This week I’m
running a series of posts in honor of the late Albert Johnson, better known in
the hip hop community as the rapper Prodigy. These reviews will close out both
his and his group Mobb Deep’s respective catalogs, so if you’ve been following
this blog, you likely know what projects will be popping up this week. Enjoy,
and leave your comments below!
On the
surface, Buffalo, New York brothers Westside Gunn and Conway share a similar
aesthetic as Havoc and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. They all specialize in grimy
street rap, which is a gross oversimplification of what each man brings to the
proverbial table, but it is the easiest way to describe their niche within our
chosen genre. Over dark, menacing instrumentals (that Havoc typically provides
himself, which is the key difference between the duos), Gunn, the Machine,
Cellblock P, and Hav all relay their observations of a violent, hedonistic
lifestyle, where respect is the highest form of currency and the goal is to
never get run up on.
So a
collaboration between the two factions was a no-brainer.
