― johnnyandluther (johnny and luther), Saturday, 31 July 2004 16:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― OCP (OCP), Sunday, 1 August 2004 12:01 (nineteen years ago) link
― adam. (nordicskilla), Sunday, 29 August 2004 22:38 (nineteen years ago) link
It's a hip hop album in which fear can turn to total all out aggression in a matter of seconds (or a matter of one line). As Artiste said above, you get lines like "Heart pumps foul blood through my arteries, and I can't turn it back it's a part of me" and 10 seconds latter they're lashing out again with "Fuck the whole world kid, my loot comes first". If those rhymes reflected their own realities, then these guys were at breaking point when they made it. It's that intense.
However they were pretty poor when I saw them recently in London, with Prodigy rapping all of Havoc's verses. A shame.
― Derek Walmsley, Monday, 30 August 2004 15:25 (nineteen years ago) link
Sounds like Shook One behavior to me.
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 30 August 2004 15:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― jake b. (cerybut), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:16 (nineteen years ago) link
― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:22 (nineteen years ago) link
now, prodigy wearing a tutu is another story entirely ...
― jake b. (cerybut), Monday, 30 August 2004 16:28 (nineteen years ago) link
"you was a ballerina, I got the pi'tures I seen ya!"
It's kind of hypocritical in a way though to call rappers phonies (note: nobody in this thread did) because they come from an affluent neighborhood but rap gangsta...
I hear a lot of people do that and some of these are the same people who listen to, oh, Cannibal Corpse, and goregrind acts who don't exactly act out the imagery they scream about! :)
I just got The Infamous today...loving it so far.
I hated that song they did with 112 that had that stupid line "he must be out his monkey assed mind...."
― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 13 January 2008 19:14 (sixteen years ago) link
the new havoc album is pretty bad.
― titchyschneiderMk2, Sunday, 13 January 2008 19:23 (sixteen years ago) link
k, resumed listening to The Infamous and god these are some sweet beats....
― Bo Jackson Overdrive, Sunday, 13 January 2008 21:36 (sixteen years ago) link
new album in the spring, playing B'more 3/30
― Beatrix Kiddo (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 31 January 2014 01:47 (ten years ago) link
whoa
Albert Johnson (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Prodigy, is an American rapper and one half of the Hip-hop duo Mobb Deep with Havoc. He is the great-great-grandson of the founder of Morehouse College.
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Friday, 31 January 2014 03:55 (ten years ago) link
new album's out next week, with a second disc of unreleased tracks from the Infamous sessions. (no idea if this is truly unheard stuff or songs everyone already has.)
anyway, anyone heard the new stuff? thoughts? i love the first single
― alpine static, Wednesday, 26 March 2014 07:07 (ten years ago) link
loved the alchemist/prodigy album, prodigy off the beat off the rails into fantasy murder shit, less cinematic more high number cable channel true crime mind of the killer documentary, scarier for its attention to tiny details, shooting into cigarette lights. havoc in 2014 better production better flow lyrically better than i've heard from him in the last decade.
― dylannn, Wednesday, 26 March 2014 07:22 (ten years ago) link
but, no, this won't be good or interesting.
― dylannn, Wednesday, 26 March 2014 07:25 (ten years ago) link
homey just said prodigy from mobb deep dropped a singer-songwriter― johnny and luther (johnny and luther), Saturday, July 31, 2004 4:59 PM (9 years ago)
― johnny and luther (johnny and luther), Saturday, July 31, 2004 4:59 PM (9 years ago)
― dylannn, Wednesday, 26 March 2014 07:26 (ten years ago) link
i have heard Prodigy say this April marks 20 years since The Infamous, but ... it doesn't. it's 19. unless I'm missing something?
― alpine static, Wednesday, 26 March 2014 08:05 (ten years ago) link
stream the new one herehttp://www.pandora.com/station/play/1932140457487230704
― IKEA metaballs (Spottie), Friday, 28 March 2014 07:05 (ten years ago) link
maybe this one http://www.pandora.com/station/play/1411412518987239135/8230260838111
― IKEA metaballs (Spottie), Friday, 28 March 2014 07:09 (ten years ago) link
― alpine static, Wednesday, March 26, 2014 4:05 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
he said this when i did a phone interview recently, and i was like "..." and just let it stand and went into my next question, i didn't have the heart to be pedantic with fucking Prodigy from Mobb Deep
― some dude, Friday, 28 March 2014 10:38 (ten years ago) link
lol iv bn fsn 2 hell on earth https://soundcloud.com/asfcz-xzcc/rtaht-udd-dj at 35;xx m;s scuze teh francolatin arabi
― zxc, Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:15 (ten years ago) link
two tracks in and it's fairly meh
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:20 (ten years ago) link
I do like the beat on "Say Something", or at least the chorus...Prodigy's verses are fairly boring tho
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:21 (ten years ago) link
https://soundcloud.com/asfzxdc-assdw/euinhytgvb 6;48
― zxc, Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:47 (ten years ago) link
some dude: apparently he means 20 years since they made it in '94 (i asked)
whatever it takes to get product out, i guess, i dunno
― alpine static, Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:52 (ten years ago) link
yeah i know they recorded the album in '94 and the new outtakes are in '94, but he keeps specifically saying this April is the 20th anniversary of the album, which, did they record it all in April 1994 and then it took a year to come out? maybe, but i doubt it.
― some dude, Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:56 (ten years ago) link
this is my article btw, i took pains to work a "bring to the table" reference into the headline: http://citypaper.com/music/more-than-famous-1.1656970
― some dude, Saturday, 29 March 2014 00:57 (ten years ago) link
yeah i'm not saying it's airtight reasoning, just saying that's what pr told me. i figure someone said "hey 20-year anniversaries seem to be a thing let's just say that and most people will just go w/ it"
nice piece, al
― alpine static, Saturday, 29 March 2014 01:59 (ten years ago) link
p is a ... challenging intvw
― alpine static, Saturday, 29 March 2014 02:06 (ten years ago) link
actually he's not that bad, i retract
― alpine static, Saturday, 29 March 2014 02:09 (ten years ago) link
Whiney seemed to give it a semi-positive review in RS. wasn't too taken by the opening two tracks but admittedly that's as far as I got. will probably stream it later
― Neanderthal, Wednesday, 2 April 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
using Prodigy's logic on the 20th anniversary thing, Chinese Democracy is celebrating its 16th anniversary (or possibly 20th, depending on where you set the starting line at) this year.
― Neanderthal, Thursday, 3 April 2014 00:53 (ten years ago) link
Enjoyed what I heard after a quick stream. Gonna get it.
― IKEA metaballs (Spottie), Thursday, 3 April 2014 03:04 (ten years ago) link
I wound up getting it after all, changed my mind somewhat on the first two tracks when I heard them on better speakers lol
― Neanderthal, Thursday, 3 April 2014 03:05 (ten years ago) link
4 tracks in this is def a vast improvement over that "Black Cocaine" ep of a few years back
― Neanderthal, Thursday, 3 April 2014 03:09 (ten years ago) link
for sure
― IKEA metaballs (Spottie), Thursday, 3 April 2014 03:17 (ten years ago) link
I dig the single/first track. Love the sorta wavy/gritty feel of the repeating synth line. Havoc's solid, and Prodigy is OK, but I love his delivery on the "i'm the worst demon you could ever ask for"
― alpine static, Thursday, 3 April 2014 03:35 (ten years ago) link
yeah, definitely got rid of the commercial trappings that were being hinted at on Black Cocaine...
beat's good enough that I don't need Prodigy to be perfect anymore. they were in town tonight and debated seeing em but dunno, they did way too many Blood Money and Amerikaz Nightmare tracks last time.
― Neanderthal, Thursday, 3 April 2014 03:38 (ten years ago) link
mack wilds is michael from the wire, wtf. also, cd version is only 13 tracks plus the bonus disk... WTF
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 8 April 2014 19:03 (ten years ago) link
feel like some ppl in this thread are questioning Prodigy's trendsetting >:(
― Raptain Chillips (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 8 April 2014 19:06 (ten years ago) link
i'm questioning the omission of four tracks (two produced by Havoc) for the cd version, which is like thirty minutes long.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 8 April 2014 21:22 (ten years ago) link
hahaha: https://twitter.com/PRODIGYMOBBDEEP/status/454005765691293696
― alpine static, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 21:44 (ten years ago) link
lol
― How dare you tarnish the reputation of Turturro's yodel (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 21:49 (ten years ago) link
lol, lord he's sensitive. he replied to me once when I made a crack about how nobody bought H.N.I.C. 3 although he was in better humor than this.
I think Greene's wrong though. I mean, obviously, this isn't a dent on their early classics; they aren't capable of generating iconic lines anymore, Prodigy is still blunted and detached, but I mean I find their rhyming effective and the production surprisingly warm. I'd put this in the 7-ish range.
― getting strange ass all around the globe (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 21:51 (ten years ago) link
In that review, Greene said Q-Tip raps on "Give Up the Goods." Is he talking about, like, an outtake verse on this reissue's unreleased tracks? Or did I just misread what he meant?
― good and relaxing like akon dont matter (intheblanks), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:17 (ten years ago) link
i was a little confused by the review, which appeared to of a reissue of the original 1995 album that's packaged along with the outtakes and the new album, afaik that's not the case at all?
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:23 (ten years ago) link
definitely not, it's just the new album and outtakes unless there's a package that I was unaware of.
― getting strange ass all around the globe (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 23:04 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, there's nothing on Amazon or Discogs about a reissue of The Infamous. Super-weird that Pitchfork covered it as a reissue.
― good and relaxing like akon dont matter (intheblanks), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 23:31 (ten years ago) link
A few days ago I heard an XM interview with Mobb Deep celebrating "20 years since the recording" of The Infamous. So it appears as though they're not only promoting the album but promoting it as a 20th anniversary thing even though it's not quite there just yet.
― billstevejim, Thursday, 10 April 2014 08:16 (ten years ago) link
Prodigy and I also talked about the remastered Infamous album. I asked him if he and Havoc felt like the original album's sound needed an upgrade. His answer: "Nah. But we did it anyway!"
The more I think about it, the more this quote reads like a lie you'd tell your teacher when they ask you how hard you worked on a report.
― good and relaxing like akon dont matter (intheblanks), Thursday, 10 April 2014 15:45 (ten years ago) link
The May 1st deadline alleged by Mobb Deep's publicist has passed with no actual reissue of The Infamous or a "Super Deluxe" version or whatever. Also, you can no longer buy a "three-disc" mp3 copy of their new album that contains The Infamous as disc 3.
― good and relaxing like akon dont matter (intheblanks), Saturday, 3 May 2014 20:29 (ten years ago) link
all this proves to me is that Prodigy is as scatterbrained as ever.
I like the new album but their performance at the show I saw months ago was one of the laziest 'who gives a fuck' things ever. I left it early.
― getting strange ass all around the globe (Neanderthal), Saturday, 3 May 2014 20:36 (ten years ago) link
Tough to parse out to what extent this is scatterbrained, and to what extent it's willfully misleading people to get press for the new record
― good and relaxing like akon dont matter (intheblanks), Saturday, 3 May 2014 21:03 (ten years ago) link
Also, don't know if this is linked upthread, but one of the prizes from the Mobb Deep crowdfunding site was a limited addition "Infamous" bike
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/theinfamousmobbdeep/
― good and relaxing like akon dont matter (intheblanks), Saturday, 3 May 2014 21:05 (ten years ago) link
Word rapidly going around that Prodigy has apparently passed on, per a posting from Nas
Prodigy of Mobb Deep has passed away at age 42. RIP to the legend. pic.twitter.com/Y3w6I9ap7I— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) June 20, 2017
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 18:08 (six years ago) link
holy shit
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 18:09 (six years ago) link
WOW oh no
― down that brown path (Spottie), Tuesday, 20 June 2017 18:10 (six years ago) link
pic.twitter.com/H8bINCq0Iq— Hanif Abdurraqib (@NifMuhammad) June 20, 2017
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 18:30 (six years ago) link
Some details
http://www.okayplayer.com/news/prodigy-mobb-deep-dead-42.html
The group’s publicist issued a statement confirming the news stating:“It is with extreme sadness and disbelief that we confirm the death of our dear friend Albert Johnson, better known to millions of fans as Prodigy of legendary NY rap duo Mobb Deep. Prodigy was hospitalized a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by a sickle cell anemia crisis. As most of his fans know, Prodigy battled the disease since birth. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined. We would like to thank everyone for respecting the family’s privacy at this time.”
“It is with extreme sadness and disbelief that we confirm the death of our dear friend Albert Johnson, better known to millions of fans as Prodigy of legendary NY rap duo Mobb Deep. Prodigy was hospitalized a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by a sickle cell anemia crisis. As most of his fans know, Prodigy battled the disease since birth. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined. We would like to thank everyone for respecting the family’s privacy at this time.”
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 18:32 (six years ago) link
:(
― brimstead, Tuesday, 20 June 2017 18:46 (six years ago) link
ugh only 42, so sad
― black covfefe in bed (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 20 June 2017 18:47 (six years ago) link
all time greatrest in peace to the god
― Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 20 June 2017 20:20 (six years ago) link
I'm goin' out blastin', takin' my enemies with meAnd if not, they scarred, so they will never forget meLord forgive me the Hennesey got me not knowin' how to actI'm fallin' and I can't turn backOr maybe it's the words from my man Killa BlackThat I can't say so it's left a untold fact, until my deathMy goal's to stay aliveSurvival of the fit only the strong survive
― Charles "Butt" Stanton (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 20 June 2017 22:44 (six years ago) link
rest in peace, P. cot damn that sucks, another legend gone way too soon. knew he'd had sickle cell since childhood but damn.
Havoc's tweet was p heartbreaking and touching at the same time.
Aw, damn. One of the absolute greats.
― El Tuomasbot (milo z), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 01:55 (six years ago) link
go buy a prodigy album. as time went by, out of all the nyc 90s rappers that mostly got by off like nostalgia shit and doing fairly tasteful work, maybe it was the knowledge that every day he woke up could be his last, the experience of his illness, going to jail, whatever-- he was an original, challenging artist. i think probably not many here checked out the bumpy johnson album, which is where he sorta steered off the radar and sounds like it was made in 1999 instead of 2012, probably prodigy at his lyrical best apart from hnic / mobb deep material. or albert einstein, four years ago, alchemist beats and a flow that's as far from what 2017 rap flow is like as possible, only occasionally maybe accidentally structured like a rap verse is conventionally structured, or rhymed or showing any sort of formal constraints, full of psychotic imagery, like weed smoke floating through a gunshot in the back window of a car. or the hegelian dialectic from this year, which was disappointing as i expected an album promoted on infowars and called the hegelian dialect to be less chilled out conventional rappin than it was but it has its moments and i like introspective prodigy.
https://streetknowledge.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/prodigy.jpg
― dylannn, Wednesday, 21 June 2017 04:35 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbaDNpjSJ1Q
― dylannn, Wednesday, 21 June 2017 04:39 (six years ago) link
i never went back to 'murda muzik', even though it was next up after 'hell on earth', b/c i had bought the disappointing 'infamy' on release, checked out probably until 'hold you down' - but listening to it today, it's good. kind of surprising to hear 8ball on a mobb deep record.
prodigy's delivery has got to be one of the all time artistic coups in rap history. there's nothing at all that you'd say is bad about it, the way some limited rapper might sound stiff or mechanical or whatever - but it's not at all inviting, he swings about the least of any new york rapper from his era, he's deliberately monotone and jams everything together to mute the rhetorical edges of his utterances, the contours of his clauses, he conceals a lot of what he has in the way of punchlines and wordplay or even the internal rhymes that new york rappers are so dependent on - but he knows the secret of making you listen.
'those that listen, get addicted to my diction'
― j., Wednesday, 21 June 2017 05:25 (six years ago) link
oh jesus i only just read this
RIP
― pray for BoJo (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 05:30 (six years ago) link
now i want to buy his cookbook
https://www.amazon.com/Commissary-Kitchen-Infamous-Prison-Cookbook/dp/0997146230
― nomar, Wednesday, 21 June 2017 06:24 (six years ago) link
― Chocolate-covered gummy bears? Not ruling those lil' guys out. (ulysses), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 18:57 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDZDu5rTJWM
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 21:23 (six years ago) link
my fav off MM ^^ outside of Quiet Storm. organ squeals always gonna get me hyped.
― down that brown path (Spottie), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 21:28 (six years ago) link
good posts j and dylann
kind of surprising to hear 8ball on a mobb deep record.― j., Tuesday, June 20, 2017 10:25 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― j., Tuesday, June 20, 2017 10:25 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
suave house production suited mobb deep just fine.
― down that brown path (Spottie), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 21:31 (six years ago) link
shit!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 22:20 (six years ago) link
http://nahright.com/2009/05/08/prodigys-open-letter-to-esquires-stephen-marche/
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Wednesday, 21 June 2017 22:54 (six years ago) link
"Outta Control" was #1 on my decade-end list.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 21 June 2017 23:38 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjzSEdKNIsw
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 22 June 2017 08:08 (six years ago) link
yessss
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 22 June 2017 08:41 (six years ago) link
thats great, whats it from?
― down that brown path (Spottie), Thursday, 22 June 2017 17:30 (six years ago) link
http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/06/prodigy-dj-whoo-kid-hnic-pt-1-mixtape/
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 22 June 2017 23:48 (six years ago) link
:)
http://www.stereogum.com/1948494/atlanta-newscasters-sneakily-pay-tribute-to-mobb-deeps-prodigy/video/
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 23 June 2017 01:36 (six years ago) link
thx xp
― down that brown path (Spottie), Friday, 23 June 2017 03:43 (six years ago) link
pac's bars on 'hit em up' particularly ugly rn
the rap tribute i prefer is from 'still not a player':
I lay your head on my chest, come feel my heartbeatWe can park the Jeep, pump Mobb Deep, and just spark the leaf
if that's not a description of heaven i don't know what is
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 23 June 2017 08:24 (six years ago) link
prodigy on Pac:
2PAC pac grew on me, i really started liking pac when he made i get around and then really when he made hail mary and when he was going at mobb deep, i was feelin the fire in his heart. pac wasnt afraid to speak his mind about anything and the beats he chose were dope, i went back and bought alot of his older shit and had a new respect for him later on. people say "how you gonna like pac when he dissed you?" but i dont make my decisions off of what people say, i move on my own instincts. dont care if pac said shit bout my sickle cell, i still like 2pac regardless. so whoever disagrees, so what................................................................
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Friday, 23 June 2017 21:40 (six years ago) link
his interviews and writings are gold mines
― down that brown path (Spottie), Friday, 23 June 2017 21:46 (six years ago) link
Enjoyed this Song Exploder episode about "Shook Ones Pt. II" with Havoc:https://songexploder.net/mobb-deep
― jaymc, Monday, 6 July 2020 01:06 (three years ago) link