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Mobb Deep's Prodigy Has Passed Away Aged 42

Staff Writer

The veteran rapper has been extensively memorialised on social media since the news broke

New York rapper Albert Johnson, better known by his stage name, Prodigy, has died in Las Vegas at the age of 42.

One-half of venerated east-coast hip hop duo Mobb Deep, Prodigy's death has been confirmed by his publicist as well as journalist and writer Kathy Iandoli, who co-authored last year's Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook with the rapper.

As CNN notes, no cause of death has been officially established, though Prodigy had suffered complications from sickle cell anemia, a lifelong illness, and resulted in a stay in hospital.

Prodigy met his Mobb Deep collaborator, Kejuan "Havoc" Muchita, in high school, releasing their debut album, Juvenile Hell, in 1993. They followed up two years later with sophomore effort The Infamous and remained prolific for the next decade, releasing another five albums through till 2006's Blood Money.

An arrest on weapons charges that year saw Prodigy sentenced in 2007 to three-and-a-half years at New York's Mid-State Correctional Facility, before a falling out with Havoc in 2012 — which played out publicly on Twitter and at the pair's SXSW appearance that year — complicated their relationship.

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However, Havoc and Prodigy mended fences well enough to release their eighth studio album, The Infamous Mobb Deep, in 2014, and had continued performing together.

The duo is regarded as one of the most successful hip hop groups of all time, and their broad influence on the development of east-coast hip hop through the late 1990s and beyond is felt in the music of countless younger acts.

Prodigy has been memorialised extensively on social media since news broke of his passing; see below for a selection of statements from the likes of Missy Elliott, Flying Lotus, Ice-T, Mike Tyson, G-Eazy, Wesley Snipes, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lil Wayne and more.