He mutters out of the side of his mouth, barely noticing the beat. As a rapper, P's never sounded more detached. 2 finds Prodigy tangled in confusion, sounding like he's rapping through a haze of self-prescribed medication. The B.Coming was a bitter lament, a recording of someone taking stock of his life and dwelling on his mistakes.

2* isn't like Beanie Sigel's The B.Coming, another album made by a rapper about to start a prison term. (From his list of trends that he started: '#5 HOW I FOLD MY BANDANA,' '#9 SAMPLING MUSIC FROM THE MOVIE SCARFACE,NOBODY DID IT BEFORE ME.NOT THE MUSIC'). Before Prodigy began serving his time, though, he reportedly recorded scratchy YouTube videos for every song on the album, signed a record deal with the translation-tech startup Voxonic, and started writing cryptically self-aggrandizing and weirdly addictive all-caps blog entries.

By the time he got around to recording that sequel, though, Prodigy was staring down a three-and-a-half year prison sentence for gun possession, a term he's since started. 2, P's long-awaited sequel to his 2000 solo debut. Return of the Mac was originally intended as a mixtape teaser for H.N.I.C. It'd be great to say that Return of the Mac triggered a creative revitalization in Prodigy, but the past year has seen the man's life devolve into chaos, which positively bleeds through H.N.I.C.

Prodigy hnic album pic