My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy by Albert ‘Prodigy’ Johnson with Laura Checkoway
Written in the tradition of Claude Brown’s Manchild in the Promised Land and Piri Thomas’ Down These Mean Streets, this memoir is part ode to the concrete jungles of the New York City streets and part shocking confessional on the burdens of fame during Hip Hop’s Golden Era. Prodigy rose to iconic status during the early 90’s as one half of the platinum selling hip hop duo, Mobb Deep and then fell from grace after an unlawful arrest.
“The legendary rapper unsentimentally details a life of beefs, brawls and murders during the heyday of East Coast hip-hop.” –The Washington Post
“A surprising triumph, both as an archive of 1990s New York hip-hop folk tales and for its stirring sketches of a man who, on many occasions, could have made his life a lot easier on himself … This is the kind of vulnerability that is fearless, especially within hip-hop.” –Slate.com
"Albert 'Prodigy' Johnson and his partner, Kejuan 'Havoc' Mujita, used their hardcore street stories to forever change the rap game alongside fellow NYC titans Nas, the Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, and Wu-Tang Clan." - The Village Voice