Mobb Deep's Prodigy Talks Blood Money
Wednesday May 31, 2006 @ 11:30 AM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

by Cheryl Thompson

Mobb Deep have been at the forefront of New York hip-hop since long before people even heard of 50 Cent, producing such classic albums as The Infamous and Hell On Earth. While other New York groups from that era — like A Tribe Called Quest, Junior Mafia and Capone-N-Noreaga — have either dissolved of their own volition, because of problems with the law, or label issues, Prodigy and Havoc are still going.

Mobb Deep

ChartAttack recently caught up with Prodigy via phone, somewhere in between the boroughs of Manhattan and Queens.

ChartAttack: Tell me about your latest album, Blood Money. What are you saying on this album?
Prodigy: We started working on that as soon as we got signed... We called the album Blood Money because it's to wake people up to what's going on in the world. There's a lot a of people under the spell of the dollar bill, but what they need to realize is no matter how you make it, it's all blood money.

You guys collaborated with a lot of artists on this album. Who did you enjoy working with the most?
We're hyped about everyone really. We're just excited about the fact that we've been listening to them as much as they've been listening to us, so it's just mutual respect all around.

Did anyone surprise you?
Actually, Dr. Dre's beats were unbelievable. Dr. Dre did the beats on the hit "Out Of Control" that came out a little while back.

If you were to compare Mobb Deep of 1996 with Mobb Deep of 2006, what's changed and what's remained the same?
The difference between now and then is that back then I was a wild kid and I really didn't care about the business. We was just having fun being young and dumb. Now, I'm concentrating on the business, being a man, and on the things that we do in life.

You've been together a long time, while a lot of other groups have broken up. How have you two managed to stay together?
Love for the music and love for each other. We know that the music we doing is reaching a lot of people. They feel us and that makes us keep going. We're like brothers. We been through a lot so there's a lot of love there, you know what I mean?

There are those who say that New York hip-hop has fallen off. What do you have to say about that?
People have a lot of things to say that really don't make sense. If you look at some of the biggest artists now, they're from Jamaica, Queens. I don't understand where people get their information from. It's not the same as it was, it's bigger. 50 Cent sold nine million records, more records than anyone ever sold in the history of rap. Are they trying to compare Lil' Jon with 50 Cent? There's no comparison. We love what Lil' Jon is doing and other artists like Nelly and Ciara. We're happy that rap music has spread global, and we're happy that it's blowing up.

What's next for Mobb Deep?
We got a book on the way, Mobb Deep's biography. We're getting into a lot of things. You'll see.