Hip-Hop Icon Prodigy of Mobb Deep Dead at 42

Photo by Mike Lawrie

Prodigy of Mobb Deep has died. He was 42.

The devastating news was first reported by TMZ and has subsequently been confirmed by Mobb Deep's publicist in an email to Variance.

“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 reads. "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.”

Prodigy and fellow rapper Havoc formed Mobb Deep in the early 90s. Some of their biggest hits included "Quiet Storm" and "Shook Ones Pt. II." They had briefly parted ways in 2012 but reunited and released their last album, The Infamous Mobb Deep, in 2014.

In a 2013 interview with NPR, Prodigy suggested hip-hop essentially saved his life.

"It gave me a life because my life before hip-hop was just pain," he said. "Sickle cell was my life before hip-hop. I ain't really have no life — that was it. I'm growing up, that's all I knew, just being in a fucking hospital all the time. And then music — when I first started hearing Run-DMC 'Sucker MCs' and LL [Cool J's] 'My Radio,' the Juice Crew and all that. I started seeing all of that. The aggressiveness of it attracted me to hip-hop because I was angry inside."

He continued, noting how sickle cell had forced him to reevaluate his life and in turn become a better person. "You start looking at life different," he said. "And you start looking at people different. And your actions and your thoughts different. And it just shapes you into a different type of person."