Mobb Deep Rapper Prodigy Dead at 42

Prodigy, one-half of the seminal New York City hip-hop outfit Mobb Deep, died Tuesday at the age of 42. Mobb Deep's publicist confirmed the rapper's death in a statement to Rolling Stone.
"It is with extreme sadness and disbelief that we confirm the death of our dear friend Albert Johnson, better known to millions of fans as Prodigy of legendary NY rap duo Mobb Deep," the statement read. "Prodigy was hospitalized a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by a sickle cell anemia crisis. As most of his fans know, Prodigy battled the disease since birth. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined. We would like to thank everyone for respecting the family’s privacy at this time."

On Instagram, Prodigy's longtime Mobb Deep partner, Havoc, posted two photos in remembrance, one of which carried the simple message: "Forever."

Other members of the hip-hop community have also posted tributes to Prodigy online, including Nas, Lil Wayne, Ghostface Killah, Q-Tip, Method Man, Wiz Khalifa, Big Boi and Questlove.

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Lil Wayne WEEZY F 

✔@LilTunechi

Damn. RiP to the great one Prodigy. Rap game lost a legend the world lost a G.  to and for his fam. Love. MOBB

7:43 PM - 20 Jun 2017

 
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Prodigy's old label boss, Steve Rifkind, who co-founded Loud Records, also remembered the rapper with a pair of posts on Instagram. "When I say Loud was a family, Loud was a family," he said. "We might have yelled and screamed at each other, but we always wanted what was best for the act … Mobb Deep was the second group to go platinum right after Wu. We not only talked music we talked about everything but all I can say right now is RIP."

Prodigy and his Mobb Deep cohort, Havoc, grew up together in Queens, New York City and broke into hip-hop with a raw, vivid and vicious distillation of East Coast gangsta rap. The pair released their first demo together in 1992 under the name Poetical Prophets, which they followed up a year later with their Mobb Deep debut, Juvenile Hell. While that record wasn't well received, their 1995 follow-up The Infamous, remains a hardcore NYC classic and features one of the group's signature songs, "Shook Ones Pt. II."

View image on Twitter

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Ghostface Killah 

✔@GhostfaceKillah

Rest In Paradise young Blood @PRODIGYMOBBDEEP can't believe you gone lord we was just chilling !! Hold ya head@mobbdeephavoc

8:05 PM - 20 Jun 2017

 
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Prodigy and Havoc would release eight records together as Mobb Deep, with their last, The Infamous Mobb Deep, arriving in 2014.
In 2000, Prodigy launched his solo career with H.N.I.C. and would go on to release an array of solo records and mixtapes, as well as collaborations with producers such as the Alchemist and Big Twins and Un Pacino. In January, Prodigy released his last solo record,Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation).