As part of the legendary New York duo Mobb Deep, rap icon Prodigy was a confrontational, gritty voice of inner city struggle in the 1990s and, despite his endless battles and rivalries with other artists, he became revered as one of the defining figures of hip-hop's golden era. His grandfather Budd Johnson and great-uncle Keg Johnson were both renowned jazz musicians and his mother Frances Collins was part of the girl group The Crystals in the '60s, but Prodigy (real name Albert Johnson) grew up on the Queensbridge housing development in New York where hip-hop ruled, and he was signed to Jive Records by the time he was 16.
Despite their debut flopping badly, his partnership in Mobb Deep with school friend Havoc went on produce the classic landmark album 'The Infamous' in 1995, and the huge top ten hit records 'Hell On Earth', 'Murda Muzik' and 'Amerikaz Nightmare' followed as Mobb Deep cemented a reputation as aggressive, thuggish champions of East Coast gangsta rap.
Their darker, angrier mood stood in stark contrast to the swaggering, g-funk style of their West Coast peers, and Prodigy sparked a number of high profile feuds with Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, Jay-Z and Wu Tang Clan. Even as hip-hop became more commercial and chart friendly, Prodigy retained his tough, uncompromising attitude and steely delivery on his trilogy of 'H.N.I.C.' solo albums in the 2000s. Over the years he also made guest appearances on tracks by Nas, Notorious B.I.G. and Lil Kim, and was touring with Ghostface Killah, KRS-One and Ice T in 2017 when his lifelong struggle with sickle-cell anaemia led to his death at the age of 42.
