It’s been 8 years since the unfortunate death of rapper Prodigy, best known for being one half of the duo Mobb Deep. This was a huge loss to anyone that follows hip-hop since him and Havoc have been legends in the game for so long. You know joints like “Quiet Storm”, “Survival of the Fittest” and of course their most well-known hit “Shook Ones, Pt. II” as well as classic albums like The Infamous and Murda Muzik (and even some of the lesser-known ones like Amerikaz Nightmare); we thought we’d never have another album from them again…
However….
Well, you know the whole thing with posthumous releases is that most of them are often there to milk out whatever material they had left in the vault, and there have been times where that’s the case — examples like Pop Smoke, JUICE WRLD and let’s face it, the 2Pac and Biggie stuff after their deaths — and there have been cases where it’s treated with care and respect, like some of Mac Miller’s releases after his death. Prodigy already had a posthumous album out with The Hegelian Dialectic 2: The Book of Heroine, but it was 5 years after the first one (which was released 5 months prior to his death).
Then there’s the other factor here with Mass Appeal, the record label founded by rapper Nas. They’ve been doing this series of albums titled Legend Has It…, which features seven albums set to be released this year, from Nas and DJ Premier, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Mobb Deep, De La Soul, Big L, and Slick Rick. Three of those have been released so far with Slick Rick, Raekwon and Ghostface, and now we have news about Mobb Deep doing one — mainly a final album that’s half-posthumous since Havoc is still around. Speaking of Havoc, it helps that both him and The Alchemist, a long-time collaborator of Mobb Deep, have their hands on this with getting unreleased vocals from Prodigy, taking their time getting the verses right and not rushing in to make a quick buck.
Thankfully, this album actually turned out to be stellar and out of the Mass Appeal releases so far, I was liking this the most and as a posthumous release, it’s very consistent with the topics from gunplay, street shit, bragging on how they’re the best rappers in the game — the familiar stuff they’re known for. Yeah, it’s a bit different considering the circumstances with Prodigy no longer been there, but I heard Havoc wrote his verses after he heard Prodigy’s part so it would fit within the song.
Production-wise, I did say that Havoc and The Alchemist provided that, but the majority of tracks here are in Havoc’s hands with Alchemist producing 4 out of the 15 tracks. While I’ve always championed The Alchemist on his production and still will, Havoc is excellent on the beats — a reminder of what we heard from hip-hop way back in the day and the samples used for haunting effect. A great example is the track “Down For You” featuring Nas and Jorja Smith. The song samples “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber, something that’s been used in media for films like The Elephant Man and more notably, Platoon.
A funny thing about the song also is that there are 2 versions of that. The first one has vocals from Jorja Smith with Nas delivering the lines:
And then on the 2nd song, which features vocals from singer H.E.R.:
Yeah, an inverse of that and also, hey, Nas. I expected him to show up here considering he’s been in almost every Legend Has It… project this year but given him and Mobb Deep have collabed on stuff more than once, it seems fair. He’s also on the track “Pour The Henny”, where Havoc and Nas pour one out for Prodigy, and in his verse he said not to cry for him since he’s lived a full life in his career like a real-life king in New York. Very poignant yet still heartbreaking.
Writin’ in my nocturnal journal to a dark beat
On a cold dark night, I came up with these
Four hundred words that best describe me
And my lifestyle, I’m not like you, I’m unique
In the twilight, I shine bright and get my mind right
I was born under the full moon
And I’ll die starin’ up at the cosmos
Laid out ’til my heart come to a stop and then my eyes close
I lived a full life, don’t cry for me
A real-life king of New York, the top of the heap
I did songs with Mary J. Blige, my nigga
Mariah Carey, Big Pun, and Nas, my nigga
I did tours with Biggie Smalls, my nigga
Eminem, 50 Cent, I did it all, my nigga
The features are stellar as it isn’t fully loaded with them but they do understand the assignment. I already mentioned the vocals on both “Down For You” songs with Jorja Smith and H.E.R. and Nas (on 3 tracks), but the rapping features we got include Clipse doing their thing on “Look At Me” and Pusha T deliver this line:
I’d rather rhyme with your spirit than these other niggas
Ten years from now, question is, who was them niggas?
Came in the game arm in arm with my brother, nigga
All I see is murder, so it’s really fuck them other niggasAny time we mentioned, all you hear is classics
Kilo, asterisks, doin’ gymnastics (Uh-huh)
Cop it up and crash it (Yeah), all the guns is plastic (Uh)
Lookin’ at you has-beens, nothin’ like you bastards
Keep in mind, him and Malice shared a verse and they still killed it. Big Noyd, another known associate of Mobb Deep, appeared on the song, “The M. The O. The B. The B.” and there’s a nitpick here as I didn’t like the hook on this. It sounds like something some other rapper would do and it is (I don’t want to mention that guy here) but the verses weren’t bad on this. Then we also have Ghostface Killah and Raekwon on “Clear Black Knights,” and it’s a good ‘ol posse cut with this one. All bars, no hook, just Mobb Deep and two well-known Wu-Tang members on the mic, and I think both Raekwon and Ghostface did better here than their own releases this year (they were cool but not that great to me).
“Taj Mahal” makes a smooth single with the Alchemist’s production behind it: a standard chilling-at-the-club type of joint with that haunting atmosphere where anything can do down. “Mr. Magik” plays up that magic show theme but in a way of using magic to eliminate their enemies like ABRACADABRA- your body is now in the river.
Criss Angel, David Blaine knows my sons
I make your body float when I throw you in the Hudson
The district attorney office try to indict me
I make the witness and the case go away
I shake the FBI and CIA, they can’t wait
The day I slip, make a mistake
I’m like a one-man Las Vegas gig
“My Era” has them rapping about how they’re different from the modern rappers from this era and how soft and artificial they are, but I never felt like it was an ‘old hating on the young’ type of thing but more how their stuff isn’t that high in quality. On the final track “We The Real Thing”, Prodigy on the hook states that he’s not worried about beefs with other rappers or other rappers’ beefs and no, you know this has nothing to do with the possibly ongoing Kendrick/Drake beef. Also, him and Havoc speaking on if anybody is comin’ at them, they better be prepared for all out war and how they aren’t messing around.
I admit, I was a bit worried about this being a posthumous album and how it would be handled, but I think this is one where I don’t have to worry about anything. This album showed us that classic Prodigy sound we know and love, and we’re happy to hear him again knowing that there won’t be anymore following this. Hearing this album made me think of two things: First, it made me feel happy that someone in Prodigy’s camp does know how to do it right and not try to overdo it, mostly like how Mac Miller’s estate has dealt with how they’re releasing his material — it actually makes me wonder about Maclib (the project with him and Madlib) — but the other thing is how on the other side of things, it can easily be messed up — an example being Faith, the 2nd and final posthumous record from late rapper Pop Smoke and how that record had unfinished verses from him and dependent on a lot of guest features and music trends. I remember a track with him and Dua Lipa, like “huh?” That’s the example of what I was afraid of, but that was unlikely to happen since that record was on a major label and Infinite is on Mass Appea,l and at least Nas does care about Mobb Deep and getting this project done right.
FINAL VERDICT: BUY IT. Prodigy may be gone from us but his spirit remains infinite on this album. Rest in Peace…
INFINITE is on HClass/Infamous/Mass Appeal Records on CD, vinyl, digital download and on streaming services. This and other merch are available to buy here.