Prodigy of Mobb Deep - H.N.I.C. (November 14, 2000)

I've been waiting for a minute to pull the ol' switcheroo here on BBR and tackle a run of my choice in reverse chronological order. Due to the tragedy of recent events in hip hop, this next short run cannot be more perfect for such a flip.

I gotta be honest: I shared many a head in limiting my hip hop rotations strictly to material written by the recently-deceased legend Albert Johnson bka Prodigy from the ageless Mobb Deep, with the exception of my recent two subjects of course. During this time of hip hop loss, I revisited exactly why he was one of the earliest MCs whose lyrics I obsessed over. Nay, I reflected back on said reasons with a more developed ear for this game of ours and was even further amazed at his talent for visualization. Literally listen to any song he participated in off the Infamous, Hell On Earth or the Episodes Of A Hustla EP by unofficial 3rd Mobb Deep member TaJuan Perry bka Big Noyd aka Pizza Dude. (Lots of Mobb Deep fans haven't even heard of that last choice. Shame really, as its rightful reputation should be that it's every bit of a classic offering as those two projects.) And I do mean any song: Son was on a tear that very few MCs throughout hip hop history share. What made all this absolutely fascinating is that this skill for imagery came virtually outta nowhere, because nobody expected P (as many liked to call him) to become anything of note when they heard the Mobb's debut Juvenile Hell (which certainly had some surprisingly strong performances, despite every single piece of bad publicity it got.) In short: The man became an undisputed legend within the space of three years. Like I said: Fascinating.

So now, Mobb Deep are on top of the world. Critical acclaim and commercial success was piling in and the brand was gaining significant exposure, mirroring the trajectory of fellow label mates the Wu-Tang Clan. Of course, P was no bonehead, because he paid very close attention to the business model they pioneered: By spreading their group members within the industry as solo artists, they ensured maximum exposure to their brand. He took one look at the resulting influence they gained and decided now was a good time for a solo project.

Which brings me back to why this is the perfect post for me to tackle this next run in reverse chronological order: Prodigy actually started working on his solo debut, now titled H.N.I.C. (Head N**** In Charge, which was apparently what his legendary grandmother called herself. Why I say legendary? Do your Googles.), way before Mobb Deep began production on their most commercially successful project Murda Muzik. And it all began with one song: Quiet Storm, tka White Lines. That song was originally slated to be his debut single as a solo artist, so he wouldn't let anyone touch it for almost two years, while he crafted the rest of the album. However, the song eventually made its way out into clubs across New York and they went apeshit for it. Which led to his Mobb Deep partner Kejuan Muchita bka Havoc and the late Chris Lighty to convince him to give it to Murda Muzik instead. It was for the best, really, because that song alone made that album go platinum, which would've never happened with P's debut solo. Why?

Because P tried his damnedest to fill the gaping hole that Quiet Storm left, resulting in some focused sessions with frequent collaborator Alan Maman bka the Alchemist. (who would actually end up pretty fucking crucial to preserving the Mobb's legacy following Hav's beatmaking fall from grace. That's right: With all due respect, I still haven't budged in my opinion that Hav's slacking production was instrumental to P's later lyrical decline) Hav himself lends a couple of beats, while the rest is handled by various other producers P crossed paths with in the industry. Despite losing Quiet Storm, HNIC would wind up selling five hundred thousand units Stateside in one month, faster than both the Infamous and Hell On Earth.

Let's start this, shall we?

BARS & HOOKS (INTRO)
Self explanatory. Skip.

GENESIS
It was a pleasant surprise to learn that P himself produced this, proving that his ear for music, responsible for his initial prowess behind the boards, was still very much intact. The fact that he was a very specific type of fan of confusingly versatile rock band Genesis continues to blow my mind, as nobody from mainstream hip-hop, then or now, is checking for progressive rock. At all. Speaking of Genesis, I'ma be honest: I was itching for another reason to bring up Phil Collins again here on BBR and P has so generously given me such an opportunity. You see, I've already declared on this here blog my belief that songs like In The Air Tonight, Mama and many more during both the career in Genesis and the solo ventures prove that, very similar to P himself, Phil flourished most when the music he wrote, co-wrote or performed was straight up visceral. So, it speaks volumes that P chose to loop from the live version of a Genesis prog classic and turn it into one of his best lyrical displays ever: From the jump, everything one would ever enjoy about Prodigy's contributions to this art form are on full display here. I cherish this song.

DRIVE THRU (SKIT)
...

ROCK DAT
So, yeah, remember when Prodigy had some amazing music pushing him to achieve new lyrical heights every time he spit? What do you mean that was one song ago?! In all seriousness, this might be one of the worst beats P has ever rhymed over, courtesy of Bink Dawg, who should've known better than to give him a beat that sounds like those shitty ass instrumentals prepackaged with your production equipment. I cannot bear a mere minute listening to this song and neither will you.

WHAT U REP (FEATURING N.O.R.E.)
Prodigy has collaborated with Hangmen 3, production team of respected Boston crew The Almighty RSO (of which fuckwad Benzino is a member) various times, where he would body everyone sharing a track with him each and every time. So they decided to return the favor via a minimalist early-oughties gem of a beat sampling Roy Ayers that is their best Havoc imitation. Naturally, P annihilates his guest, but NORE uncharacteristically does pretty well for himself. Nice!

KEEP IT THORO
Listen, I know how beloved this song is, and I like it too as it's cherished for a reason. But this definitely didn't deserve lead single status, as there were infinitely more worthy tracks recorded during the same period. The fact remains that this song is cherished for a reason: P goes completely ham with his punchlines, adding more vitriol to his performance with each passing second. All this is done to Alchemist's Jack Mayborn-sampling beat while P was recovering from a fairly nasty cold. He was simply that MC. All in all, this is the worst Alchemist beat on the album and it's still addictively fucking good. That should tell you what type of rapport these two had.

CAN'T COMPLAIN (FEATURING BIG TWINS & CHINKY)
The skit opening this song is pretty useless, to be honest. I don't care if it's directly related to the subject matter, you can cut the skit and the narrative wouldn't miss a goddamn thing. No disrespect, but Chinky doing her Queen Latifah interpolation is no Crystal Johnson, which is the only thing I'll ever say about her on this blog. Yet another example of P's fine-tuned musical ear, this time flexing his production technique as the sampled Love Unlimited Orchestra classic actually spends its entire duration utilizing a completely different scale than how it was looped. Hat's off to P the producer, man. Son had skills. P & Twin both delve into a well-told tale where they have a particularly memorable encounter with the cops and how they spent the rest of the day enjoying the resulting good mood, hence the title. You'll enjoy this song, too.

INFAMOUS MINDED
Basically P rhyming over the beat to Criminal Minded by BDP. You won't feel the throwback as it sounds fairly forced. That all I gotta say.

WANNA BE THUGS (FEATURING HAVOC)
You remember this?! Jump to my review of the song Survival there to find exactly what I think of this song. And now that P ain't no longer with us, I feel songs like Wanna Be Thugs are even more disrespectful to his legacy, as Hav is somehow even worse on the mic as a result of his horseshit beat. P can only do so much before succumbing to the same trite. Fuck this garbage.

THREE (FEATURING CORMEGA)
Seriously, I feel that musically Al and P had developed a symbiotic relationship with each other in the later periods of both of their careers: Together they're legendary, apart they're just not up to par. This wasn't the case back when P was the man though, because this beat, sampling Latin American legend Marco Antonio Muniz, was built when Al was trying his absolute best to impress P. Needless to say, he shone in doing so, because P and Cory McKay bka Cormega deliver that boom bap thuggery storytelling, the love of which forced you to come to this site. As always, the focus of P's tales is never glorification but condemnation of these circumstances, one which Mega shares with him on this joint. Another album highlight, and definitely a superior cut to Keep It Thoro.

DELT WITH THE BULLSHIT (FEATURING HAVOC)
Havoc must've sensed that he shorthanded fans with the earlier piffle he produced, because he brings the fucking business in looping current GZA collaborator and notorious recluse Vangelis. The resulting beat is as sinister as anything Hav produced for the Mobb during their heyday, and trust me: That's saying a lot. Hav also redeems himself on the mic, until P steps up and obliterates his shit with too much ease. Misspelling of 'dealt' aside, wouldn't've sounded outta place on a proper Mobb album, this.

TRIALS OF LOVE (FEATURING MZ BARZ)

Let's get one thing straight: I personally come from a place where a union between a man and a woman is quite literally a matter of life and death. Cheating would utterly destroy the lives of everyone even remotely related to the couple. So on the strength of that alone, I simply cannot relate to the subject matter of this song. That being said, whatever worked for P and his wife (Yep. Mz Barz is actually P's current widow Kiki Johnson in her lone recorded appearance.) is absolutely none of my business. As such, this song was supposed to be some type of therapy they'd put themselves through to maintain their relationship. Which apparently worked, because they remained married for the next 17 years. Strictly song-wise though, this joint is done really well: Alchemist's Lou Bond-sampling beat sounds exactly how a boom bap beat about broken relationships is supposed to. And P wrote his and his spouse's rhymes with a startling degree of detail, proving just how talented the man was at describing human emotion. Final verdict? This never got me nowhere near fathoming salvaging a relationship after infidelity, but those who don't mind said issue will find a truckload to enjoy here. Hell, it would be a better take on infidelity woes than whatever Jay-Z and Beyoncé are attempting these days. Especially when considering that back then, Jay’s hypocritical ass actually laughed at P for taking on such subject matter in his music.

H.N.I.C.
EZ Elpee & something called a 'Corparal' bring P a sample from Saint Tropez that would be a staple throughout the 00s. Best thing about the resulting beat is that it leaves ample room for P to simply talk his shit. Everyone who has been a Mobb fan knows exactly what that means: Another trademark braggadocious performance from the late legend. This is really all you need to know to enjoy this.

BE COOL (SKIT)
A throwback excerpt from the classic Education Of Sonny Carson film, made famous by Ghostface Killah's Ironman. Skip, though.

VETERAN'S MEMORIAL
Another Alchemist production, sampling Puerto Rican icon Lucecita Benitez. In this album's case, this means you need to brace yourself for a truly timeless song. Sure enough, this is two of the most gutwrenching verses you will ever hear from Albert Johnson, set to one of the best beats Alchemist has ever made, and without question his best contribution to HNIC. I dare those who know how to properly listen to hip hop to tell me that they didn't feel a thing while listening to P reminiscing here about the loved ones he lost. And the shoutouts closing out the song will hit you in the heart even harder, please believe. To top it off, his death brought a whole new context to this slice of music. If you ever claimed love for this man, this art piece is essential listening.

DO IT
This track is notable for proving that the beef between the Mobb and Def Squad was effectively done & buried, as Def Squad's Rockwilder produced it. Literally nothing else.

LITTLES (ACAPELLA)
Alfredo Bryan bka Littles would go on to have a nasty feud with P that was thankfully reconciled before his death, but here he was P's prize protege. It's obvious that this was modeled after the acapella cypher on the Infamous between P and unofficial 3rd Mobb Deep member Big Noyd. Littles ain't nowhere near the level Noyd was back then but he was aight. P was fantastic as usual.

Y.B.E. (FEATURING B.G.)
This may very well be the lone time I review a rapper from the cash money roster (I deliberately mentioned them in small letters because they ain't worth respecting) on BBR so here goes: The beat by P & Nashiem Myrick from the repugnant Comby's jolly bag of Hitmen is typical shiny-suit-era sewage, P brings a lackluster effort as a result and that cash money dude is typically garbage.

DIAMOND (FEATURING BARS & HOOKS)
Just Blaze brings an OK beat sampling Syreeta that is absolutely trashed by the song's ridiculous subject matter. This is really a far cry from the poems P wrote about how humans felt pain in his street tales. I'm sorry but there was no way this was going to be anything but a forgettable embarrassment for all parties involved. I really hate saying this when P ain't here but he wouldn't've respected an opinion of one that never speaks his mind. I owe it to him to say that this song is a failure.

GUN PLAY (FEATURING BIG NOYD)
Rockwilder brings a fair improvement of a beat to his previous contribution. Still not enough, though, to pull a memorable performance outta neither P nor Pizza Dude here. Shame. This beat could've led to something.

YOU CAN NEVER FEEL MY PAIN
Queens producer Ric Rude brings this Angela Bofill-sampling gem to our late host, who commits his most personal and relevant song ever to wax. This is the song where he takes you through the suffering that the condition that would ultimately take his life put him through, and naturally his spite at this condition comes flying off his lyrics, lashing out at anyone attempting fake understanding or sympathy. In light of his passing, this may effectively be the closest window we'll ever get into his darkest condition, which may very well explain his talent for describing pain. As such, you'd be an absolute fool if you somehow skip this. I remember hearing the boneheaded Ibrahim Darden talk about how he feels that except when explicitly mentioned, P was aiming all the vitriol he displayed in his legendary career at sickle cell, which is kind of awesome if true. As appropriate an album ender as I can think of, I would not be surprised in the least if this track somehow becomes the celebrated anthem of sickle cell patients worldwide.

H.N.I.C. (OUTRO)
A simple uttering of what the acronym stands for. Worthless.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Again, I feel like I owe it to P to keep my opinions honest. Which is why I say that this was a fairly good album, even though it has quite a fair share of useless skits. The reason why it simply can't be viewed as a classic album is unfortunately because P just wasn't successful in keeping the beat selection cohesive: Imagine how strong this album would've been had Alchemist, P himself or both handled the production back-to-back. We surely would've had that solo classic that an MC of P's stature deserves. Instead, we have to settle with an uneven album with lows that will make your skin crawl and highs that remind you why so many people were absolutely spellbound by this dude's lyrics. However, this album is effectively a solo album, meaning that P gets to talk about shit he normally can't on Mobb albums. Personal matters such as beliefs, eulogies, health and infidelity woes are all fair game without sounding out of place. And it's during those moments where I feel P shines the most here, as the change of direction, when done right, felt truly refreshing as it breathed new lyrical life into him. Lyrical life that I regret to say we've lost as hip hop in its entirety mourns yet another legend. RIP Albert Johnson.

WORTH IT? Even with the horseshit very present on this album, you owe it to yourself to acquire HNIC if you were ever a Mobb Deep fan. This album houses many songs where P delivers his end of the bargain and in spades. Again, don't expect the Infamous-Hell On Earth levels of consistency tracklist-wise and you'll be just fine.

TRACKS TO TRACK DOWN:
POWER RAP
An HNIC/Murda Muzik throwaway, added to the QB's Finest compilation curated by Nas, this Havoc-produced dark gem of a one verse-wonder is exactly what people thought of when the idea of a Prodigy solo album was unveiled to them. And really, count me the fuck in, as the brooding piano-pounding Havoc instrumental clears the path for a one-verse thuggery typhoon by the man who called himself Cellblock P. I just want to know why the dude's consistency with these dazzling performances regressed to the point where one has to comb numerous albums with varying levels of relevance to find them. Still as I said, both beat and rhymes are flawless and they gloriously mesh together.

DON'T BE A FOLLOWER
Off the Black & White OST, a movie which I still don't know how to feel about. Prodigy flexes his production chops hard on this one as he loops a simple-but-effective dusted violin sample for a beat that's the closest he'll ever get to the Wu-Tang sound. (God, they're prevalent in this review, aren't they?) On the mic, it's imagery city as P delivers a one-verse wonder that's hella heavy on imagery. It's songs like this that make me miss him a little more because man did he ever have a talent for painting pictures with his words.

SELF CONSCIENCE (FEATURING NAS)
Another lyrical marvel by both Prodigy and guest Nas yet again added to the abovementioned compilation, this time produced by the Infinite Arkatechz, who established a fan-fucking-tastic chemistry with Loud labelmate Raekwon on his rightfully-trashed sophomore album Immobilarity. Why do I credit this track to P, you ask? Because even though Nas brings a stellar contribution, this is truly the Albert Johnson show, all the way. With P arguing with himself in a compelling 40-bar verse while Nas brings a dope ass 20 bar reflection, this is one of the few tracks where these two share mic time and there's a clear standout, because normally they're neck and neck, but not this time, though.

For more of P's lyrical triumphs as part of Mobb Deep, here.