The world is still trying to come to grips with the sudden and unexpected death of New York rap icon Prodigy. Everyone who’s anyone in hip-hop, from Nas to Drake, 50 Cent and Questlove have all taken to social media to pay tribute, but the person closest to him, his Mobb Deep partner has remained mostly silent…until now.
Havoc posted up some photos to his Instagram account just after Prodigy passed away from complication stemming from sickle cell anemia, but only just recently opened up about his thoughts and feelings in a recent interview with TMZ. “I knew that he was in the hospital, but I know that he’s not dead – he goes to the hospital all the time,” Havoc said. “Rumors get around, dumb shit. I was laughing to be honest with you, because I had not directly spoken to P[rodigy], but I knew his status every day since I left [Las] Vegas.”
The pair were in Vegas at the time as part of the Art Of Rap tour alongside other legends like Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Ice-T. Shortly afterwards, Prodigy fell ill and had to go to the hospital. Not long afterwards, Havoc got the awful news. “The road manager was just crying like I never heard before,” he said. “I’m still just f**ked up. I can’t even listen to ‘Shook Ones’ or any song. I can hardly look at the pictures…I still can’t believe it.”
Part of the reason for his disbelief came from how often Prodigy had to go to the hospital to treat his disorder. “We’re used to P[rodigy] going to the hospital – not like every day, but we’ve been dealing with this for over 20 years,” Havoc said. “[He] goes to the hospital, stays in for three days, maybe five tops, and then he gets better and he’s out. [So this time], it wasn’t something to be like, ‘oh my god, he’s crazy sick!’ It’s like, sometimes he has sickle cell crisis.”
When he learned about his partner’s death, Havoc was driving and nearly got into an accident. “I’m on the highway; I can’t pull over; I can’t do nothing,” the rapper said. “I could have crashed with my kids in the car. I’m still just f**ked up.”
