Prodigy of Mobb Deep Dead At 42
TMZ is reporting that Mobb Deep‘s Prodigy has passed away at 42 years of age.
The group Mobb Deep, consisting of Havoc and Prodigy, performed on Saturday Night during the “Art Of Rap” tour.
In the past, Prodigy has battled health issues, and TMZ notes that one of those main battles was suffering from sickle cell, but the exact cause of death has not been determined. His publicist told TMZ that he was hospitalized a few days ago due to a sickle cell anemia crisis, and has had the condition since birth. Complex shares that the information on his health became public knowledge when Tupac Shakur brought it up in a feud in the mid 90’s.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVkeVHvAqEs/?taken-by=nas&hl=en
Noted by XXL, Prodigy was a “master wordsmith,” that handled all the lyrical weight of the group Mobb Deep. The publicist for the group confirmed to XXL that he was found unconscious this morning and had passed on. As the years have gone on, Prodigy even stumbled into the world of cooking by publishing a book in 2016 called “Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook.”
Johnson also came from a musical background, according to The Independent, stating that his grandfather and great-uncle were both Jazz musicians of the Bebop era, and his mom was one of the vocalists in the ’60’s group The Crystals.
His real name was Albert Johnson, and he and Kejuan Muchita (Havoc) created the group Mobb Deep together in the eary 90’s according to Pitchfork, and they note that the pair had continued to release music and tour together, with their most recent album The Infamous Mobb Deep back in 2014. One of their frequent collaborators, Nas, already posted his photo on his Instagram account, calling him “King P.”
Billboard shares that New York’s Mobb Deep ranked high on their second album The Infamous, and is listed as one of the “hardcore hip-hop” classics and peaked at 18 on the Billboard 200. “Shook Ones, Pt. II” is one of the most noted of their songs in their catalog.
GALLERY: Mobb Deep Through The Years
R.I.P. Prodigy.
We will continue to update you as the information arrises.
Amy Cooper is the type of journalist that when asked “What do you bring to the table,” she replies “I am the table.
