He Produced for Biggie and Tupac — An Interview with Easy Mo Bee

This interview took place in late 2008, ahead of the release of ‘Notorious,’ the Notorious B.I.G. biopic, and was originally published on XXLMag.com. Republishing here due to the passing of Craig Mack — Mo Bee produced his 1994 hit single “Flava In Ya Ear.”

Easy Mo Bee is a hip-hop legend who got his start producing for Big Daddy Kane, and then produced 10 tracks on The Genius’ (before Wu-Tang and before he was The Gza) debut LP, Words From The Genius. He got in good with Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records camp, which lead to a working relationship with Diddy FKA Puff Daddy.

When Puff split Uptown and formed Bad Boy, Mo produced the bulk of the label’s early material, most notably the first singles from both Craig Mack (“Flava In Ya Ear”) and the Notorious B.I.G. (“Party and Bullshit”). During this time, he also worked with 2Pac, even producing the original version of “Running,” which featured Pac and Biggie. He worked with Tupac on his 1995 LP, Me Against The World, before putting in more work with B.I.G. on both Ready to Die and Life After Death.

Since the late 90s, Mo Bee’s been floating a bit under the radar. But he did manage to work with Alicia Keys on her second LP The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), producing the Gladys Knight/Isaac Hayes mash-up “If I Were Your Woman.”And in 2007…