Albert Johnson (November 2, 1974 – June 20, 2017), known professionally as Prodigy, was an American rapper and record producer.

He was best known for being in the rap duo Mobb Deep along with Havoc, yet Johnson still had a solo career, regularly collaborating with producer The Alchemist.

[12][3] While attending the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, he met his future music partner, Havoc.

Under the alias Lord-T (The Golden Child), the then-16-year-old Johnson landed an uncredited guest appearance on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack, for his collaborative efforts on the song "Too Young" by Hi-Five in 1991.

[9] In 1993, Mobb Deep released their debut album, Juvenile Hell through 4th & B'way, Island and PolyGram Records.

[16] That same year, Prodigy began to raise his solo profile, by providing a guest appearance on LL Cool J's controversial "I Shot Ya" remix.

Ironically, "I Shot Ya" does feature a subliminal aim in Prodigy's verse to Murray, which continued friction that started sometime prior with an interlude from Mobb Deep's 1995 The Infamous album.

[22] A year and a half later, at the end of 1996, Prodigy and Havoc released Hell on Earth, which debuted at number six on SoundScan.

[23] Their next release, Murda Muzik, was heavily bootlegged while still in its demo stage, leaking, onto the streets and over the internet, rough versions of the nearly 30 songs the duo had recorded.

[41] The following is a brief timeline and chronology of some of the legal issues that Prodigy faced during his life: From 1995 to 1997, the media-fueled "East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry" was occurring.

in "Hit 'Em Up" where, in the outro of the song, he made a remark in clear reference to Prodigy's ailment in having sickle cell anemia.

[49] Mobb Deep responded in a track called "Drop A Gem On 'Em" which was released as a single 2 weeks before 2Pac was murdered.

[53] Def Squad took offense from this, but the feud was settled when Prodigy and Keith Murray met at a video shoot.

[53] The feud was rekindled when Prodigy again referenced "space shit" in his appearance on LL Cool J's "I Shot Ya" which also featured Murray.

[56] During Hot 97's annual Summer Jam festival in June 2001, Jay reignited the feud by performing an unfinished acapella version of "Takeover", and while appearing on stage with Michael Jackson, displayed photos of Prodigy during his childhood years taking lessons at a dance studio (including one with him wearing the notable "Thriller" leather jacket, also worn by Jackson in the song's music video).

"[58][59][60] With the release of Mobb Deep's Infamy on December 11, 2001, three months after The Blueprint, the tracks, "Crawlin'" and "The Learning (Burn)", contained disses toward Jay-Z in response.

[61] The feud continued on with more disses from both parties: Jay-Z on "Hovi Baby" and Mobb Deep's Amerikaz Nightmare and various mixtape freestyles.

Part 2, Prodigy wrote and published an open letter to Jay-Z in which he made some cryptic allegations alluding to the Illuminati theory.

[62] In mid-2011, Prodigy discussed his issues with Jay in an interview with HipHopDX, claiming that he wanted to "fight" him during a weekend he planned at Sean "Diddy" Combs' now-closed restaurant, Justin's.

[63] "Sometime after that little statement I made about him, Jay-Z put out the song called ‘The Takeover’ and he did the Summer Jam,” Prodigy explained.

[63] Then, in 2012, while appearing on the Breakfast Club with Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy, Prodigy finally confirmed the photos of his dance classes were taken by his grandmother at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan.

Every year, she did a concert at Carnegie Hall in Lincoln Center and she would do this program booklet for the families and kids that were in the school," he said.

How did Vibe approve this?Crooked I responded in a blog entry, and challenged Prodigy to a one-on-one fight upon the rapper's release.

[78][79] Prodigy rhymed about a secret society in his collaboration with LL Cool J in the song "I Shot Ya (Remix)", from the 1995 album Mr.

[80] In an interview with Vibe in November 2000, Johnson spoke about what inspired him to directly address his battle with sickle cell disease in his song "You Can Never Feel My Pain", from his debut studio album H.N.I.C.

[81] On June 18, 2017, Johnson was hospitalized at the Spring Valley Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada due to complications related to sickle cell anemia.

He had been performing with Havoc, Ghostface Killah, Onyx, KRS-One, and Ice-T on the Art of Rap Tour in Las Vegas, and had fallen ill during a meet-and-greet with fans due to hot weather aggravating his condition.

The cause of death was initially believed to have been related to his sickle cell disease,[84] but it was later confirmed as accidental choking.