 Mobb Deep's Prodigy Dies At 42 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Bryan Bedder/Getty Images 
 
 Prodigy, one-half of iconic New York rap duo Mobb Deep, has died, according to a statement provided to NPR by a publicist for the group. The statement goes on to say that the rapper, born Albert Johnson, was hospitalized "a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by sickle cell anemia crisis." Anybody that knows me knows this to be true... — Rah Digga (@therealrahdigga) June 20, 2017 
 
 RIP Prodigy. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined. The song’s influence would later spread to Oscar- and Tony-winning projects — it’s heard in the climactic scene of Eminem’s “8 Mile,” and Prodigy’s line “I’m only 19 but my mind is old” was memorably re-used by Lin-Manuel Miranda in “Hamilton.” 
 
 Featuring guest appearances from Queensbridge rapper Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon and A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip, “The Infamous” was bleak and uncompromising even by the standards of gangsta rap. A post shared by Krayzie Bone ™ (@krayzie_bone) on Jun 20, 2017 at 11:20am PDT 
 
 #RIPPRODIGY ---------------------- Mobb Deep is my favorite rap group of all time. pic.twitter.com/gObuV9O84s — RIP PRODIGY (@Chromeo) June 20, 2017 
 
 Rip prodigy. Rip Prodigy love you my nigga! MOBB — Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) June 20, 2017 
 
 🙏🏾 QB RIP King P. Prodigy 4 Ever A post shared by Nasir Jones (@nas) on Jun 20, 2017 at 10:33am PDT 
 
 Prodigy's old label boss, Steve Rifkind, who co-founded Loud Records, also remembered the rapper with a pair of posts on Instagram. A post shared by Steven J. Rifkind (@steverifkind) on Jun 20, 2017 at 11:32am PDT 
 
 RIP P @prodigymobbdeep A post shared by Steven J. Rifkind (@steverifkind) on Jun 20, 2017 at 11:56am PDT 
 
 WESTSIDE GUNN 
 
 "P was Family, anything We've (GRISELDA) ever needed since the first day we met him, he was there, he came to Buffalo and NOBODY comes there on his own to a Lil venue just to support , everytime we seen each other we hung until we hrs, it was like he was a big brother, giving us the guidance and telling us we had next, it was surreal bc this is Prodigy Top10 emcees ever, grew up listening to him wishing I was half as nice to being side by side with him until his last days as family, we did interviews, shows, LEGENDARY music together, we started our TOUR together so now I'm a finish it in his honor, this was a huge blow to Hip HOP there will never be another Bandana P" "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. 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. But their much improved 1995 sophomore effort, “The Infamous,” brought the group to a much larger audience and featured “Shook Ones (Part II),” the track for which they are best known. p was a gift to his fam and the rap world RIP P — QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) June 20, 2017 
 
 Rest In Paradise young Blood @PRODIGYMOBBDEEP can't believe you gone lord we was just chilling !! Hold ya head @mobbdeephavoc pic.twitter.com/tXjogmHIfH — Ghostface Killah (@GhostfaceKillah) June 20, 2017 
 
 Prodigy and Havoc would release eight records together as Mobb Deep, with their last, The Infamous Mobb Deep, arriving in 2014. In recent years, Prodigy had parlayed a prison sentence into a solo career, an autobiography (My Infamous Life) — even a cookbook. At the time, the group also found itself caught up in the era’s lethal East Coast vs. West Coast rivalry, and were dissed by Tupac on several tracks — the most famous of which, “Hit ‘Em Up,” mocked Prodigy’s sickle-cell anemia. Released in 2016, Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook highlighted the ingenuity he exercised to eat healthy while serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for gun possession. Shortly after his release, he published an unusually candid autobiography, “My Infamous Life.” In 2012, Mobb Deep split for several months after a dispute on Twitter, but publicly reunited the following year.
– Prodigy, one half of iconic rap duo Mobb Deep, died Tuesday in Las Vegas. He was 42. Born Albert Johnson, the rapper was hospitalized after a weekend performance "for complications caused by sickle cell anemia," a disease he'd battled since birth, his publicist says in a statement. An official cause of death is not known, reports NPR. More: The Washington Post looks at how sickle cell anemia influenced Prodigy's rap music, and in particular, what "might be the most paralyzing rap lyric ever written": "I'm only 19, but my mind is old." Variety notes the same lyric ended up in Broadway's Hamilton. At Rolling Stone, Jon Blistein describes how Prodigy and his rap partner Havoc burst onto the rap scene in 1992 and continued making music together, despite solo careers, for more than two decades. Variety mentions Mobb Deep's feuds with Tupac Shakur and Jay-Z. Even Prodigy and Havoc feuded for a time, though they eventually reunited. Havoc has posted a series of photos of the pair on Instagram. Other members of the hip hop community are paying tribute on social media. Carl Lamarre at Billboard rounds up posts from Nas, Lil Wayne, Method Man, Wiz Khalifa, and more. Meanwhile, Billboard compiles seven remixes "that best reinterpret a few of Mobb Deep's most beloved songs."