“It’s the real shit, shit to make em feel shit (the real)
Lump em in the club shit, have you wildin out when you bump this
(hip-hop) Drugs to your eardrum, the raw uncut
Have a n*!g@ OD cause it’s never enough…”
Ok, so I went back and forth within myself on penning this article because like human life – Hip Hop is something special to me. I didn’t want to use the transition of a legend as a means to getting hits or likes. But with every scroll I take on Instagram, seeing Prodigy’s face pushes me to share my love for the culture.
On Saturday, June 24, Prodigy was to appear on the Main Stage in my hometown during the Harlem Arts Festival alongside Maurice Brown & Marc Cary’s amazing band Short Circuit. It was P’s next scheduled show after Vegas. In celebration of his life, Maurice Brown invited some special guests including Prodigy’s Official DJ Ski Beatz, Rapper Jon-John Robinson, Lord Ness and M1 (Mutulu Olugbala) of Dead Prez. All represented Prodigy well performing hits like Quiet Storm, Shook Ones, & Survival of the Fittest. Rhythm City Entertainment Hip Hop Dance Crew from MTV’s ABDC, appropriately dressed in all white, took the stage too. An unrecorded, memorized verse of P’s was also recited by M1. He and others told stories about the man Prodigy, which resembled Hip Hop itself.
Hip Hop is about life – the pain one may experience along with the desire for better. Weaved is so many lyrics of true MCs is this love-hate relationship with our walk on planet earth; the fucked up hand many have been dealt mixed with the acceptance of that hand and methods used to win the game by any means necessary.
Hip Hop has always been about moving out of the dark and into the light. Now the methods haven’t always been clean or legal and the ultimate goal of success varies based on the storyteller but at the core was this hope of more and abundant living.
The hits played accompanied by a live band on Saturday took me back, back into time…all while keeping me in this sphere we call Hip Hop. Known by The Neptunes, NERD stands for No One Ever Really Dies. Prodigy continues to live on through the music and art he created while in flesh form.
In an interview with Mass Appeal, Prodigy talked about a line from the song Shook Ones…”Getting closer to God in a tight situation”. See video below
Courtesy of MassAppeal.com
I choose to believe Prodigy is even closer to God in this moment. He will forever be a part of the fabric of Hip Hop.
@tashimajonesmedia