On January 8, 2008 Albert “Prodigy” Johnson of Mobb Deep infamy began serving a three and a half year
sentence after pleading guilty to gun possession charges stemming from an
incident in 2006.
Nevertheless, before entering those four walls and momentarily
losing his freedom, P was able to record his third solo project, HNIC 2, which was released in April 2008
and on October 21, 2008 he released Product
of the 80’s
with longtime associates Big Twins and Un Pacino.
Not too long after Capital P’s incarceration AllHipHop asked its
Ill Community
members to ask the Q-Boro MC some questions with assurances that hewould answer each one candidly. Thanks go to P’s wife KiKi
for asking those questions and recording his answers. Now peep P speaking freely.
AllHipHop.com: What does Prodigy think
about the reception of HNIC 2? Did it live up to his expectations? –Isis
Prodigy: I like the reception of the album HNIC
Part 2. It’s been good, know what I mean, while I been locked up in jail, so it
did what it did know what I mean? And you know my music is not fast food, it’s going
to always sell. We have a permanent shelf life and I ain’t
just no come and go artist, it ain’t gon’ tomorrow so… By the time I get home, I’ma still be promoting it, I’ma
go on tour promoting it. I’ma drop a new one. But I’ma make all my albums go gold.
That’s my goal;
to reach that 500 mark for every Mobb
Deep, Prodigy project that we put out. It is what it is right now. I’m happy
with it.
AllHipHop.com: Who, in your mind, are
the Top 5, or 10, greatest MCs in Hip-Hop history?
-TheKnowledge
Prodigy: I’m rolling with top
five, ten is too damn much. Let me see. Hip-Hop
history, G#######. Probably Run-DMC, ya know Rakim, probably LL [Cool
J], who else? Kool G Rap. Nas. Let’s throw Mobb Deep in there, know what I’m saying. Mobb Deep. That’s like five right
there right?
AllHipHop.com: Do you think signing with G-UNIT
alienated/disappointed your CORE audience that supported y’all since “The
Infamous” era?
-Willy Killem
Prodigy: Umm, I don’t know. I think some people didn’t like it, some people
did like it. We don’t make business moves for other people,
we make business moves for ourself [sic] and for our
music. So it really doesn’t matter to us what people think. You can hate it or
you can love it, it really doesn’t matter. We’re gonna make our deals, we’re gonna
stay relevant. We’re always gonna
drop albums. These other rappers out here, they running around frontin’ talking all this this
that and the third, their albums are never coming out. They can’t even drop a album. They got people that, “ahh
he’s the best rapper around.” Their album is never coming out first of
all. They can’t even put an album out.
So when you look
at Mobb Deep and we’ll be able to stay consistent,
keep dropping albums and keep making new deals after all this time we’ve been
in the business, you can’t do nothing but respect that. So whoever got
something bad to say, they a loser, they stupid. You know they’re ignorant and
umm, that’s what it is, know what I’m saying?
AllHipHop.com: Why did you not put “My World is Empty
Without You” on HNIC 2? –Stringer Bell
Prodigy: Basically I did a lot of songs [and]
everything just don’t make it on the album.. There’s a few reasons that I won’t get into. It has nothing
to do with the lyrics. It has nothing to do with what the song is about. It was
definitely business. It was a business decision I made
to make that I couldn’t put it on the album because of a business decision I
made to make. It was definitely a good song. I would have put it on the album
but just I couldn’t do it. I have songs on the album that are just as strong as
that, same message so it’s all good. And that song is still
out there. The world knows the song, that’s all that counts. As long as the
world hear it, get it online they can hear it everywhere or whatever on mixtapes. That’s all that counts. The world acknowledges
that the song is there.
AllHipHop.com: Do you think that 50 Cent beefing with
everybody in the industry is hurting your chances, Mobb Deep and other G-Unit artists from making that Big
Cheese that the rap game has to offer? -IRocJs23
Prodigy: Nah, I mean whatever 50 do that’s what
50 do. That has nothing to do with Mobb Deep you what
I’m saying? If 50 disses somebody and it does affect
us like, “Oh that person doesn’t want to do a song with Mobb Deep now, or doesn’t wanna
buy a beat from Mobb Deep,” then hey, that’s
that person lost. We don’t really give a s**t. We do
what we do regardless. 50 say what he wanna
say. Mobb Deep gon’ say
what we wanna say, and we all gon’
keep it moving. Like his career doesn’t stop our career, our career doesn’t
stop his career. No matter what we do, we are our own individual people.
AllHipHop.com: What books are you reading? -The_R_
Prodigy: S**t I read all factual books right now
like autobiographies, history books, just everything man. I’m [inaudible] the 120
Lesson’s Of Islam [Ed. Note: Prodigy is referring to the 120 lessons of the 5%
Nation]…s**t everything. I just read every that has something to do with black
history and s**t to do with this planet earth that we live on. Just factual information
you know what I’m saying? I’m not really into fiction and all that s**t know
what I’m saying, I’m really not with that. I’m gonna use my brain power and time and energy to read
big thick ass books. I want it to be something that I’ma
learn some information that’s factual that I can do something with you know what I mean. So that’s what I’m reading. I got Eldrige Cleaver’s autobiography.
I got a book called Medical Apartheid
that’s an ill book. I got a lot of books man. They’re all factual, just real
good information; that’s what I’m about.
AllHipHop.com: I know you read a lot and recently expressed
your concerns for the future in an animated video done by Broadway. Do you have
any plans to keep talking about these “new world order” plots on Mobb Deep albums? -illseed
Prodigy: I mean, yeah. Whoever said this is
something is new for Prodigy must be a little kid and really don’t know nothing, they
don’t know our history. Because Prodigy been
on it like this since I was in ‘96. Everyone knows me for that. Even Jay-z
sampled my words when I said “Illiminati want my
mind soul and my body.” Jay-Z sampled my words on his Reasonable Doubt album. That came out’95, ‘96 back in the day so…
That’s how long I’ve been talking this kind of information. This
nothing new for me.
Everybody that
acting like, “Oh P talking all this s**t because he locked up now,” or,
“He think he Malcolm X because he in jail.” N***a get a life and do some
homework, do some research ‘cause you’re dumb ass would put your foot in your
mouth if you knew that Prodigy been
on it like this and your just a dumb a###### who just talk s**t; just a hater.
Because I see a lot of people on the Internet leaving comments, saying s**t
like, “P talking all this bulls**t, all this political conspiracy s**t
because he locked up,” and all this and the third but to tell you the
truth, this is what P is all about. This is what P been all about, period. This
me. If you don’t like it, who gives a f**k? I do what
I do regardless. That’s why people that support my music, that’s why they like
me, because I don’t give a f**k. I do what I do
regardless.
AllHipHop.com: Rappers are going mainstream. You have
rappers like Jay-Z, Ludacris and even 50 cent
hobnobbing with Bill Gates, billionaires and serious power. What are your
thoughts on this? -sgt. mashout
Prodigy: I mean hey, that’s cool. That’s the
money and power they got. So these are the circles that they around, they in
circles with other billionaires and millionaires. That’s what’s gonna happen. When you have that
much money, your gonna be
associated with other people that got that much money. And that’s what it is. So more power to them. Let them keep going, let them keep
getting right. That’s great.
AllHipHop.com: Do you ever hit creative blocks, how do you
get past them? -Ken_Masters
Prodigy: Nah, I don’t never have a creative
blocs, I don’t never have writer’s block. I don’t even know what that means.
People say, “I got writer’s block,” I look at them like they crazy
because that’s just a personal problem that they have to learn how to overcome.
I never went through that. Every time I go the studio I don’t have a problem
with writing.
AllHipHop.com: What were your interests outside of rap
coming up? And what made you say, forget everything else, I’m gonna be a rapper? -Esoteric429
Prodigy: The only thing that made me say that was
Run-DMC’s song “Sucka
MCs”; that s**t and maybe like Rakim’s ” My
Melody.” Those two songs right there just made me want to start rapping.
It just gave me that feeling and it had that aggression that was inside of me
that I wanted to put out. I was little, I was like 11,
like 10 years old when them songs came out. I was like, “Yeah that’s what
I wanna do right there, I wanna
rap.” ‘Cause I was looking at them on the TV, listening to their songs on
the radio.
AllHipHop.com: How did you feel when Jay-Z sampled your
voice for “D’evils”? -CheezyaDoDo
Prodigy: I was just like, “Oh s**t, umm I
don’t remember him getting my permission to do that. I didn’t sign nothing for
that, you know what I’m saying, Jay-Z owe me a check.” But other than
that, it was all good, you know what I’m saying, it
was all good. I like Jay and what he does, but certain things he does I don’t
agree with at all. I don’t agree with a lot of things he does to tell you the
truth. But you know when people sample my voice, sample my words, it’s all out
of respect and love because usually that means they like it—they like the
words that I’m saying so it’s all good.