Despite last year’s over-hyped 4th quarter albums from A-listers like Jay-Z, Nas, Snoop, Game and Jeezy, the double 0-7 is quietly shaping up to quite a year for underground, indie heroes and up-and-comers. Like a rappin’ Richard Pryor [sorry Jim], Devin The Dude’s ‘Waiting to Exhale’ is chock full of x-rated anecdotes, lowbrow humor and funky southern-fried beats. Rich Boy, Alabama’s scrawny-yet-scrappy answer to T.I., gave fans of “Throw Some Dees” all the swagger rap and 808 thump they could handle on his self-titled first LP. On the Midwest side of things, Detroit’s Black Milk lived up to his underground hype with his debut “Popular Demand,” giving Kanye a run for his money for the title of “best producer on the mic”. The real story so far of 2007, however, is the resurrection of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy.
Life’s been rough for the tough-talking Prodigy since he dropped his slept-on solo classic “H.N.I.C.” in 2G. He’s been dissed by Jay-Z (”Takeover”), dissed by his Queensbridge neighbor Nas (”Destroy and Rebuild”), and seen his skills and record sales decline in direct relation to his street cred. After a reinventing himself as “V.I. Pee” on Mobb Deep’s weak G-Unit debut, ‘Blood Money’, it seemed like it would be wrap for the diminutive thug once known as one of NYC’s premier hardcore poets. Then along came Al. Al as in the Alchemist, the producer responsible for some of Mobb Deep’s best work in the new millennium as well as bangers for Ghostface, Nas, Dilated Peoples and Snoop Dogg. An equally diminutive whiteboy from the exact opposite side of the tracks (he’s from Beverly Hills originally), the Alchemist has a gift for providing the perfect soundscape for thug rappers gritty tales of New York City with his sample-heavy and soulful production. Al convinced his longtime friend and collaborator Prodigy to hit the lab with him and make a mixtape that his core fans would relish the result is the ultra-violent, nihilistic, dark-with paranoia and all-around excellent “Return of the Mac” album. This the New York rap that East Coast heads have missing in a concentrated package, reminiscent of the Mobb’s “Shook Ones” heyday. The Bridge ain’t really over.
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