Post: #1

Goddamn it, all the Icons are dying!!!!

(CNN)Rapper Prodigy, one half of the influential hip hop duo Mobb Deep has died, according to a co-author on one of his books, Kathy Iandoli.

He was 42.
A cause of death has not been released, but the rapper had been hospitalized for complications caused by sickle cell anemia prior to his death, Iandoli told CNN.
Prodigy had been in Las Vegas for a Mobb Deep performance.
Born Albert Johnson, the rapper's family had a storied history.
His great-great-great-grandfather, William Jefferson White, founded Georgia's Morehouse College in the basement of his Baptist church.
His grandfather, Albert "Budd" Johnson, was a saxophonist and clarinetist for Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Benny Goodman.
Johnson met fellow Queens, New York native Kejuan Muchita when they were both freshman at Manhattan's High School of Art and Design.
The pair bonded over their shared love of hip hop and formed Mobb Deep. Johnson took the moniker Prodigy, while Muchita chose the performance name Havoc.
They scored a record deal as teens and released the album "Juvenile Hell" in 1993.
The project didn't generate much buzz, but the duo found more success with their sophomore album "The Infamous."
With its gritty rhymes and contributions by the artists Nas and Raekwon, the album helped launch Mobb Deep to the top of the hardcore, hip hop ladder.
Their 1996 follow-up, "Hell on Earth," included the single "Drop a Gem on 'Em," which was a response to a Tupac diss track, "Hit 'Em Up."
Prodigy detailed his beef with Tupac in a 2012 interview with Hip Hop DX.
"When we made 'The Infamous,' we had a song called 'Survival of the Fittest,'" the rapper explained. " On that song, in the beginning, my man that came home from jail...in the beginning of the song, he says, 'Thug life, we still living.'"
"Tupac was the one who was most known for saying that," Prodigy said. "So I think that pissed Tupac off a little bit."
Mobb Deep was entangled in the East Coast/West Coast rapper rivalry of the '90s.
After West Coast rappers Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound released the single "New York, New York," Mobb Deep, along with Capone-N-Noreaga and Tragedy Khadafi, countered with the track "L.A L.A."
Mobb Deep released several successful albums, including "Murda Muzik" (1999), "Infamy" (2001), "Amerikaz Nightmare" (2004) and "Blood Money" (2006).
Two of their biggest hits were "Quiet Storm" and "Shook Ones."
Being a part of Mobb Deep didn't keep Johnson from solo projects like his album "H.N.I.C."
He also appeared on collaborative projects such as 2007's "Return of the Mac" and 2013's "Albert Einstein."
Johnson had some legal troubles. In 2007, he was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm.
He detailed that incident and more in his memoir "My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy."
"There were too many other adventures to squeeze in: his family's rich historical and musical legacy; his lifelong battle with sickle cell anemia; UFO sightings; episodes with Lindsay Lohan, Mary J. Blige, and Lil' Kim; and his contributions to the golden era of hip-hop," Johnson's memoir co-author, Laura Checkoway, wrote in a 2011 piece for the Village Voice.
In 2016, the rapper published "Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook" with Iandoli, which contained recipes and stories about the food he experienced while in prison.
Johnson was mourned on social media Tuesday by many fellow artists, including rapper Nas, who was the first to post about Johnson's death.

Post: #2

Yea, crazy news. I saw the story on Yahoo front page and I was floored to see it. I had no idea he was dealing with sickle cell.

Post: #3

I always liked that "Voodoo People" track.

Post: #4

(06-20-2017 10:49 PM)rapaz12 Wrote:  Yea, crazy news. I saw the story on Yahoo front page and I was floored to see it. I had no idea he was dealing with sickle cell.

Remember in "Hit em up" by 2 PAC he addressed the sickle cell as part of the diss.

Post: #5

(06-20-2017 10:56 PM)Atlanta Man Wrote:  

(06-20-2017 10:49 PM)rapaz12 Wrote:  Yea, crazy news. I saw the story on Yahoo front page and I was floored to see it. I had no idea he was dealing with sickle cell.

Remember in "Hit em up" by 2 PAC he addressed the sickle cell as part of the diss.

Quote:Don't one of you niggas got sickle cell or something?
You're fuckin' with me, nigga
You fuck around and have a seizure or a heart attack



You better back the fuck up
Before you get smacked the fuck up
This is how we do it on our side
Any of you niggas from New York that wanna bring it, bring it!
But we ain't singin', we bringin' drama
Fuck you and yo' motherfuckin' mama!

Post: #6

(06-20-2017 10:53 PM)Windom Earle Wrote:  I always liked that "Voodoo People" track.

That's The Prodigy electronic group not Prodigy the rapper of Mobb Deep.


RIP

Post: #7

RIP Legend. I've grown listening to his music. All we have now is his music that never dies.

Post: #8

I was just listening to The Infamous over the weekend. Of all the classic hip-hop albums from the 1990s, The Infamous has aged better than just about all of them.

Most people will say that the best hip-hop album from the 90s is Illmatic. And they wouldn't be wrong. But there's just something about The Infamous that makes it special. It has a certain atmosphere, a cinematic feeling.

Illmatic had a lineup of super producers contributing their best tracks, and half of the album was leaked before it was even released. Overall, Illmatic is a lot closer to a mixtape than the singular vision of The Infamous. The Infamous is the hip-hop version of early works by cinematic auteurs like Godard, Malick, or Scorsese.

On a side note, there's a new hire in my office building. A kid fresh out of school, in his early twenties. He listens to the typical stuff that young people these days listen to like Lil Yachty, Migos, Future, etc. The other day I showed him the video for Shook Ones and he was blown away. He couldn't believe how raw and complex Prodigy's flow was, and how he just keeps going...





So RIP to a legend, a man who helped shape one of the great hip-hop albums of all time.

Oh yeah, cant forget this one. This is the realest shit ever:

Post: #9

Shook ones is one of my favorite tracks of all time. RIP

Post: #10

RIP.

I am surprised he lasted as long as he did. Survival of the Fittest and Give up the Goods are my two favorites that I still listen to at least once a month.

Post: #11

Post: #12

In addition to a few classics posted up ("Shook Ones", "Hell on Earth", etc), here are 10 of my favourite Prodigy tracks.

RIP



Vids

Get away





Put em in their place





Audio / Vids

Outta control (video link)



Get money (video link)



Audio only

The Illest



Martyr



Tyranny



Win or lose





Daydreaming





Where ya heart at

Post: #13

Shook Ones Pt II is one of the hardest songs of all time. And there's no swears.

Post: #14

RIP Prodigy aka HNIC aka Thun Thun...he had to have been one of the most sampled artists at his peak. He had a great voice to go with a great delivery, over perfect Havoc tracks. They were such a perfect combo, and neither was as successful on their own.

There's a war goin on outside, no man is safe from, you can run but you can't hide forever

Post: #15

Two of the hardest songs are off his solo album. Even the beats are eerie and hard.





Keep it Thoro is in the hip hop pantheon of legendary songs of all time.

Post: #16

"My chain cost a quarter mill, imagine what I spend gun shoppin'"

Post: #17

Nas is probably my favorite rapper but I always felt Prodigy and Cormega were the ones that got at him the best. Not Jay-Z, despite all the publicity.

Post: #18

I first heard Shook Ones when first visitng an old stoner friends pad.

He had Marc Ecko's Getting Up on Xbox and was blasting the music through his hifi.

Asked him to just let it roll while we sparked up.

At the time I hadn't dug deep into Hip Hop. That track sparked a whole new love for the genre.

I regret not having delved deeper into their collection after listening to some of the tracks posted in this thread.

RIP Prodigy

Post: #19

Man they keep adding up. All in their early 40s too.

Prodigy
Heavy D
GURU
Sean Price

All my favorite rappers are dying off.


RIP Prodigy and RIP Sean Price!