Havoc was born in Brooklyn and raised in the Queensbridge Houses. Havoc is one half of the iconic hip hop duo Mobb Deep, and in addition to producing nearly the entire Mobb Deep catalogue, has also produced songs for MCs such as The Notorious B.I.G., Eminem, Nas, Raekwon, 50 Cent, 112, Method Man, Mariah Carey, Puff Daddy, LL Cool J, Rohff, Big Noyd, Lil Kim, Capone-N-Noreaga, Foxy Brown, Onyx, and his partner Prodigy on his solo work. In 2005, Mobb Deep recorded for fellow Queens rapper 50 Cent’s record label G-Unit Records and left the label in 2009, in a mutually agreed-to release.

Havoc is renowned as one of the most iconic figures in New York hip hop. Popular music magazine Complex ranked Havoc among the top hip hop producers of 1995 after The Infamous. Beattips.com ranked him as the 24th most influential beatmaker of all time citing his dual abilities of rapping and producing. Following The Infamous, he tweaked his skills and transitioned to a more atmospheric production style that incorporated samples from classical music, most notably visible on the 1996 album Hell on Earth. As a rapper, he is known for his hardcore lyricism and consistent flow. He also contributed background vocals and a verse on Black Moon’s debut album Enta da Stage in 1993.

In July 2009, Havoc was featured alongside in J Dilla’s music video for “24K Rap” off of the Jay Stay Paid album, the video was directed by Derek Pike. In 2010, Havoc produced a beat for Eminem which resulted in a song called “Untitled” which is a hidden track on Eminem’s album Recovery and contributed to the iTunes bonus track to Raekwon’s album Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang & Bad Meets Evil’s Hell: The Sequel EP. He revealed that he plans on recording a new Mobb Deep album with Nas. His third studio album 13 was released on May 7, 2013.

Havoc worked with Kavinsky on his 2013 album OutRun. He wrote the lyrics and sang the vocals for, “Suburbia”, the sixth track on the album. In 2016, Havoc produced “Real Friends” and “Famous”, two tracks on Kanye West’s album The Life of Pablo.

His original productions have been featured in numerous commercially successful films, well known television series and popular video games, and he is a character in Def Jam: Fight For NY. Havoc produced the New York Yankees official 2020 anthem, “Squad Up”, which features verses from both Havoc and Method Man.