Credit: Alamy

Hip Hop saw a meteoric rise in popularity during the 1990s and by the early 2000s had settled comfortably into the mainstream consciousness as a powerhouse of music culture. The ‘90s boom brought with it the first superstar rappers who saw much critical and commercial success, and who were also credited as the powerhouses behind the genre’s success. One of those superstars was Prodigy; one-half of the legendary rap duo Mobb Deep. 

Hip hop in the ‘90s also went through a transitional period. Gangsta rap was shifting from a subgenera to the norm and that shift brought with it a key characteristic: beef. The rap culture in this period was defined by the struggle for the crown of New York. This battle saw famous diss tracks and confrontations between the likes of Biggie, Tupac and Nas, it was then a genre fuelled by genuine hatred that bled beyond the recording studio. The competitive nature of this period also led to some of the genre-defining records as each artist was driven to out-rap the other.

As the dust settled on the lyrical battle scene in the early 2000s it seemed that Nas had claimed the crown, as the last artist still standing. That was until a young rapper from Brooklyn named Jay Z picked up a mic. Jay started his career in the ‘90s but announced his presence and intention to take the crown in his generational record ‘The Blueprint’ in 2001. Jay knew that to take the crown he had to start a fight, and although his feud with Nas went on to be the beef that ‘The Blueprint’ was known for, Jay first took aim at Mobb Deep.

Getting on stage at Hot 97’s Summer Jam in 2001 Jay performed his track ‘Takeover’ he rapped “you was a ballerina, I got the pictures I seen ya” in front of a screen displaying a picture of Prodigy dressed as Michael Jackson. Jay was coming for all of New York rap royalty and that included Mobb Deep. The duo of Prodigy and Havoc were veterans of the game by now and were in the trenches of the ‘90s East Coat – West Coast rap war, they knew that they had to respond, and respond they did.

Mobb Deep released their fifth studio album ‘Infamy’ in 2001 which included two songs in response to Jay’s diss; ‘Burn’ and ‘Crawlin’. Both tracks referenced extreme violence, typical of Mobb Deep’s style, but this time they seemed to be threats directed towards Jay. ‘Crawlin’ especially promised “without a doubt, you gonna hear that thing clap”, while also mocking Jay for running scared from the hood as soon as he saw success: “n-ggas get money bounce from the hood you shitted”.

Thankfully, this violence remained lyrical, but that wasn’t the case for many of the other era-defining beefs. Famously the Tupac and Biggie beef ended in the deaths of both artists. The same almost happened earlier as Snoop Dogg once recounted a meeting between Tupac and Nas where Nas’ entourage turned up to the meeting with hands on pistols ready for anything to go down. 

The rap community looks back on the beef era with appreciation but also with regret for the lives lost. Jay shared this sentiment when talking to TIDAL, saying “I feel like, man, a lot of us, Sean [Price] and [Big] Kap dying”. Prodigy passed away in 2017 from complications relating to sickle cell anaemia, a condition once mocked by Tupac in ‘Hit ‘em Up’. Jay looked back on his relationship with Prodigy following his death, stating “These guys are dying young. We have to focus on that. I had super respect for Prodigy”. 

Jay also revealed to TIDAL that he and Prodigy had met to squash the beef “Me and him spoke before he passed. I saw him in a club, maybe five years ago. He just came over and we kicked it”. For all the beef that the ’90s era brought, most rappers look back on their competition with respect, and that rang true it seems for Jay and Prodigy also.