Prodigy - H.N.I.C., Part 2 Review

Posted by Phil Watts, Jr on 04.24.2008

“Sitting alone in this four-cornered room tryin’ to write this album…HIGH ON DRUGS!”

(AAO/Voxonic Music, 2008)

After three sub-par Mobb Deep albums, P gave us a glimmer of hope with RETURN OF THE MAC, an album with Alchemist digging in the crates for that ol’ 70’s soul while P tries his best to come off as menacing as possible. It was considered one of the best albums of 2007, and gave us hope that maybe--JUST MAYBE, we could get more Mobb-related material that comes close to their classics to make up for the duds. Yeah, he may never get his act together in his personal life, but at least he could get his act together MUSICALLY, right?

For the most part, Alchemist, Sid Roams, and Havoc, who all produce a decent chunk of the album, have given H.N.I.C. 2 that 80’s synthesized sinister sound similar to the background music you’d find in an 80’s gangster flicks like SCARFACE. Ever since the success of hits like “G.O.D. III” and “It’s Mine” (which uses both the closing and opening themes of Scarface respectively), they’ve been trying to incorporate that sound into their recordings. Unfortunately, in doing so, Mobb Deep lost their consistency when it came to making dope albums. That sound only works for them in small doses, and when it does work, it’s usually the Alchemist that makes it work (“When You Hear The“; “Don‘t Get It Twisted“). And even then, you have another matter to deal with: P’s deteriorating mic skills, with lines that don’t even rhyme, death threats that get more laughable with each beef he loses, and lines that make no damn sense whatsoever!

Sadly, this album continues the trend, with even more laughable attempts at thug braggadocio and death threats that boarder on unintentional comedy. In fact, some of these lyrics are so comical, it’s hard to believe that P was dead serious when he wrote it. For all his disses against Nas in the press, P finds himself attempting similar anti-government lyrics in “Real Power is People”, and comes off even worse: “Son, I’m telling the truth/you live it then you see it/you breath it then you be it/let me tell you a secret/it’s a secret government that worship an owl/they practice witchcraft to harness they power/pedophiles rape little kids for energy/it’s satanic rituals--W.T.C. (R.I.P.)/they lit the Pentagon on fire/that’s lighting a PENTAGRAM on fire/all these bodies for what?/so you can scare everybody into one world, HUH?!“

OUCH.

Thankfully, P sticks with the usual script for most of the album, but the hilarity doesn’t stop. In the “New Nitty”, P becomes a glass-house resident tossing rocks with lines like “Don’t be mad at me/be mad at yourself/for being so GARBAGE you NEED TO BE KILLED/for putting out bullshit like it’s all a joke!” In “ABC”, P plummets to Tim Dog-level hilarity: “R.I.P. season begins/dead bodies poppin’ up/niggas getting’ hit/others getting’ BEAT THE FUCK UP and BASHED OUT/M.O.P. style, you getting’ Mashed Out/I’ll razorblade you up and CUT YOU BAD/you gonna need plastic where your face was at/Boy, I’ll BULLET-RIDDLE YOU UP and CHOP YOU INTO PARTS/and scatter you all over the East Coast--Kiko/you play with your life/you play with me/you like a baby wit a knife/You upset that your wifey got my CD in her changer/ and YOU RAP TOO, but she don’t bump your bangers/your shit WACK, and then on top/your lifestyle don’t match the shit you pop!” Yeah, good thing P’s lifestyle does match his lyrics, huh? Because of that, as of this writing, he’s currently in jail, and won’t be able to work on another project until 2011! And then on top, NOTHING says 100% PURE THUG better than a hook like THIS:

“A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P--P--P
El numero uno P/it’s no other--kids tell them who I be--
A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P--P--P
The one and only N.I.C. who holdin’ it down for NYC, huh!”

Oh…and for all you Spanish thug aficionados, he’s even got a SPANGLISH version of the song as a BONUS TRACK!!!! Yeah, TALK ABOUT SERVICE!!!

For another example of P’s incredible hook-writing, check out the colab with Big Twin (the sour-throat sounding fool from Imfamous Mobb) in “3 Stacks”:

“3 Stacks, 3 stacks, 3 stacks
And a pocket full of hats
3 Stacks, 3 stacks, 3 stacks
And a pocket full of hats
It don’t stop It don’t stop It don’t stop
When it’s on it go POP
It don’t stop It don’t stop It don’t stop
When it’s on it go POP!”

Now imagine both hooks with P’s vocals raised up to high-pitched Lord Quas levels!

Then there’s “When I See You”, which was supposed to be a Cormega colab (his lyrics were printed in the liner notes, but his vocals were cut from the album. Weird.). P continues the elementary school session with “1-2-3- to the 4/the nigga P-double got that shit fo’sure/5-6-7 to the 8/you niggas make me laugh straight to the bank!”, and brings us another prized hook: “It’s gonna be some shit when I see you/Goodfella nigga, but I’m finna get evil/uh--caught him when his pants was down/look--now I got him runnin’ on camera now!!” Subtext, anyone?

With all the embarrassing moments in this album, it’s hard to believe that there’s a bright spot buried underneath all the comedy. That bright spot is “Veteran Memorial, part 2”. In here, P gets reminiscent over a few people in his life, like Havoc’s brotherman Killer, Money Bags, and P’s own father, Bud Johnson. This is also the only song on the album that returns to the more souled-out production that helped make RETURN OF THE MAC an album of the year candidate.

“I light a candle on your death and birthday
Lord have mercy it seems you cursed me
With a life of pain all I do is strain
Every day’s a struggle, everyday it rains
Even when the sun’s shinin’
They say that’s when God’s cryin’
Dark clouds hanging over my head
May lightning strike me down if I’m lying
I miss my pops, all I got is lonely teardrops
And memories teaching me how to hurt people
With my bear hands and how to shoot people
I remember me and him stuck a jewelry store
He did the stickin’, I was in the getaway car
Pops came out with a big bag full of jewelry
We had a high-speed chase with Nassau County
I was 8 years old, my Pops was drama
They locked him up and sent me home to momma…

I miss the dead
I wish the dead would
please come back I need your help
And everybody that’s got somebody deceased
I know you feel the same
Spirit’s gon’ live through me”

P works best with this combo, as the beat not only compliments him, it fit’s the reminiscent feel of the song. For this brief moment, you’ll actually be feeling his words instead of laughing at them. It’ll also make you wish that the whole album was like this.


THE GOOD (“That means, ’the Head Nigga In Charge!’”): “Veteran Memorial 2”

THE BAD (“It kills your brain cells, son! IT KILLS YOUR BRAIN CELLS!!”): “Real Power Is People”, “ABC”, “3 Stacks”

The 411: Last time, it was the RETURN OF THE MAC. This time, it’s the return of THE KING OF UNINTENTIONAL COMEDY. The two albums couldn’t be more different. As the heavily sample-based production in MAC was more effective in accentuating P’s vocals (not to mention mask some of his flaws), in HNIC 2, the synth-heavy production managed to expose his flaws and bring out the worst in him. This album brings P back to the lunacy that made the last three Mobb Deep albums such flops. Sadly, because of his current legal problems (I.E., his 3 year jail sentence), this will be the last we’ll ever hear from him in a while. He had all the opportunities in the world to go out with a BANG. Instead, he winds up going out in a whimper…not to mention going out as the butt of jokes.

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]