Happy 10th Anniversary to Prodigy & Alchemist’s second collaborative studio album Albert Einstein, originally released June 11, 2013.
Albert “Prodigy” Johnson and Alan “The Alchemist” Maman long shared a special chemistry. Since the mid-1990s, Prodigy had been considered one of the best rappers to pick up a microphone, while Alchemist has been on his own grind for about 30 years, primarily as a producer. Throughout their nearly quarter century working partnership and friendship, they brought out the best in each other. Albert Einstein, released a decade ago, is one of the best things that either have been a part of.
As one half of the infamous Mobb Deep, Prodigy first connected with Alchemist in the late 1990s, through the group’s affiliate Big Twinz. Alc ended up producing a pair of tracks from Murda Muzik (1999). One of these was the ruggedly subdued “The Realest,” featuring Kool G Rap, which would presage Alchemist’s future production proclivities.
The Alchemist became an important part of both the subsequent releases of Mobb Deep, and his beat-making skills were intrinsic to helping boost Prodigy’s solo career. Even when Mobb Deep’s albums were a bit scattershot, Alchemist could be counted on to bring the heat. He would also contribute some of the best beats on Prodigy’s solo debut H.N.I.C. (2000). He later produced the entirety of Prodigy’s Return of the Mac (2007), inspired by Blaxploitation films and dusty 1970s soul.
Things started to get bumpy for Prodigy post-Return of the Mac. The latter half of the ’00s was rough for Illuminati P. In late 2007, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after working out a plea deal for a 2006 weapons charge. While has was incarcerated, his H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 (2008) album was released to little fanfare, and Mobb Deep were released from their deal with G-Unit.
Months after being released from prison early due to good behavior, his autobiography My Infamous Life, became available. He also put out a trio of projects, an EP and two albums, but nothing quite stuck. When he decided to reunite with Alchemist, it was a key component to his revitalization as an artist.
As the 2010s began, Alchemist had further established himself as one of the best producers in the game. He could contribute a track or two of heat for rapper, but really excelled when he collaborated with artists and crews to work behind the boards for an entire project. Between 2009 and early 2013, he produced the entirety of projects from artists like Fashawn, Curren$y, Action Bronson, Domo Genesis, and Durag Dynasty. These are still some of the strongest releases in these artists’ entire catalogue, and in some cases, some of the best albums of the 2010s. Alchemist also recorded multiple producer-oriented concept albums, such as Russian Roulette (2012), a sprawling compilation where he exclusively sampled different forms of Russian music.
Albert Einstein ranks high amongst both Prodigy and Alchemist’s best, showing the development of their respective crafts. In the five to seven years preceding Albert Einstein, the general consensus was that too often Prodigy would sound detached on both his solo releases and Mobb Deep projects. On Albert Einstein, Prodigy re-tools his flow, almost speaking his rhymes with resolute determination and jagged edges. Behind the boards, Alchemist creates a soundscape that’s dark and psychedelic, like the soundtrack of a hallucinogen-fueled film noir. The results are often cinematic in execution and make for one of the finest albums of the 2010s.
With Albert Einstein, Prodigy and Alchemist created a sound wholly unique at the time. Like all great revitalizations, it’s different enough to break new ground, but still feels like a logical extension of what came before. They start the album off with “IMDKV” (aka “I am Mobb Deep Killa Vultures”), with Prodigy rhyming to piercing keys that sound like they were lifted from an unreleased 1970s horror thriller. “Bear Meat” could have easily been a solo cut on a 2013 Mobb Deep project, with Prodigy asserting his dominance. “The only hip-hop head to keep it so fresh,” he boasts. “Got my style preserved like cans on the shelf.”
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The pair excel at recording ominous street-oriented hip-hop. “Confessions” is a Mobb Deep-styled crime rhyme, as Prodigy describes exacting murderous revenge in the small hours of the morning to a dizzying string sample. Prodigy exudes understated menace on the haunting “Stay Dope,” as he drops line like, “I am the shit, what you thought was fucking wrong / Raise a hand at me, you gon' lose a fucking arm.”
The single “Dough Pildin” is likely an outtake from Russian Roulette (it features the same production tag that popped up all over the aforementioned compilation), in which Alchemist samples, rearranges, distorts, and speeds up pieces from a 1980s Russian pop ballad, supplying one of the album’s most surreal tracks. The song’s harsh content works well with the sample, as Prodigy details working his way through the desolate streets. “I draw circles around these roaches with the chalk,” he warns. “Get your body outlined in the streets of New York / By the King from Queens and he via Long Island / Hempstead two to your head, you stop wilding.”
Sections of Albert Einstein have the feel of an extended posse cut, and Alchemist makes uses of his extensive frequent collaborators. Prodigy has explained that many of the songs were initially recorded at Alchemist’s compound/studio in Los Angeles, a hub for many artists. As a result, Albert Einstein likely hosts a few tracks not originally recorded specifically for the new album. On the ominous “Death Sentence,” Prodigy matches lyrical wits with Roc Marciano, who was then carving out his place as one of the best emcees working.
Action Bronson lends a verse on the gothic “The One,” professing to “smoke the same shit that turns a normal turtle to a Ninja Turtle,” while Prodigy declares that he’s the “big bar champion, the Henny and the rap flow / The great black shar; you’re just a little mackerel.” On production. Alchemist slightly speeds up and warps a sample of Adrian Younge and the Delfonics’ “To Be the One,” filtering in vocals from The Autobiography of Sonny Carson, turning the song into an aural assault.
Alchemist contributes a sturdy verse of his own on the two-part “Bible Papers.” Alchemist started his hip-hop journey as a member of the youthful rap crew Tha Whooliganz, and continued to hone his rhyme skills for years, before releasing material as one half of Gangrene, with Oxnard-native Ohno. On the throwback track “R.I.P.,” Prodigy is joined on the mic by the Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon and Havoc, the other half of Mobb Deep. The song has the sonic sensibilities of a late 1980s fast rap anthem, as the three emcees ride the drum break, as Alchemist phases in ghostly vocals and sounds evocative of the era.
“Y.N.T. (Young N Thuggin),” featuring Domo Genesis, is one of the best songs on Albert Einstein. Domo and other members of Odd Future had begun working with Alchemist since the beginning of the 2010s, and Prodigy’s own teenage son had met them through the Los Angeles skating scene. “Y.N.T.” is incredibly smooth, with the mellowness of the sample contrasting well with the inherent aggressiveness of both Domo and Prodigy’s verses. P’s verses barely rhyme, but his fiery conviction helps make it one of his strongest performances on the album. “You a fan? Name a song on my new album,” he raps, “and buy my shit, you dummy motherfucker / I’m not these other n****s: I’m mandatory rap listening.”
As the album winds down, the pair continue their use of buttery grooves, even as Prodigy delivers less rugged lyrical content. Alchemist executes a masterful production job on “Breeze,” reinterpreting a Hungarian rock track into something silken. Prodigy traverses the country throughout the song, staying on his grind while enjoying the finer things in life. ”Raw Forever” definitely sports Madlib influences, recapturing the vibe of Madvillain’s “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Prodigy reflects on maintaining longevity as an emcee and his ability to live well through money management.
Albert Einstein ends with “Say My Name,” one of my favorites on the project. Alchemist reaches deep into his creative bag, somehow meshing wailing synths with a piano sample that seems to be moving at a completely different tempo. The resulting song sounds like a mid-’90s gangsta rap track on mushrooms. Prodigy records a pair of appropriately tripped-out verses, rapping, “Gangsta hippie, I'm really on some cool shit / But you try to press me? I don’t bullshit.”
Early on in “Give ’Em Hell,” Prodigy states, “Ten years from now, I'll still be around, spittin' my flows / Ten years from now, you'll be a memory that no one knows.” Sadly, Prodigy didn’t make it to the end of another decade. He died on June 20, 2017, while admitted into a hospital while being treated for complications from Sickle Cell Anemia, a disease he fought all of his life. A lot of the emcees who were “hot” before Albert Einstein’s release have faded into oblivion, as have many who made their name after Prodigy’s death.
Alchemist would team with Havoc to release Silent Partner (2016) about a year before Prodigy’s death. It seems wrong that Alc never recorded an entire album with the group as a whole. As it stands, Prodigy’s discography is pretty damn impressive on its own, with Albert Einstein functioning as its crown jewel. Many artists should be so lucky as to have an album like this in their catalogue.
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