My Gut Reaction: Prodigy - Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) (January 20, 2017)

Today’s post culminates a week’s worth of write-ups both honoring the memory, and completing the catalog, of the late Albert Johnson, better known in the hip hop community as the rapper Prodigy from the group Mobb Deep. After today, there likely won’t be any more Mobb Deep posts on the site, unless Havoc ends up deciding to drop some compilations of vaulted material, at which point I’ll reevaluate as necessary. The subject of today’s post is a project I know a few of you two have been asking for, so enjoy and leave your thoughts below.

Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) is the final album Prodigy would release in his lifetime. Unlike his other entries on the blog this past week, this isn’t an EP, a retooling of an existing project, a collaborative effort intended to market another artist, or a collection of unreleased tracks: this is an actual, hand-to-God full-length album, one which was conceived by Prodigy as the first entry in a trilogy intended to present new ideas into the Cellblock P canon. The man’s untimely passing obviously threw a kink in the release schedule for the remaining two parts in the series (tentatively subtitled The Book of Heroine and The Book of the Dead), but anonymous sources online are implying that those projects were completed prior to P’s fateful visit to Las Vegas and may eventually see a release at some point in the near future.

So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) is Prodigy’s fifth true solo album in a catalog that features several mixtapes, collaborative efforts, and that weird EP I wrote about a couple of days ago. Although it is chronologically considered a follow-up to The Bumpy Johnson Album, it couldn’t be further from that project: instead of embracing gangsta clichés over grimy, gritty street beats, Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) finds Cellblock P working through philosophical issues, conspiracy theories, and general observations of the world through the eyes of a hardened veteran desperate for new things to see. It’s full of P’s own thoughts and mystical beliefs, quite the departure from back when he was throwing televisions at people whilst stuck off the realness.

According to Wikipedia, the Hegelian dialect is “an argument process explaining the progress of history as being the conflict of ideas, where thesis is followed by counter-thesis and finally by synthesis.” As such, Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) may conflict with your idea of what a Prodigy solo album should sound like. Although the production is provided by quite a few of the collaborators that supported H.N.I.C. 3 (including The Alchemist on one lone track), Prodigy’s own bars are calmer, damn near transcendent even. The man had thoughts on many aspects of our culture and wished to deliver them as thoroughly as possible.

This week has already dragged on, so let’s just jump right in.

1. INTRO

…

2. MYSTIC

Surprisingly calm and whimsical for not just a Prodigy album, but one with as bleak and haunting an intro as what we just heard. (Said “haunting” was purely mechanical and cheesy, hence the ellipsis above.) The instrumental for “Mystic” does come from The Alchemist, however, so perhaps a curveball should have been anticipated. Cellblock P’s two verses (and hook) exhibit an awkward flow that he eventually gains control over, resulting in one hot line during the chorus (“It’s written in the stars… look me up then”) and a matter-of-fact brief explanation for his shittier output (“At my best I am excellence / At my worst I’m not inspired by the beat, shit come out weak”). As what is essentially the introduction for Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation), “Mystic” is required to do some heavy lifting, but never manages to pull off its scheme, as the chemistry between, um, Alan the Chemist and P just doesn’t exist here, and that won’t exactly whet a listener’s appetite for what’s to come. Sigh.

3. BROKEN RAPPERS

Kind of all over the place here. “Broken Rappers” finds Cellblock P ruminating over the state of our chosen genre (or at least what passed for it back in 2017), finding that “[it] ain’t the same,” mostly because “rappers [are] better when they broke / ‘cause when they get that money, they lose touch with the folks.” Prodigy isn’t exactly wrong here, but are we supposed to pretend that he himself hasn’t sold a bunch of albums and is, by most measures, a dude with quite a bit of money? Also, why is this called “Broken Rappers” and not “Broke Rappers”? The Beat Butcha instrumental is far too subdued for an aggressive attack on the state of hip hop, but to his credit, our host realizes this, delivering his observations in a calm, matter-of-fact manner. He’s too calm, really: this kind of argument truly deserves the passion Prodigy has freely provided for other subject matter. This isn’t the worst song I’ve ever heard from the guy, even if our host’s examples of definitely real human beings that absolutely exist commenting on our chosen genre steers closer to those of a politician sincerely looking for your vote, but it still wasn’t very fun to listen to. Ah well.

4. TYRANNY

Wikipedia informs me that “Tyranny” was the first single released from Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation), and I have to say, wow: Cellblock P dropped an anti-government screed that also claims that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an inside job as his first single? No wonder the line “jet fuel doesn’t melt steel beams” appears during the chorus. Prodigy as a hip hop Joe Rogan could have been an interesting direction for his career to have traveled. Alas, “Tyranny” sucks, both as a song and as a message. El RTNC’s instrumental runs at a slower speed than our hoist usually operates in, so he’s forced to awkwardly speed up his flow, which makes him sound like a fucking fraud, like the rap game Ben Shapiro. His conspiracy theories also fail to gain any traction, since trying to scare off the listener with lines such as, “the enemy is government tyranny” without providing anything resembling a solution is irresponsible at best. I can‘t imagine that Prodigy was ever successful at selling this propaganda to his audience, especially when he makes it a point to add some bars about how he “create[s] money” so that his great-grandchildren can benefit, lines that make no fucking sense given the context. I mean, if the government is the real enemy of the people, couldn’t they just devalue your hard-earned money, rendering it worthless? I’d like to believe that this song was simply Cellblock P’s reaction to the Trump administration, having somehow seen just how bad things were going to get in the United States, but even I realize that’s a reach.

5. MAFUCKIN U$A

Prodigy isn’t really known for his sense of humor (although sarcasm runs rampant throughout his catalog, and there are quite a few laugh-out-loud moments in his autobiography), but placing “Mafuckin U$A” (the second single  ̶  man, Cellblock P really didn’t give a shit about marketing this project, huh?) immediately after “Tyranny” is fucking hysterical, since he spends the first of his two verses telling the listener not to believe every conspiracy theory they hear, because sometime shit just happens with no rhyme or reason. Considering his messages on “Tyranny”, I can only believe that our host was deliberately fucking with us in an effort to prove that you should do your own research and not just blindly believe anybody, not even your heroes, but I feel like that’s giving Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) a bit too much credit. “Mafuckin U$A” is a pretty bad song, though, due to its bland Budgie Beats instrumental and lazy Prodigy bars, as positive messages don’t automatically win you points here. Also, this is the second track in a row where our host expresses concern about the chemicals present in the foods we eat. I’m here for his reference to The Truman Show, however.

6. MIC-ROCOSM

It’s never not weird to hear rappers who have dissed Prodigy in the past pop up on his projects, whether it’s how own praise for Jay-Z on The Bumpy Johnson Album or the late 2Pac making an appearance via an extended sound bite on “Mic-rocosm”. Perhaps our host realized later in his life how ridiculous those particular rap beefs were in the first place. Regardless, you hear a lot of Pac’s voice during this Mimosa production, which is rather distracting. The beat isn’t a very good one, succumbing to modern day trap, er, trappings that Prodigy just flat-out doesn’t sound good against… usually. After an initial scare where it seems like he’s going to speed-rap his way through this obligation, our host slows down and spits in the methodical fashion we’ve all grown accustomed to, and as a result, he sounds just fine, even if the track does not. Prodigy shouts-out Danny Brown and quotes a Jon Stewart line from Half Baked, so at least he was enjoying himself.

7. AS IF

It isn’t often that I feel the inclusion of a sound bite from an Alicia Silverstone movie would improve a rap song tenfold. This still isn’t one of those instances, but it certainly couldn’t have hurt all that much, since “As If” sucks. The entirety of this production (credited to Jordan Reid and Budgie Beats) finds  Prodigy shrugging off all competition as though he’s above it all, an attitude which results in one hilarious thought: “These rappers are trash, but ain’t nothin’ we can do about that / Just let their garbage-ass live, God loves them too.” But that, of course, isn’t enough to sustain an entire song, and Cellblock P’s need to prove to the listener how much he doesn’t care about what they think isn’t just thirsty, it’s boring. The Prodigy from the early 2000’s could have easily dismantled his foes without using even a single ounce of aggression and it still would have sounded harder than this shit.

8. NEW BALANCE

A skit, one that reminded me of those interludes off of DJ Muggs and Mach-Hommy’s Tuez-Les Tous which conflated philosophical preaching with actual life advice. The titular phrase is never spoken, so I’m not exactly sure why Prodigy chose to go with the official sneaker of divorced dads and #MAGA dickheads, but he obviously thought he was on to something when he included this in the final tracklisting.

9. SNAKES

In an amazing twist, the organ-laced instrumental on “Snakes” is pretty good  ̶  it’s the lyrics that tank the track like Jack Donaghy tried to do with NBC. Prodigy’s cadence is that of his past self: a cold-blooded menace with zero fucks left to give. But the words he chooses to use are pretty fucking lame on “Snakes”. Conspiracy P dives back into his own beliefs on here, waxing pompously about etymology while still attempting to threaten every young up-and-coming gangsta that dares try to go against him. “Snakes” feels like it would have fit comfortably on any of our host’s H.N.I.C. projects, which is intended as a compliment, but it would be among the worst songs on any of those efforts, as he didn’t feel it was necessary to give a damn about his pen game.

10. THE GOOD FIGHT

Much more focused than “Snakes”, anyway: “The Good Fight” features our host exclaiming, “I’m good at this rap shit. Allow me to lay out my reasons for believing as such,” and each bullet point in his presentation is entirely plausible. (Except for his grandfather teaching him how to produce his own beats. I have no doubt that really took place, but throughout his career it seems our host didn’t put that idea into practice all that often.) The hook is bad, with very little attention paid to whether or not it even fits with the song itself, and Knxwledge’s instrumental is pretty schmaltzy  ̶  this could be the Frank Capra of Prodigy solo efforts. (Which I suppose makes a little bit of sense when you consider Knxwledge’s other work alongside the likes of Anderson .Paak and Kendrick Lamar.) But the man himself sounds good during his verses, and when he says, “Time to go and embrace the next plane of existence / But I ain’t finished,” you’ll feel something approximating sadness. R.I.P. Prodigy.

11. MR. PRESIDENT

Still willing to bet that Prodigy was no Trump fan.

12. SPIRITUAL WAR

I certainly respect the fact that Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation), like all of the rest of Prodigy’s solo output, isn’t supposed to sound like a Mobb Deep album, but I don’t understand the man’s insistence on rhyming over instrumentals that don’t suit him in the least bit, such as Beat Butcha’s production on “Spiritual War”. Nobody ever wanted to hear our host speed-rap his way out of a wet paper bag: he sounds out of breath approximately half the time on here. There are a couple of decent lines on “Spiritual War”, and for whatever reason he manages to reference Back to the Future, but while Prodigy tries encouraging his listeners to rise up and take action, this track may only motivate them to shut off their computers or phones and move on with their lives mentally, physically, and spiritually.

13. NO RELIGION

That comment I made earlier about hearing 2Pac’s voice on a Prodigy album can also be applied here if you swap his name out for Jay-Z’s. Hov’s sampled line isn’t really all that distracting, though, especially as our host also takes it upon himself to repeat the line in his own voice during the hook. “No Religion” is forced to work around a soap opera-esque Mo Betta instrumental that is melodramatic to a tee, but P manages to sound alright enough. Every track on Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) features Cellblock P Having Something To Say, and “No Religion” piles on to that mess with bars such as, “Real men drink water / We stay with our women and raise our daughters,” spoken as though these thoughts had never occurred to anyone before, ever. (He does half-assedly throw in a “And our little men, too” afterward, so at least P isn’t advocating abandoning your sons.) “No Religion” isn’t really about theology (or the lack of it) as much as it is an excuse for Prodigy to stand at the pulpit and preach to us all about how we’ve been lied to throughout our lives. Still, it could have been much worse.

14. HUNGER PANGS (FEAT. CASH BILZ)

The final song on the album also features the only guest of the entire evening, and it isn’t Havoc or anybody affiliated with the Infamous Mobb. Weird. Well, not so much, I suppose, since Prodigy had sought to distance himself from that movement long ago when it came to his solo efforts. I know almost nothing about Cash Bilz aside from the fact that he appears to be a human being that definitely exists, but he sounds fine on “Hunger Pangs”, almost as though he were starving or something. This is Cellblock P’s show, however, and he makes sure that the spotlight remains directed at him during this Mark the Beast production (which, thankfully, does not veer toward the EDM club-heavy sound his previous work on Prodigy’s Untitled EP did). This isn’t the pinnacle of Prodigy’s lyrical ability or anything, but it’s among the better performances of Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation), which is better than nothing. Or is it? I’d have to say nah. This album was pretty boring.

I listened to Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) via streaming, so I know very little about its physical release, although I do understand that there was supposed to be a deluxe edition with four additional tracks that was cancelled at the last minute. One of those bonus songs was apparently tacked on at the very end of the compact disc edition as a hidden track, so I hunted that one down and believe I’ve found it (I couldn’t locate any lyrics or other information to confirm.) But what about those other three songs, Max? Readily available online, of course, although I won’t be writing about those, since they ultimately aren’t a part of this project.

PHD

This bonus track is jazzy, energetic, and full of life  ̶  hilariously, three things the rest of Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) is not. After some introductory horseshit that, at the very least, ties the track into the main narrative, Cellblock P comes in sounding both excited and menacing, delivering his bars like a disgruntled postal worker: you aren’t sure of exactly what it is that will set him off, but you know something’s coming. I have no information on who produced “PhD”, but it’s easily the best song I’ve listened to this evening, hinting at what Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) could have been had Prodigy embraced an altogether new sound: it’s free-flowing and without boundaries, which would have only helped our host get his message across more effectively.

THE LAST WORD: Overall, Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) isn’t what I would call a “good” Prodigy album, but it is successful in that it’s completely different from everything else in the man’s catalog while still sounding like it belongs in the same playlist. Cellblock P seemed to be transitioning out of his Mobb Deep persona into a heightened state of being, his choice of topics shifting focus from the street life to the bigger picture, and for the most part he’s convincing as an orator, even if the message is flawed at times. The music on Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) isn’t very memorable, which definitely causes some issues with re-playability, which is kind of a problem considering that this is an album consisting of music that is meant to be played. But I give posthumous kudos to Prodigy for going in a different direction, and unlike that Untitled EP, it’s accessible enough for longtime stans to follow him down the rabbit hole. When the best moment of the entire project is the hidden bonus track, though. you know your album has some problems with consistency, but that’s just what I was drawn to here: your mileage may vary, and likely will. Fans of The Infamous and H.N.I.C. will most likely balk at what our host is presenting you with here, but make no mistake: this is hip hop, and Prodigy hasn’t changed his delivery as much as he has his message. (He obviously still has an issue with shitty rap music, as witnessed on “Broken Rappers.”) I just didn’t really care for this one. Sorry. If the remaining two volumes ever see a proper release, though, I'd be willing to see where Albert was going with this. But until then.

-Max

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