Albert Johnson (November 2, 1974 – June 20, 2017), known professionally as Prodigy, was an American rapper and record producer. He was best known for being one half of the rap duo Mobb Deep along with Havoc, yet Prodigy still had a solo career, regularly collaborating with producer The Alchemist. Prodigy released eight albums during his career in Mobb Deep, as well as six solo studio albums and one posthumous album.
Albert Johnson was born on November 2, 1974, in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island. At age 10 in 1985, Johnson and his mother moved to LeFrak City, Queens.
He had one brother, Greg Johnson. He came from a musical family. His grandfather Budd Johnson was a saxophonist who was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993. His grand-uncle, Keg Johnson, was a trombonist. Both of them are remembered for their contributions to the bebop era of jazz. His mother, Fatima Frances (Collins) Johnson, was a member of The Crystals. His father, Budd Johnson Jr., was a member of a doo-wop music group called The Chanters. His great-great-great-grandfather, William Jefferson White, founded Georgia's Morehouse College.
While attending the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, he met his future music partner, Havoc. The duo became Poetical Prophets. Under the alias Lord-T (The Golden Chyld), the then-15-year-old Johnson landed an uncredited guest appearance on the song "Too Young" by Hi-Five on their eponymous debut album, released in 1990. The song was featured one year later on 1991’s Boyz n the Hood soundtrack. Shortly afterwards, Poetical Prophets received attention through The Source's Unsigned Hype column. In the fall of 1992, the duo released their debut single Peer Pressure after changing their name to Mobb Deep through 4th & B'way, Island and PolyGram Records. In the following spring of 1993, Mobb Deep released their debut album Juvenile Hell.
1995–1999: Mobb Deep and later solo career
Initially known to have gained relevance through fellow Queens rapper Nas, who took a similar approach lyrically on his debut album, Illmatic (1994), Mobb Deep released The Infamous in April 1995, which was certified Gold by the RIAA within the first two months of its release. That same year, Prodigy began to raise his solo profile, by providing a guest appearance on LL Cool J's controversial "I Shot Ya" remix. The song became a minor part of the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry, due to Tupac Shakur believing the song to be a diss referring to his robbery/shooting in Manhattan at Quad Recording Studios – singling out the song's title (which many assumed was connected to Biggie's "Who Shot Ya?"), certain lyrics, and the timing of its release – the year after the shooting incident.
Although the track was stated by Keith Murray to not have any lyrical shots aimed at Tupac, Mobb Deep responded in the following year to Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up" with "Drop a Gem on 'Em," a promotional single from their 1996 album, Hell On Earth. Ironically, "I Shot Ya" does feature a subliminal aim in Prodigy's verse to Murray, which continued friction that started sometime prior with an interlude from Mobb Deep's 1995 The Infamous album. The rivalry continued until sometime in 2012, when the two ended it by taking a picture together.
A year and a half later, at the end of 1996, Prodigy and Havoc released Hell on Earth, which debuted at number six on SoundScan. Their next release, Murda Muzik, was heavily bootlegged while still in its demo stage, leaking, onto the streets and over the internet, rough versions of the nearly 30 songs the duo had recorded.
In November 2000, Prodigy released his debut solo album, H.N.I.C. It included the single, "Keep It Thoro".
During the next six years, between the releases of his first two solo albums, Prodigy continued to work with Mobb Deep, releasing Infamy in 2001, Amerikaz Nightmare in 2004, and Blood Money in 2006.
2007–2011: Collaborations and H.N.I.C. Pt. 2
While awaiting trial for a gun possession charge, Prodigy had started work on his second solo album, H.N.I.C. Pt. 2, which was first previewed on his official mixtape, The Return of the Mac. The mixtape's single, together with a video, was called "Mac 10 Handle". Prodigy then released H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 through Voxonic Records, a label in which he was an equity holder. In late 2009, Mobb Deep was released from their contract with 50 Cent's G-Unit label. After spending three years in prison, Prodigy was officially released on March 7, 2011.
Prodigy was featured in a 2009 documentary, Rhyme and Punishment, which documented hip-hop artists who had been incarcerated.
In 2011, Prodigy released a free EP called The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP, his first project after being released from prison.
On April 21, a song titled "The Type", with Currensy, was released on Currensy's free album Covert Coup.
In 2011, Prodigy released his autobiography, My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep's Prodigy.
2013–2014: The Infamous Mobb Deep
In 2013, Prodigy released his second collaboration album with the Alchemist, titled Albert Einstein. On April 1, 2014, Mobb Deep released The Infamous Mobb Deep, their eighth studio album. In August 2016, he released an untitled EP of five tracks, in partnership with BitTorrent, an association that Prodigy had been working up for a while.