Photo Credit: Tobias Nielsen

I’m not going to get up here and write a long memorial for Prodigy. Many others have done that and have probably done so more eloquently than I could. I mean, to be honest, I’m still shook by the fact that he’s dead at 42. That hits close to home, since I grew up listening to some of his stuff. Additionally, that’s not all that much older than me. You think of legends and you usually think of folks who died at 90 and lived a full life. While he died young, I’d like to think that he still lived a full life through the numerous folks he’s inspired and the things he’s accomplished–some of which while in prison.

But, I won’t get into philosophical waxing over his unfortunate death.

So, in lieu of all that, let’s just take in his music and love what he’s done for the game and elsewhere.

The man was a lyricist through and through, never compromising to fit in. Even the “mainstream” cuts he did as part of Mobb Deep or as a solo artist, they still had that grit to them that was pretty incomparable. You can’t even do a discography check because the man pretty much never fell off–even when he “fell off” and/or fell out with Havoc. He never fell off and that was an admirable thing in a game where your legends can sometimes come back out and look like fools.

Again, I won’t bore you with a bunch of “when I first heard Prodigy spit” (it was–a bit cliched, I’ll admit–on “Shook Ones Part II” as a kid in Baltimore) anecdotes. While those mean a lot…I just can’t bring myself to write anything else. And that’s saying a lot, as I typically never run out of words.

All I can really say is RIP to a legend.

-Speed