Big Noyd holds up a half-drunk bottle of brandy as though it were an Olympic torch, pleading: “Lord forgive me, the Hennessy got me not knowing how to act!” He and Havoc of Mobb Deep have not lost a coulomb of their electric, heart-racing energy.
The first night of the New Yorkers’ European tour begins with a run of Survival of the Fittest, Eye for an Eye, Right Back at You and Give Up the Goods; Temperature’s Rising is performed by Havoc over isolated boom-bap drums, and stripped back, the song is all the more atmospheric. These tracks are all taken from their second album The Infamous, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and is still revered for its cinematic darkness, conveying the grittiness of their Queensbridge neighbourhood through evocative and scene-setting lyricism.
