ALBUM REVIEWS
Back in 2022, thousands of girls across the globe shared one dream – for a spot in HYBE and Geffen Records’ latest project: an unprecedented girl group that would bridge the West and K-pop. Fast forward two years, and after three months of competing in the YouTube reality series The Debut: Dream Academy, Daniela, Lara, Megan, Yoonchae, Sophia and Manon would emerge as the final line-up of the new girl group KATSEYE.
There’s an unmistakable bond between the members, the kind that transcends borders despite each coming from diverse cultural backgrounds – including the US, Switzerland, the Philippines and South Korea. After all, these were bonds forged through sweat and grit as they survived mission after mission that emulated the notoriously laborious K-idol training structure. Alongside them were 14 other contestants, handpicked from a pool of more than 120,000 hopefuls.
It is precisely from this shared sisterhood that ‘SIS (Soft Is Strong)’ finds its core. As one listens through the EP, its peculiar name starts unravelling itself. From getting over a crush melodramatically in ‘Touch’ – a dreamy dance-pop salute to independence that’s tinged with drum ’n’ bass influences – to brashly singing “Even if I mess it all up and make a million mistakes / At least I can say that I did it my way” on the emotive ballad, ‘My Way’, KATSEYE navigate the complexity of girlhood and all its ups and downs while staying soft in a hard world.
“Ohh We-ee-ee ain’t flexin’ babe we do what we do,” the group boldly declare in their aptly named debut single, ‘Debut’. Beginning their journey in discovering that strength comes in more forms than one, this high-energy pop anthem balances its exciting chorus with sing-talk verses that ooze attitude. Though the slick production manages to capture KATSEYE’s self-assurance despite being newcomers, it falls short as a fully realised arrival of the group – though, follow-up single ‘Touch’ more than makes up for it.
The shimmery, plucky intro of ‘I’m Pretty’ – the EP’s fourth track and standout – immediately transports us back to pop staples from the late-2000s. “Just when I think it’s too much I dry my tears with makeup / Things I could do with this brush, you’d never know that I hurt,” they sing full of emotion, as the group’s vocal prowess starts to shine through. “But I’m pretty (pretty) pretty (pretty) / Pretty sure that I’m still breathing,” KATSEYE affirm they are stronger than they think with effortless harmonies that masterfully glide through the airy instrumental.
Juxtaposing their hesitation to break free from a cycle of overthinking with an instrumental that dials up the ‘dance’ in dance-pop to an eleven, ‘Tonight I Might’ acts as the perfect closing for the EP. “Do all of the shit I know I didn’t do when I was a kid / Get high on life for somebody’s kiss, Tonight I might,” decide the girls as they playfully let go of their inhibitions, bouncing off a gleeful electronic dance beat that perfectly conjures the image of the end credit scene from a coming-of-age movie – especially during the explosive final chorus.
KATSEYE come out of the gate swinging with ‘SIS (Soft Is Strong)’, a surprisingly cohesive release that largely captures the group’s enormous potential. However, with none of the songs crossing three minutes – in fact, only two barely reach two-and-a-half minutes – it’s hard to shake off the itch you get when a song ends a little bit too early or the feeling that it was just one final chorus away from perfection. Still, this EP proves that they’ve got all the makings of the next big girl group, embellished with the polish and glitter of K-pop.
During a 2008 interview, Prodigy of Mobb Deep was asked if he ever feared death. Mortality followed him in every lyric he delivered, and few artists could capture that deep chill you feel when survival becomes part of your everyday life. His response carried the same tough energy that defined him, shaped by the reality of Queensbridge: “Every day I wake up like, ‘This might be my last day, and I’m not scared of it.’ I’m never scared to bite my tongue about something, or to come out and speak about something. Like, I ain’t scared of death. What you gonna do to me?”
Nine years later, at only 42, he passed away in a way that felt both tragic and strangely ordinary. While on tour with Havoc in Las Vegas, he was hospitalized for complications tied to his lifelong struggle with sickle cell anemia. There, he accidentally choked while eating alone and died. (His family would later file a wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital.)
Havoc spent years mourning his brother and bandmate, unsure how to properly honor him through music. “You wanna do something to send your comrade off with a 21-gun salute…because he deserves that,” he said recently on the Bootleg Kev podcast. With help from longtime collaborator the Alchemist, Havoc pieced together Infinite, Mobb Deep’s ninth album and part of Mass Appeal’s Legend Has It series. It marks the first posthumous release in the collection, which always comes with its own challenges. Yet Infinite flows as smoothly as any project of its kind. For better and worse, it feels like an album the duo could’ve released after 2014’s somewhat forgettable The Infamous Mobb Deep, an update to their signature gritty sound with a few hints of modern polish.
On paper, it feels like everything has been rewound. Aside from a brief COVID reference and one cringey Havoc line about getting canceled for a joke about chromosomes, most of the lyrics are either locked in time (“Taj Mahal” references the old Trump casino) or so universal they could live anywhere. Instead of calling on a team of producers like they did for Infamous, Havoc handles 11 of the 15 tracks himself, with Alchemist revisiting the dirty, menacing textures he perfected on Murda Muzik and Infamy for the remaining four.
The strongest Havoc beats from Mobb Deep’s golden era twisted familiar sounds into something dangerous. That edge is still there on songs like “The M. The O. The B. The B.” and “Mr. Magik,” where the tension mixes with the quieter, stripped-down percussion style he used on Kanye’s The Life of Pablo. It gives the low-end even more power. Meanwhile, Alchemist falls back into the rugged rhythms that made his name — dusty drums and echoing samples. The shimmering haze of “Taj Mahal” feels like something from an old Street Sweepers mixtape, while “Score Points” and “My Era” would fit perfectly on one of his earlier collaborations with Prodigy.
Prodigy is present on every track, never halfway in. He raps at least one verse on each song and even takes on some of the hooks. His voice is as cold and sharp as ever (“RIP, you can’t son me/My pop’s dead,” he spits on “My Era”), even when his writing circles back to familiar themes. There are still small gaps here and there, but Havoc and Alchemist treat his vocals with care. What matters most is that the bond between Havoc and Prodigy still feels unbroken. They were never flashy lyricists or complex writers — their power came from directness, from how rooted they stayed in LeFrak City no matter how far their fame reached. “Mr. Magik” gets closest to that old-school Mobb Deep feel, especially when they pass the mic back and forth, going at rivals, dodging CIA agents, and spending nights with mistresses. The same goes for “Easy Bruh,” a song driven by drums, faint piano keys, sirens, and some of Prodigy’s sharpest lines on the album (“Niggas mad? Put a cape on ’em/Now they super mad” actually made me laugh out loud). At its best, Infinite feels effortless, Mobb Deep comfortable in their seasoned, world-weary selves.
Things drift off when the production stretches too far or leans toward trends. Some guest spots make perfect sense, like Big Noyd showing up on “The M. The O. The B. The B.” with his trademark nasal intensity, or Ghostface and Raekwon bringing color and life to “Clear Black Nights.” But the Clipse feature on “Look at Me” feels more trendy than meaningful, and Nas, another close ally, drops in with one of those standard Mass Appeal-style verses that sound recycled from his recent albums. “Down For You,” which flips Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” into a hard-hitting love track, is a welcome addition to Mobb Deep’s catalog of street romance. Still, it loses impact when it reappears later on, this time swapping Jorja Smith’s hook for one by H.E.R. I can understand the decision, the beat goes hard — but it’s hard to take Nas seriously when he’s rapping about keeping a side chick like Tony Soprano. It’s one of the few moments that feels forced, and because there are so few, they stand out more.
Posthumous rap albums in the last decade have often been tangled in questions of control and exploitation. Thankfully, Infinite avoids those traps. It doesn’t carry the awkward tension that surrounded Gang Starr’s One of The Best Yet, nor does it feel stitched together the way DMX’s Exodus did. It never feels like Havoc or anyone else is cashing in on Prodigy’s legacy. In fact, it’s moving to hear them side by side again, even when Prodigy’s words hit too close, meditating on death while “staring up at the cosmos” on “Pour The Henny,” or dodging enemies both real and imagined as he gambles in Atlantic City. Still, much of the album feels like a return to familiar ground, reworking echoes of their strongest years. There are no moments that reach the levels of The Infamous or Hell on Earth, but Infinite does succeed in giving one of hip-hop’s greatest duos one final, heartfelt ride.
