CD Reviews

Prodigy

H.N.I.C. Pt 2 | AAC

By MARTÍN CABALLERO | April 22, 2008

2.5 Stars

By the time this goes to press, Prodigy will be roughly 10 books and 2000 push-ups deep into the three-and-change prison term he picked up last year for illegal gun possession. That means that unless P has Tupac’s people scrapping together unused verses for future releases, H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 has to be dope enough to last until he’s free again. It’s a shame, because he’s in good form here after rediscovering the edge starkly absent from the last Mobb Deep album. Whereas his boss 50 Cent raps with a cartoonish bravado only Michael Bay could love, Prodigy wraps himself in drug-induced paranoia and conspiracy theories like a hip-hop Oliver Stone. “ABC” sets the tone, as P free-associates between religion and murder (“Like Jesus Christ, it’s a miracle he’s still living”) over Sid Roam’s haunted-house organ and mourning funeral chants. The Alchemist, who teamed so well with P on last year’s Return of the Mac mixtape, brings out the best from the rapper again on “Illuminati” and the bluesy, contemplative “Veterans Memorial Pt. 2.” Unless he goes all Malcolm X on us behind the walls, this solid release will be just a prelude to whatever morbid thoughts Prodigy has to share upon his release.

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