Survival of the Fittest [Single]

Mobb Deep | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 29, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Single
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B00000DESF
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #153,761 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A certified classic, January 26, 2004

By 

Nathanial Grogan "styles678" (CH, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Survival of the Fittest (Audio CD)

This is the first Mobb Deep song I ever heard, and still my favorite (I think it's better than "Shook Ones, Part II"). I fondly remember the very first time I ever heard this song; I was visiting a club in Memphis in 1995 and came upon a local crew freestyling to the instrumental version backstage. I had never before heard such a simplistic yet beautifully brutal beat. I asked one of them what it was and he told me. After that, I scrambled to buy a copy of "The Infamous" just so that I could hear this song again.

This song's stunningly atmospheric beat is certainly its defining characteristic. Yes, the beat is fairly simplistic by today's standards - piano riffs set to a heavy bassline. However, they're some of the best piano riffs you'll ever hear. When placed against a pounding drum loop, the result is a bleak, haunting soundscape that conjures up images of gritty inner-city streets and allows you to imagine yourself in the same setting. In other words, the exact effect that a gangsta rap track should have on the listener. While modern rap tracks by producers like Lil Jon and Mannie Fresh rely upon dozens of sounds working together in concert, I think that "Survival of the Fittest" is a perfect example of how far simplicity can go. Havoc deserves major props for this track, and I wish that other rap producers would follow his lead and experiment more often with raw beats like this.

Of course, a good beat needs some capable rappers to flow over it, and fortunately, Prodigy and Havoc are more than up to the task. To this day, I'm still wondering why these two are not mentioned more whenever I hear people talking about the best rap lyricists of all time. Just peep this part of Prodigy's verse:

"There's a war goin' on outside, no man is safe from
You can run but you can't hide forever
From these, streets, that we done took
You walkin' wit ya head down, scared to look
You shook, cause ain't no such things as halfway crooks
They never around when the beef cooks in my part of town
It's similar to Vietnam"

Word. Who else but streetwise homies like P and Hav could convey the hopelessness and unceasing violence of New York's streets? Their vivid lyrics beautifully complement the equally vivid beat. The very title, "Survival of the Fittest", suggests a place of great turmoil where only a few will manage to survive and live normal lives. If they've got the same street smarts in real life that they display in this song, Havoc and Prodigy are definitely among "the fittest".

Bottom line: This is one of the greatest rap songs ever recorded. It not only stands the test of time, but also remains the epitome of musical and lyrical perfection in hip-hop. Whether you buy the album or the single, you MUST own "Survival of the Fittest". No rap fan should be without it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Mobb Deep- Survival of the Fittest, September 12, 2003

By 

Constant - See all my reviews

This review is from: Survival of the Fittest (Audio CD)

In 1995 Mobb Deep dropped there second album, a classic called "The Infamous" and brought there hardcore reality music to the forefront of the Hip Hop world. "Survival of the Fittest" is one of the tracks that makes that album so great, and my favourite from it. Prodigy opens with a line that many now know: "There's a war goin on outside, no man is safe from You could run but you can't hide forever..." between verses the Mobb drops an addictive chorus of "Yo, yo We livin this til the day that we die Survival of the fittest only the strong survive(We still livin it)". Wicked Piano Rifts back up excellent verses making "Survival of the Fittest" a track to remember.