Hip hop is mourning the death of Prodigy, the Queensbridge rapper whose gritty brand of street poetry helped define the sound of New York hip hip in the '90s. The grandson of jazz saxophonist Budd Johnson and the great-great-great-grandson of the founder of Morehouse College, Prodigy formed Mobb Deep with Havoc in 1993. Aside from health and legal troubles, he was active as an artist for the next 24 years.
This list explores a handful of Prodigy's best songs from 1995 to 2000: tracks from three albums with Mobb Deep and his debut solo album, plus a track from Return of The Mac, his 2007 collaborative album with Alchemist. Click through the gallery to read on.
"Survival of the Fittest"
Prodigy on "Survival of the Fittest," as told by Complex:
We made that in Hav’s crib, in Queensbridge. We’d make the beats in Hav’s crib [but lay vocals in the studio]. Or sometimes, we’d make the beat in the crib, write half of the song in the crib, then go to the studio and finish it. That was one of the ones where Hav ain’t really like the beat. He was about to erase that shit.
Ain't no such thing as halfway crooks...
"Up North Trip"
#2 on P's list of trends he set:
RAPPING WORDS THAT DONT ALWAYS RHYME.
It all began on the street, to the back of a blue police vehicle...
"Shook Ones Pt. II"
Prodigy on "Shook Ones Pt. II," as told by Complex:
I remember that clearly. We wrote that in the crib high on drugs. [Laughs.] Probably weed, probably was some dust in there, mad 40s, getting twisted. That was one of the first ones where we were like, ‘Whoa. This shit is ill. This shit sounds crazy right here. This is some other shit right here son. This ain’t normal.’ So we knew we was making some shit with that song. We were in the crib and we were spitting it to each other like, ‘Yo, this shit is some other shit right here son.’
We made that beat at my crib in Long Island. Hav found the sample. Hav was down there fucking with the records, he was like, ‘Listen to this.’ I was like, ‘That shit sounds ill right there.’ He did that and then we were fucking with the bass and the drums together. I seen that whole shit where they found the Herbie Hancock shit. That’s crazy. I didn’t know it was a mystery or that it was that serious to people. They were really trying to figure out where that came from.
I'm only 19, but my mind is old / When the things get for real, my warm heart turns cold...
"More Trife Life"
Like its Infamous precursor "Trife Life," "More Trife Life" follows Prodigy and Havoc as they attempt to link up with a girl while navigating the hazardous streets of New York. It is a storytelling masterpiece.
A rainy day laid up thinking, sitting getting bent / Watching old seventy flicks, mind's on the slouch
Back in the couch, heard the phone ring / It was a shorty from uptown I met back day...
"Hell On Earth (Front Lines)"
Rule one of writing novels is to make sure every character has something they want, or a code. Prodigy lays out his intentions in the opening lines of "Hell on Earth": "Tap all jaws, lay down laws."
You properly hit, blood in your mouth, so you could taste it...
"Quiet Storm"
Prodigy on "Survival of the Fittest," as told by Complex:
Hav was in the studio all day and I came late at night and these niggas was making a beat. Hav had the old Melly Mel song ‘White Lines’ sampled. After he laid the drum pattern, he added the piano—the piano is what puts that whole beat together—and then him and Noyd were like, ‘Yo, we going to pick up shorties.’ I was like, ‘Y’all niggas leaving? Let’s do this song, this shit is fire right here.’ They like, ‘Nah, we’ll be right back.’
They bounced and I’m in the studio dolo. I’m like, ‘Fuck it. I’m going in on this beat right now.’ I sat there and wrote the whole song in like an hour and I recorded it. I was coming clean like, ‘I spent too many nights, sniffing coke, getting right/Wasting my life, now I’m trying to make things right,’ because that’s how I was living. I felt like I had cleaned my life at that time. I wasn’t using anything, no drugs, no alcohol. I was living correctly and trying to make things right.
Yo, the P rock forty inch cables, drinking white label
My chain hang down to my dick, my piece bang glass tables...
"Keep It Thoro"
Prodigy's debut solo album H.N.I.C. opened him to production by new artists like Bink, Rockwilder, and Just Blaze. "Keep It Thoro" was produced by The Alchemist.
Sign deals only if the math is real...
"You Can Never Feel My Pain"
Prodigy wrote "You Can Never Feel My Pain" about living with sickle cell anemia. "Tupac, Ja Rule–a whole bunch of people talk about pain," he told Vibe in 2000. "And Tupac, he even said some shit about my sickle-cell [on his song "Hit 'Em Up"], so that inspired me to make a real song to show niggas what pain is."
My handicap took its toll on my sanity / My moms got me at the shrink at like 13
And doctors called the cops on me / ’Cause I be throwing IV poles and they ignore me...
"Genesis"
“The reason I did [H.N.I.C.] was for another check," Prodigy told Complex. "Mobb Deep was dropping albums every two years, so I figured why not get a check in between that? The difference is, it’s all P. It’s P’s ideas, P picks the beat, so it’s all my influence. It’s all my choices on there. With Mobb Deep, we have to agree on things. We have to agree that we want to use that beat or agree on the type of song we want to do. That’s the only difference really.”
P helps you separate both the sides / Let the truth arise, black devil don't hide...
"Stuck On You"
#26 on P's list of trends he set:
#26 I COULD JUST KEEP GOING BUT NOW I’M TIRED… HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY TREND SETTING, LOOK AT WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE.
I pop a nigga over my money, man all I know 'em...