Hip-Hop’s Top 10 Most Infamous Breakups

You see what we did there? The recent turmoil between Mobb Deep’s Havoc and Prodigy makes it abundantly clear that the stability of your favorite rap group is never guaranteed. There are many examples throughout Hip-Hop history of duos and groups we thought would be rocking forever who ultimately decided to go their separate ways. Some managed to reunite, but too many ended up forsaking their glory days for years of #struggle music, much to their fans dismay.

We kept this list to actual groups and no, we’re not placing OutKast on this damn list. Here are Hip-Hop’s Top 10 Most Infamous Breakups.

MORE ON HIP-HOP WIRED!

• Bangin Candy: Drake’s “HYFR” Vixen Stephanie Monique [PHOTOS]

• Just Because: The Best GIFS From Drake’s “HYFR” Video [GALLERY]

• Nicki Minaj Holds Album Release Party At Miami’s Club LIV [PHOTOS]

• Bangin Candy: Playboy Playmate Tisha Marie [PHOTOS]

• Pharrell Williams’ Most Stuntastic Moments [PHOTOS]

• The Best Moments Of WWE’s Wrestlemania Weekend

• The 10 Most Expensive Music Videos In Hip-Hop History

• Buck Dancing For Fowl: 10 Stereotype Enforcing Fried Chicken Commercials

• Every Jay-Z Magazine Cover, Ever* [PHOTOS]

—

Photo: Columbia Records

Leaders of the New School

The story goes that Busta Rhymes had been booted from Leaders of the New School before the group ever signed their record deal. But, Elektra said no Busta, no deal, and the Dungeon Dragon was back in the fold. Bussa Bus managed to stick around for two  albums before constant clashes with Charlie Brown, and that verse on “Scenario,” saw him off to solo stardom.

The Fugees

The Fugees sophomore album, The Score, sold six million units in the US alone. This meant Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras could go in a studio and basically fart over some instrumentals and they would get paid. But, the turmoil within the trio was so toxic (Clef allegedly cheated on his wife with Lauryn, Ms. Hill wanted to do her own thing, Pras wanted to keep rhyming, etc.) that despite a few glimmers of hope of a reunion, the group is pretty much “not meant to be.”

The Firm & Cormega

Supergroups are now a dime a dozen, but the original line up of The Firm–Nas, Cormega, Foxy Brown & AZ–was a murderer’s row of Hip-Hop heat. But by the time the album dropped, with beats by Dr. Dre no less, Cormega had been replaced by Nature. Say what now?

EPMD

EPMD’s first break up in 1993 went down before the Internets was poppin’, so fans were left to figure things out via a handful of feature stories and word of mouth. When the dust was settled (the urban legend is Parrish Smith had Erick Sermon robbed), the Hit Squad (Das-Efx, Redman, et al) split with the two honchos going their separate ways. The L.I. duo reconciled in the late 90s and have been steadily touring ever since, with the Hit Squad recently reuniting for a performance in NYC

A Tribe Called Quest

Internal bickering and label politricks, the former revealed in last year’s documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, led the seminal group from Queens (and Brooklyn, peace Ali Shaheed Muhammad) say it was wrap after the release of 1998’s The Love Movement album. Q-Tip just signed to G.O.O.D. Music and technically ATCQ does owe Jive another album, so…

Gang Starr

Be clear, over the years Gang Starr had broken up on the low low several times, only to get back together because the connection between DJ Premier and the late Keith “Guru” Elam was that strong. Unfortunately, Guru passed away before he and Premier could officially make amends and cook up more of that Gang Starr music anyone with good taste could appreciate.

Goodie Mob

Four members means the odds of some strife are better, and Cee Lo ended up being the odd man out. Goodie re-formed, minus Cee Lo, to drop an album called One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show. Guess who the “monkey” was supposed to be? Nowadays Cee Lo Green is known more his crooning than sharp rhymes, but the Goodie Mob is back together and working on an album.

Junior Mafia & Lil Kim

The Notorious B.I.G. handpicked his local homies to be the Junior M.A.F.I.A. before they even knew it. Lil’ Kim was JM’s break out star and Lil Cease was supposed to be next up to bat for solo glory. After B.I.G.’s death the crew tried to hold it together. But Lil’ Kim ended up doing a one year bid thanks to that infamous shooting at Hot 97, which led to Cease being labelled a rat; and family wasn’t family no more.

Little Brother

Hey, if the Native Tongue collective could have all types of internal issues, why not their younger sibling? Little Brother split in 2007 after issues festered between producer 9th Wonder and the group’s MC’s Phonte and Big Pooh. 9th and Phontigallo are back working together, but Pooh isn’t in the mix, just yet.

N.W.A

Jerry Heller was making a killing off of N.W.A, but its members, besides Eazy-E, weren’t seeing a sizeable percentage of that revenue. Ice Cube was the first to call shenanigans and go solo. Soon enough Dr. Dre was outta there, too. The Doctor got Suge Knight help free him of his recording contract, and you should know how the rest of that story goes.