Prodigy - H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 Review

You see, Prodigy is locked up. Jailed for the next few years, this is the last we will hear from P on wax for a while, so if you're a fan (as so many of us are) then "H.N.I.C. Pt. 2" is going to have to hold you down during his bid. Stung by police on gun possession charges (someone please inform me of the percentage of rappers going down on similar charges right now) he is serving time. Part of me can't understand what possesses millionaire rappers to flagrantly flaunt the law when they have got so much to lose... Part of me can't judge because I have never walked a mile in Prodigy's boots before... But the bigger part of me is filled with sadness that another talented music artist is locked up and unable to release the kind of music that hip hop heads have always loved....full text Prodigy's 2007 album Return of the Mac was a leftfield triumph, the work of a rapper everyone had counted out reconnecting with everything that was great about him in the first place. As half of the bloody-minded Queensbridge duo Mobb Deep, Prodigy had come off a losing streak at least a half-decade long. He'd been dissed by Jay-Z, signed to G-Unit and released a flop of an attempted comeback, and saw crossover attempt after crossover attempt go nowhere. But with Return of the Mac, he and producer Alchemist dove into their stashes of 1970s blaxploitation-flick soundtracks and came up with a stark and grimy revivalist movie, a cinematic fever-dream memory of the old, gritty New York. In a bad year for rap, it was a cause for celebration....full text Prodigy's H.N.I.C., Pt. 2 landed as the Mobb Deep member was beginning a three-and-a-half year sentence on unlawful gun possession charges. It also follows his excellent Return of the Mac album by just a little over a year, although Prodigy has taken to calling that effort a "mixtape" even when it looked and played like your standard issue full-length. Put these two facts together and it might explain why the ambitious H.N.I.C., Pt. 2 is a near masterwork, an almost classic that just can't lift its head over the bar Return of the Mac placed so high. Compared to that album, H.N.I.C., Pt. 2 is a much more varied and traditional effort with producer Alchemist stepping aside occasionally to let folks like Apex, Sid Roams, and Prodigy's Mobb Deep brother Havoc behind the boards....full text