Before Prodigy became one-half of veteran New York rap group Mobb Deep, he had family ties to the music industry. During an interview with PIX 11, the Queens, New York rapper explained that his mother and grandfather encouraged his interest in music.
“My mother was in a doo-wop group called The Crystals, they had a lot of big pop records like ‘Da Doo Run Run,” he said. “My grandfather was a big jazz musician, he’s in the jazz Hall of Fame, his name is Budd Johnson.”
The rapper, born Albert Johnson, also discussed his history with dancing, which Jay-Z made public during his scathing Summer Jam performance in 2001. “My family put me in dance school, they had me tap dancing, ballet, African dancing, everything when I was a little kid,” he said. “When I turned around 11, 12, rap music came out. It really captured the aggression that was inside of me.”
Revealing that his father used to teach him how to shoot guns, he funneled his aggression in suffering from Sickle Cell Anemia into rap. “It made me a real angry kid growing up with the Sickle Cell. It’s real painful, and they say your life expectancy, you’re not supposed to live past 40,” he said. “I’ve learned through diet and lifestyle, you can really turn that around.”
Having just been released from a three-year prison bid, he’s content with his situation. “I definitely feel blessed that we were able to live through that and still tell a story and still tell people that that’s not the right way to go,” he says.”
Prodigy’s new autobiography My Infamous Life, co-authored with Laura Checkoway, is in stores now.
RELATED: Book Review: My Infamous Life by Albert “Prodigy” Johnson & Laura Checkoway
Keep it going P! My Infamous Life is a good ass book. Picked it up and couldn’t put it down. Gave me a whole new glimpse into Prodigy.
Like a lot of y’all on this site, I was on that same shit for awhile, “he fell off, that little nigga think he hard as hell, how you hard as hell when you keep getting robbed?” blah blah blah
Reading his book made me see I was on some bullshit and was ashamed I fell for that media shit. A man is a man. It’s good to hear a man’s story from his own mouth.
Can’t wait for the new Mobb Deep album. That Bumpy Johnson shit is tight. The Infamous is in my car right now.
cosign the above to the fullest..keep ya foot on they throats P
LMFAO; this nigga really DOES have sickle cell? I always thought Pac was just clownin on that nigga.
I’m still wonderin just why the fuck anybody would want to read a book by this nigga; maybe to find out how to get punked and disrespected by almost every major player in the game and make a so called career out of it. I at least had respect for him till Mobb Deep joined G-Unit RIGHT after 50 made Piggy Bank….
u are one ignorant ass s.ob. sickle cell is no laughing matter
All BS aside I salute P for just being able to stay on top of his health. My little brother has the same illness and to see him struggle through the “Flare ups/Attacks” is nothing I would ever wish on anybody. For P to be a from the hood (with limited resources)and being knowledgable about his illness and talking about it publicly is ill in itself, I definitely respect that.