Shook Ones (Part II)

"Shook Ones (Part II)"
Single by Mobb Deep
from the album The Infamous
Released	February 7, 1995
Format	CD single
Recorded	1994
Genre	East Coast hip hop hardcore hip hop
Length	5:26
Label	Loud, RCA, BMG
Songwriter(s)	Mobb Deep
Producer(s)	Mobb Deep
Mobb Deep singles chronology
"Hit It from the Back" (1993) "Shook Ones (Part II)" (1995) "Survival of the Fittest" (1995)
"Hit It from the Back" (1993) "Shook Ones (Part II)" (1995) "Survival of the Fittest" (1995)

"Shook Ones (Part II)" is the lead single from Mobb Deep's 1995 album The Infamous. In 2010 Pitchfork Media included the song at number 25 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.^[1] Rolling Stone magazine placed the song on its list of The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.^[2]

The song is a sequel to the group's 1994 promotional single "Shook Ones", with similar lyrics, but less profanity. The original song is featured on the b-side of some releases of "Shook Ones part II" and was also included on the international version of the group’s album Hell on Earth.

The song is told from the perspective of inner-city youths engaged in territorial warfare and struggling for financial gains.

An uncensored version of this song was never released. This censorship could be to be played on the radio stations.

Complex ranked "Shook Ones (Part II)" at #23 on their list of the 25 most violent rap songs of all time.^[3]

As sampled by other songs

• The song was sampled by Skillz using a line from Havoc's verse in his minor single "Move Ya Body" from his album From Where???.
• The song was sampled by Mariah Carey in her single "The Roof," Sublime in its song "April 29, 1992 (Miami)", the Canadian R&B singer Keshia Chanté in her 2003 single "Shook (The Answer)", and in Mims' debut single "This Is Why I'm Hot".
• New Kids On The Block singer Jordan Knight sampled the song on the album track "Don't Run" from his 1999 self-titled debut, though in the liner notes it was improperly credited to another Mobb Deep song "Survival Of The Fittest".
• The Fat Joe song "The Crack Attack," samples a line from the song to form the chorus.
• It was briefly used in the G-Unit diss song 300 Bars and Runnin by The Game.
• The Group Home song "Tha Realness" from their album Livin' Proof samples bits of Prodigy's vocals ("...the realness" for the hook and "...comes equipped" on various parts of the song).
• British Emcee Akala samples it in his track 'This Is London' on 2004's The War Mixtape.
• A sample from the end of Prodigy's verse, "take these words home and think it through", is used by East Coast Avengers in their song, "Dear Michelle", a response to Michelle Malkin's criticism of their single, "Kill Bill O'Reilly.^[4]
• Trip hop musician Emancipator produced a mashup of "Shook Ones (Part II)" and Sigur Rós's song "untitled 1 / Vaka"
• Atmosphere sampled, and did a slight variation of the intro of "Shook Ones (Part II)" on their intro of "Always Coming Back Home To You". Atmosphere also sampled and did a slight variation of the hook of "Shook Ones (Part II)" in their song "Party For The Fight To Write".
• Rick Ross samples this song for his song "Audio Meth", which is in an iTunes Pre-Order version of Teflon Don.
• The song was sampled by Donell Jones in his song "The Only One You Need".
• American Pop star Lady Gaga samples the opening instrumental and a couple of verses in an interlude known as "Paws Up" or "Antler Film". The song was also mixed with Fancy Footwork (Crooker's Remix).
• This song was sampled in the song "#sheplife" by Briggs and was featured on the Golden Era Mixtape 2012
• Kaotic Sypher sampled one line from this song in a song with Bogus, True and P.L. Crazee, called "Tight Situation". He sampled Prodigy's line: "Gettin' closer to God in a tight situation".
• Krumb Snatcha's song "Gettin' Closer To God" sample the same line from Prodigy's verse.
• German Hip-hop duo Eins Zwo used Prodigy's line "Take these words home and think it through" on "Flaschenpost", the 3rd track of their 1998 debut EP "Sport".^[5]
• The Broadway play Hamilton uses elements of it in the songs “My Shot” and “Blow Us All Away”.
• Drum and bass producer Liminal sampled the a cappella on "back in tha house" released in 2015 on cymbalism recordings

Covers

• Rapper Everlast performs a slightly modified but extremely faithful version of the lyrics over the original track, billed as a collaboration on the Loud Rocks compilation album.
• The song was covered by Grav over a slightly modified version of the instrumental.
• Bay Area rapper Ya Boy performed a rap over the instrumental on his mixtape The Fix
• Atlanta artist B.o.B recorded a freestyle over the instrumental, entitled "The Biz" on his mixtape May 25th
• Finnish rap group SMC Hoodrats performed a self-titled rap over the instrumental, sharing the original song's theme and lyrical content about inner-city youths living in infamous neighborhoods.
• The beat of the song was used for "Wachuwannado", a song by Krayzie Bone and The Game.

Other pop culture references

• The song was included in the soundtrack of various video games, including True Crime: New York City, Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, NBA 2K13 and NBA 2K18.
• This was used as the entrance song for Rashad Evans at UFC 114.
• In his song "Ebonics", in which he explains the meanings of popular slang words in the 1990s, Big L claims that "Mobb Deep already explained the meaning of 'Shook'", referencing Shook Ones & Shook Ones Pt. II.
• The lines "I keep them shook crews running, like they supposed to. You come around, but you never come close to. I can see it inside your face, you're in the wrong place," were referenced in the Emmure song "R2deepthroat" as an homage to Mobb Deep.
• The instrumental was used by the NBA as a commercial to promote the 2012 NBA Playoffs for the San Antonio Spurs.
• The instrumental was used for TDE's cypher at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards.
• The Song April 29, 1992 by Sublime samples the line "long as I'm alive I'ma live illegal" from the song.
• The song was used in Eminem's 8 Mile during opening credits and as the beat for the final rap battle, in which Eminem's character dissected his opponent, Papa Doc, with the line, "This guy don't wanna battle, he's shook, 'cause ain't no such things as half way crooks."
• In the Broadway Hit Hamilton, both the titular Alexander Hamilton and his son speak the lyrics of Shook Ones Pt.II -- "I'm only nineteen but my mind is older."
• Mentioned during a Luke Cage episode
• The track is featured in the tenth episode of season three of Netflix's web series Narcos.^[6][7]
• This song was briefly used in one of the episodes of Empire (2015 TV series) as Cookie taraji P. Henson was driving.

Track listing

1. "Shook Ones part II" (LP version) — 5:26
2. "Shook Ones part II" (instrumental) — 4:41
3. "Shook Ones part II" (A Cappella) — 3:49
4. "Shook Ones part I" (original Version) — 4:13
5. "Shook Ones part I" (instrumental) — 4:13

References