Prodigy Reveals Nas’ Illmatic Was A Blueprint For Mobb Deep’s The Infamous

April 2017 marked the 22nd anniversary of The Infamous which "Mass Appeal" describes as an archetype of grimy 1990's New York hip hop. The duo was banking on the album to help keep them from not getting dropped from their label.

"We ain't going to get another chance after this," Prodigy states. "If we flop again it's over. So we regrouped, went into the crib—mad 40s, mad weed—and started grinding, like really making beats."

“When Juvenile Hell first came out, it didn’t do well,” he begins near the 1:55 mark. “We were still figuring out what Mobb Deep is, and how we should present ourselves and how the music industry works. Right around the time that album came out, Nas dropped Illmatic and it was just incredible,” he recalls.

"The lifestyle that we were living, the lifestyle that we grew up in, the beats just naturally came out like some dark, sinister-sounding, shit," Prodigy speaks to Mass Appeal. "The lyrics were easy after that because the beats pulled the lyrics out of me."

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