Havoc

Queensbridge Roots

Havoc was born Kejuan Waliek Muchita on May 21, 1974, in Brooklyn and grew up in the Queensbridge Houses in Queens. His paternal grandfather was the jazz trumpeter and composer Bill Dixon. At Manhattan's High School of Art and Design he met Albert Johnson, who rapped as Prodigy. The two formed a duo in 1990 called Poetical Prophets and renamed themselves Mobb Deep in 1992.

The Sound of The Infamous

Mobb Deep's first album, Juvenile Hell (1993), barely registered. For the follow-up, Havoc took over most of the production himself. The Infamous (1995) was cold, stripped down and ominous, with eerie piano and string samples over heavy drums. "Shook Ones, Part II" and "Survival of the Fittest" defined the sound of mid-90s New York street rap. Havoc kept that feel through Hell on Earth (1996) and Murda Muzik (1999), which debuted at No. 6 and No. 3, and critics now count him among the key producers of that period. Mobb Deep later recorded for Jive and then 50 Cent's G-Unit label, which released Blood Money in 2006.

Producer for Hire and Solo Artist

Outside the group, Havoc has produced for Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., Eminem, 50 Cent, Raekwon, Method Man and Mariah Carey. He has production credits on Eminem's Recovery and on "Famous" and "Real Friends" from Kanye West's The Life of Pablo (2016). His solo career began with The Kush, released on September 18, 2007, by Nature Sounds. He produced it himself, and Prodigy and 40 Glocc appear on it. It entered the Billboard 200 at No. 173, and "I'm the Boss" was released as a single with a video. Hidden Files followed in 2009 through Koch. He returned to Nature Sounds for 13 (2013), which features Styles P, Raekwon, Royce da 5'9" and Lloyd Banks and is his first solo album without Prodigy. AllMusic called it his strongest work in about a decade. After that came 13 Reloaded (2014), The Silent Partner with The Alchemist (2016) and In the Name of Prodigy with Flee Lord (2020).

Keeping Mobb Deep Alive

Havoc and Prodigy fell out publicly in 2012 and made up in 2013, then released The Infamous Mobb Deep in 2014. After Prodigy died in 2017, Havoc took charge of the duo's legacy. He directed Infinite, a 2025 Mobb Deep album on Mass Appeal that was built from Prodigy's archived vocals, with The Alchemist and Nas involved in the project.