Mobb Deep: We have much love and respect for B.I.G

Mobb Deep have today released their exclusive Billboard interview. The hip hop duo talk The Infamous, their second album coming up on its 20 year anniversary on April 25.

On their earliest attempts to land a record deal:
"When me and Hav just met I had access to Battery [Mastering] Studio for a little while, because they had wanted to sign me as a solo artist. But then I met Hav. We clicked right away and I was like, 'nah, we're going to do this group thing now.' They didn't really want to do the group thing so we lost access to that studio."

On being under the influence while recording:
"Ah man, that was like a daily ritual for us. [We were in] the studio with some 40s, weed, [and] we had some bogeys. That was just our thing, man [laughs]. We were young, having fun and enjoying life so that was definitely a big part of the Mobb Deep studio sessions back then [laughs]."

On The Notorious B.I.G:
"We have much love and respect for B.I.G. [He] was in Brooklyn doing [his] thing, we were in Queens. That's one of the people that we knew that when we came across it would almost be like we already knew each other. That's how much respect we had for each other. There never was any bad blood. We knew he was a dope artist and I'm sure he felt the same about us. Whenever we crossed paths it was always love."

On new music:
"We've just been working on the beginnings of it. We've got a few joints knocked out; it's coming along. It'll be out soon."