’s freestyle on Doo Wop’s 95 Live II mixtape, which was knockin’ all the way through 1996. I asked Doo Wop about this freestyle back when I interviewed him for my NahRight Mixtape Memories series, and here’s what he had to say:
Doo Wop: Mobb Deep and Noyd all rhymed off of the same beat, but then when I mixed it, I switched it on Noyd because the beat was too long. It was the same tempo as “How Many MC’s,” so I put that Das EFX loop in there, and switched it without them even knowing.
Then, I was DJing for this Russell Simmons roast down in SoHo, and I took a break, and I’m in the bathroom taking a piss, and someone comes in. And I didn’t look, because I’m taking a piss. So someone’s standing there, and someone goes, “Yo, I like the way you switched that beat under Noyd.” And I look, and it’s fuckin’ Prodigy. He didn’t even say what’s up at first, he just said that. Like, “That shit was gangster.”
And here’s Havoc from the Do Remember! book talking about being on a Doo Wop tape:
Havoc: Doo Wop was a major, major player in the mixtape game. So I could imagine us being like, “Oh shit, like we’re fucking with Doo Wop right now.” His tape was like the number one tape in Queensbridge. People were stealing those tapes. So for us to even be working with him, it was crazy. Doo Wop was from Uptown, so most of the time when you heard Doo Wop tapes, it would be artists from Uptown. For us to even be circulating on a Doo Wop tape, that showed us how big we had become in New York.
Mobb Deep ft. Big Noyd “95 Live II Freestyle”
And finally, off the Sunset Park soundtrack, another ‘96 Mobb gem—“Back At You” (not to be confused with “Right Back At You” off The Infamous). This isn’t on streaming services, but check out the music video below. I still have this on vinyl. I think I rapped over the instrumental on my first tape, back when I went by D-Nice.
And to think Mobb Deep also dropped Hell On Earth in ‘96. I didn’t even touch any of that shit, and this post is still loaded with fuego.
Oh wait, a cherry on top. Here’s the Big Ghost LTD-produced mix of “Recognize & Realize” off the Coalmine Records Episodes Of A Hustla anniversary reissue (sorry it’s sold out, as is this new limited-edition variant they just dropped last week). Shout to my man Matt Diamond!
Big Noyd ft. Prodigy “Recognize & Realize (Part 3) (Big Ghost LTD Mix)”
Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend. The biggest salute of all-time goes out to Martin Luther King Jr. for his dedication to civil rights. One of my first real heroes as a kid, for sure.
Back at it tomorrow. Let’s have a great week.
Peace!
It’s interesting that Mister Cee considered including the “95 Live II” freestyle on his Best of Mobb Deep mixtape:
“Much apologies goes out to Stretch Armstrong and Doo Wop for not putting the freestyles on the tape and PHD for not putting your song on the tape but as you can see by the playlist, Mobb Deep got mad songs and I had to shorten and eliminate songs to make this tape possible.”
Yo - so crazy that this was the pick of the day because I literally listened to this album over the weekend. I saw the vinyl on Get On Down and it made me want to revisit this LP. It was like getting a bonus Mobb Deep album in Fall '96. Usual Suspect and Infamous Mobb were bangers.