Retro Mob #9: Rare Mob Figaz Features

Dark times in the Mob Figaz camp right now. The most exciting thing to come from the Mob Figaz in the last year is the juicy celebrity gossip swirling around AP.9 and Ice-T's wife, Coco, rather than something like, oh I don't... actual music. Now if you google AP.9 the result "AP.9 Coco" is the first suggestion to pop up:

Oh well though. Even though we have not heard any good Mob Figaz music in quite some time, at least this picture now exists:

Just look at that facial expression. Thanks to his thin moustache, AP.9 looks like a mischievous pirate who is absolutely delighted by a hidden treasure chest he discovered and is letting out a high-pitched "ooooooooohhh!"

Anyways this is not TMZ, this is 100 Grand on My Wrist, Yeah Life Sucks, so let's talk about some motherfucking rap music. The Mob Figaz were quite prolific from the time of their debut album in 1999, up until around 2009 and along with their numerous solo projects they were featured on tons of other rappers' projects. Today we are going to highlight some of the lesser known Mob Figaz features out there:

I don't think a less original album title exists for a rapper named Mr. Sandman

Mr. Sandman ft. Fed-X, Husalah, Rydah J. Klyde, "Ghetto Desperados"



Mr. Sandman was a rapper from San Francisco associated with the RBL Posse who released a few albums in the late 90's/early 2000's before disappearing with the rest of the SF rap scene. Here is an interview with him from 2008 in which he looks equally nervous and stressed out by the interviewer's shockingly bad sense of fashion.
"Ghetto Desperados" is a great song from Mr. Sandman's 2001 album Quicksand, with a beat that sounds like a pleasant vacation on a tropical beach. Any form of a hook is abandoned in favor of extended dope verses, especially from Husalah.
Mr. Sandman also did a song with Jacka and Husalah that showed up on his 2002 album, 10% Love Me 90% Hate Me, which had a super awesome album cover that was featured in this blog's Album Cover Fun Pt. 3 post. But that song is not as awesome as "Ghetto Desperados" because it features Husalah and especially Jacka recycling the fuck out of their existing verses. Come to think of it, the Mob Figaz have recycled a lot of verses over the years, but that seems to have cooled off now that verses from them are not in as high of demand.

Chino Nino ft. The Jacka, Fed-X, AP.9, Rydah J. Klyde & Ampichino "Intergalactical"



Chino Nino was one of the original Akron rappers out and can be credited with doing a lot to establish the strong Akron-Bay Area connection that exists today. As you can see from the album cover, 2001's Knock'em Wit Game featured tons of prominent Bay Area rappers, including the Mob Figaz. I believe this song is the first time Jacka and Ampichino were on a track together, who would go on to release a pair of duo albums together; Devilz Rejectz: 36 Zips and Devilz Rejectz 2: House of the Dead, two of my favorite rap albums of all time.
Chino Nino always had a weird stop-start flow that takes a while to get used to, but is definitely unique and will grown on you with time.

Laroo The Hard Hitter ft. The Mob Figaz & Lil Ric "We Boguard"



This album by Laroo came out in 1998, 8 months before the Mob Figaz released their debut album. It's pretty rare to find songs by the Mob Figaz before 1999 because the group didn't really exist in its current form until C-Bo brought them together to record their debut album. Before he got involved, Jacka and Fed-X had a duo group called Fatal Mentality and Husalah, Rydah J. Klyde, AP.9 and Rob Lo had a group called Creep Mob. They all knew each other pretty well, but C-Bo is the one who made them a group...at least that's how I think it went down. There are a lot of minor details about the Mob Figaz origins that are a bit hazy and it probably doesn't really matter much at the end of the day how they came together. What does matter is that this song is tight and has that 90's Sinister Mobb feel to it that no longer exists in Bay rap music today.

"Damn it Mark, I said photoshop in a microphone, not a goddamn electric shaver!"

Guce ft. The Jacka, Cosmo, AP.9 & Rydah J. Klyde "Never Say Never"



Whenever I see this album cover I accidentally read it as "Hate Speeches" for a second and become momentarily enraged/confused. Heated Speeches was a Bay Area compilation released in the Spring of 2001 that was loaded with great Bay Area features.
It's interesting that when the Mob Figaz were starting out AP.9 was arguably the best rapper of the 5, probably due to the fact that he was the only one not in his teens when they were recording their debut album and always sounded extra angry in his raps. Today though he is probably one of the weaker of the 5, showing very little versatility in his flows compared with the others. Regardless, they are all dope rappers in my book and hopefully they still have some quality songs left in them before they call it quits.

What do you think of these songs?
What are your favorite Mob Figaz features?
Do you have information about the origins of the Mob Figaz?
Do the Mob Figaz have some good songs left in them?