Rapper Prodigy, one half of the influential hip hop duo Mobb Deep has died, according to a co-author on one of his books, Kathy Iandoli.
He was 42.
A
cause of death has not been released, but the rapper had been
hospitalized for complications caused by sickle cell anemia prior to his
death,
Prodigy had been in Las Vegas for a Mobb Deep performance.
With
its gritty rhymes and contributions by the artists Nas and Raekwon, the
album helped launch Mobb Deep to the top of the hardcore, hip hop
ladder.
Their 1996 follow-up, "Hell
on Earth," included the single "Drop a Gem on 'Em," which was a
response to a Tupac diss track, "Hit 'Em Up."
Prodigy detailed his beef with Tupac in a 2012 interview with Hip Hop DX.
"When
we made 'The Infamous,' we had a song called 'Survival of the
Fittest,'" the rapper explained. " On that song, in the beginning, my
man that came home from jail...in the beginning of the song, he says,
'Thug life, we still living.'"
"Tupac was the one who was most known for saying that," Prodigy said. "So I think that pissed Tupac off a little bit."
Mobb Deep was entangled in the East Coast/West Coast rapper rivalry of the '90s.
After
West Coast rappers Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound released the single
"New York, New York," Mobb Deep, along with Capone-N-Noreaga and Tragedy
Khadafi, countered with the track "L.A L.A."
Mobb
Deep released several successful albums, including "Murda Muzik"
(1999), "Infamy" (2001), "Amerikaz Nightmare" (2004) and "Blood Money"
(2006).
Two of their biggest hits were "Quiet Storm" and "Shook Ones."
Being a part of Mobb Deep didn't keep Johnson from solo projects like his album "H.N.I.C."
He also appeared on collaborative projects such as 2007's "Return of the Mac" and 2013's "Albert Einstein."
Johnson had some legal troubles. In 2007, he was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm.
He detailed that incident and more in his memoir "My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy."
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