Darren is a Bronx-born writer/reporter who's dabbled in entertainment journalism for over a decade. Bylines have appeared in/on Maxim and Maxim online, AOL's The Boombox, Alternative Press, Popmatters, Star, Blender and others. His CD reviews have been published in the All-Music Guides to Rock and Hip-Hop.
Darren Ratner
Mobb Deep’s ‘Juvenile Hell’ Turns 20
"Our rap comes from the streets," exclaimed Havoc, one half of Queens-bred hardcore rap duo Mobb Deep, in a 1995 TV interview. "It's about reality -- straight up."
You couldn't help but believe him, either. Two years earlier, on April 13, he and his longtime sidekick, Prodigy, released 'Juvenile Hell' -- a debut LP of bat-toting, nerve-shaking tracks that all but drowned their