User:John Anthony (Rapper)/sandbox/Hell on Earth (Freestyle)

"Hell on Earth (Freestyle)” is a song by American independent rapper John Anthony. It was released as a single in 2018 before being scrapped and re-released a year later in 2019 on the Four Forty Four EP, a three-track mixtape by John Anthony. The track is a remix to Mobb Deep’s 1992 track Hell on Earth, produced by Prodigy and Havoc. The song marked as John Anthony's first successful track. It being a remix of hip hop duo Mobb Deep's Hell On Earth, the remix was originally released on March 4, 2019 before being scrapped a few weeks later. It was then re-released on July 21, 2019 with newly added lyrics and became the kicked-off track in the long-storied career of John Anthony. He spent six years prior to the original release of Hell on Earth (Freestyle) releasing four mixtapes since 2012, but eventually scrapping all songs before restarting his career and changing his stage name.

The original 2018 remix was available on YouTube and SoundCloud for a couple weeks. It didn't gain any attention upon it’s release and was eventually taken down on June 21st, 2018. Besides the lack of notability on the track, John was also dealing with personally issues at this time, which was also a reasoning to the tracks downfall. A year later in 2019, John Anthony ended up re-releasing the track on the exact month and day for its original date on July 21st. The track would be the first song under John Anthony’s newly created Villainous Records label, which was created on March 11, 2019. Over 60% of the lyrics to Hell on Earth (Freestyle) were changed, in what was originally a one minute track became two minutes. The artwork cover of the 2018 version was also changed in the re-released version. More lyrics were added to the new freestyle, which ended up gaining some attention that the previous released failed at. The remix had mixed reactions as some of the lyrics were labeled as harsh and offensive, as others called it creative and skillful.

A few artists and producers gave their takes on the track. People such as DJ and Producer Louis Flores, Hip Hop artist and member of rap group D12's, Bizarre, and 2X Grammy winner and co-songwritter for Eminem' s The Slim Shady LP album Tommy Coster are just a few to name who gave their reaction and feedback on the track.

A remastered edition of the track was released on March 4th, 2020 as a special two-year anniversary of the original track. It featured a more clear vocal mix along with the Instrumental, A Capella, and a Clean Version of the track. The re-released remix including the remastered edition could be found on YouTube, as it is not available on the major online music stores yet.