Mobb Deep’s Prodigy has died, a representative for the rapper has confirmed. “Prodigy was hospitalized a few days ago in Vegas after a Mobb Deep performance for complications caused by a sickle cell anemia crisis,” their statement reads. “As most of his fans know, Prodigy battled the disease since birth. The exact causes of death have yet to be determined.” News first broke of the rapper’s passing when Nas posted a photo of him to his Instagram with the caption “QB RIP King P.” He was 42.
Prodigy (real name Albert Johnson) was born in 1974. The son of a long line of musicians, he co-founded the hip-hop duo Mobb Deep with Kejuan Muchita (better known as Havoc) in the early 1990s. They released their debut album Juvenile Hell in 1993, and went on to release three more full-lengths before the end of the decade, continuing to release music and tour together in the new millennium. The most recent Mobb Deep album, The Infamous Mobb Deep, was issued in 2014. Last year, Prodigy released a collection of his collaborations through a BitTorrent bundle.
