By far one of the more exciting things about Prodigy’s latest mixtape is the inclusion of producer Harry Fraud, who is excellent at making the sort of darkly lush music that New York rappers thrive on. That shouldn't discount the other high points of this tape, though. Havoc's grandiose but bleak beat for "They Scared" is all midnight coked-out synth excess, with Waka Flocka comfortably sandwiched between both Prodigy and Havoc. It's almost enough to forget that brief period where Mobb Deep kinda lost the plot and released uncharacteristic songs that sounded like they couldn't even bring themselves to care. Most importantly though, like all of Prodigy's post-Return of the Mac output, there's a consistent vibe across all 27 songs with a couple minor missteps, but that's alright. No one's perfect, and Prodigy has pretty much made an entire career out of lurking in that grimy middle ground.
Download: Prodigy, HNIC 3 (via Complex)
