Independents Day: Prodigy- HNIC2

[Mumbo Sauce]

Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) HNIC 2 Review by: Mr. Shadeed.

There’s a new trend emerging in the hip-hop community when a veteran artist or group releases a new album that is below his or her own level of excellence, fans will immediately rush and say “Yeah, but its better than 90% of the music that’s out today”
With the constant pressure to remain relevant in today’s climate of hip-hop music, many artists who were gold and platinum in the mid-late 90’s will compromise their sound and established fan bases to chase the new ringtone money.

There were many questions surrounding the release of Prodigy’s latest effort, HNIC2. For the true-blue Mobb Deep fans who thought he signed a deal with the devil when he started waving the G-Unit flag, many wondered if he would ever regain that rare form that had him on the short list of top MC’s from the five boroughs of New York City.

There were many hip-hop purists that hailed his initial solo offering HNIC as a hip-hop classic and highly slept-on album, which leads to the discussion of whether he could top HNIC. All music aside, for the past year, Prodigy has definitely provided the bloggers with quotable material as he launched his HNIC2.com site complete with self-managed blog where he commented on everything from trends he created to rappers he isn’t feeling, to his YouTube fueled scuffle with Saigon. With jail-time pending, Prodigy knew he had to deliver an album to keep his name ringing for the next 3 years while he was behind the wall serving time.

Music-wise, leading up to HNIC, P had started to show glimpses of his previous greatness by releasing Alchemist-produced Return of the Mac. This album answered the critics that said P lost it on albums such as Imfamy. Similar to the first HNIC, this album has a dark feel to it, as P takes you on a journey through 14 tracks. Unlike most Mobb albums, this is not just about Queens, drugs, and dunns, the album has overt references to the Illuminati, Secret Societies, his sentencing, and denouncing rims, jewelry, and all things flashy to get back to basics.

Let me end the suspense, P went in on this one and delivered his best solo effort to date. For all the buzz and hype surrounding the release of HNIC2, he channeled it into a solid album. On this effort, P is definitely more focused than any other album release I’ve heard him deliver. As an artist, he seems to finally know his place and relevance in hip-hop history as evidenced by the track titled Young Veterans. This is also the first distinctly New York sounding album on a mainstream level that has been released in quite some time. There are no chick songs, club songs, or weak attempts at crossover on this album.

The People Wanna Know:

Is it better than HNIC? Yes. It is much more focused effort production-wise and subject-wise.

Has P returned to that Hell on Earth/Murda Muzik form on the mic?
I would say P expanded on the subject matter on Hell on Earth where he touched on his theory of Illuminati, and made it the theme of the album. Lyrically, P delivered some of the most prolific lyrics in hip-hop history during that era, as he is the most of the most heavily sampled artists in hip-hop music. His flow and rhyme patterns are reminiscent of
HNIC, vivid lyricism that is so powerful that it doesn’t have to rhyme to make its point.

How’s the Production on HNIC2? The producers who made the album did their thing,
and made sure they provided Prodigy with beats that he sounded natural rapping over.
There are no ridiculous reaches for radio on this album that don’t fit in with the rest of the album. The sound is dark but distinctly New York, which provides a perfect soundtrack for P to drop lyrics. Young Veterans, ABC, The Life and Veterans Memorial 2 are some of the best beats on the LP.

Standouts: Young Veterans, ABC, Veterans Memorial Pt. 2, New Yitty

Is this CD a Drink Coaster/Frisbee or Classic?
This album is definitely a solid release that you can play straight through It’s that gritty New York hip-hop that has been missing from the game on a mainstream status. It’s better than HNIC so we’ll wait and see on the classic status.

What trends will this album set? HNIC2 is the first album released in multi-language, so look for other artists to do the same thing. The Voxonic voice conversion sounds natural and not like a bad voice-over attempt.
This album may also spark a trend of hardcore artists releasing albums not reaching for radio spins and keeping their albums consistent throughout all featured tracks.
Ironically, P doing him on this album led to the single “The Life” charting at #7 on Billboard.

Track listing
1. Real Power Is People
2. The Life
3. Young Veterans
4. Illuminati
5. New Yitty
6. ABC
7. Click Clack
8. Veterans Memorial Pt. 2
9. Field Marshal P
10. 3 Stacks
11. When I See You
12. Its Nothing
13. I Want Out
14. ABC Vox Spanish Remix (Bonus Track)
15. Dirty New Yorker (Video Bonus)

[GROOVE da Budweiser King]

Good post double EE..I'ma have to check it out though...the HNIC 1 was rugged as h*ll...the Album cover is very original though...i don't think i've ever seen it done before