It was his beef, and somehow, it became mine too. You know what I mean? So, if I saw Jay-Z, even if he wasn’t directly involved, it felt like I had a problem with him. When someone asked if I liked Jay-Z, I’d say, “No, he’s just a guy who talks a lot but doesn’t walk the walk.” I went into more detail about that. Jay-Z once rapped in “Money Cash Ho,” “New York been soft ever since Snoop came through and crushed the buildings. I’m trying to restore the feelings.” But when all the drama between Mobb Deep, Dog Pound, Tupac, and Biggie was happening, Jay-Z was nowhere to be seen.
I think they’re incredible. Prodigy was definitely one of the top rappers at one point. I wouldn’t say he was the best of all time, but he was absolutely at the top of his game. Recently, Kavak, one half of the legendary Mobb Deep, has been sharing some new insights about Prodigy’s infamous feud with Jay-Z. If you’re not up to speed on this, you’re missing out. Everyone knows about the Jay-Z-Nas beef, but the real fireworks were between Jay-Z and Prodigy from Mobb Deep. Prodigy didn’t take any diss lightly. While Jay-Z seemed to be escalating the beef to hype up his album sales, Prodigy was ready to take things to the next level. Suddenly, Jay-Z backed off, claiming it was just music and nothing personal. But for Prodigy, it was a lot more than that. He even accused Jay-Z of being part of the Illuminati. Considering the odd circumstances surrounding Prodigy’s death, especially since he was working on a project about the Illuminati at the time, it makes you wonder if this beef was really just about music or something deeper. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s dive into it.
Jay-Z was a key player in this whole mess. Along with Mobb Deep and Biggie, he was deeply involved. Jay-Z’s controversial lyrics certainly contributed to the conflict. Prodigy’s issues with Jay-Z trace back to 1998 when Jay-Z dropped his third album, Volume 2: Hard Knock Life. On the track “Money Cash Ho” with DMX, Jay-Z rapped, “It’s like New York been soft ever since Snoop came through and crushed the buildings.” Jay-Z was referencing that notorious scene from Snoop Dogg’s diss track “New York, New York,” where Snoop, depicted as a giant monster, tears through New York City, knocking down landmarks and skyscrapers.
Even though Snoop Dogg is from Long Beach, not L.A., he and Jay-Z have always had a close relationship. Things got complicated, though, when Snoop was beefing with Mobb Deep. When Snoop dropped the video for “New York, New York,” strutting through the streets of the Big Apple, it was a direct shot at the East Coast and Mobb Deep. This only added fuel to the fire between the coasts, and Mobb Deep fired back with their own diss track, “L.A., L.A.,” which many fans thought was way better than Snoop’s track.
When Jay-Z threw shade at New York with his line about it being soft, Prodigy wasn’t having it. He felt Mobb Deep and Biggie were the only ones brave enough to stand up to Suge Knight and Death Row Records during the East Coast-West Coast feud, while Jay-Z was trying to play both sides. In an interview that landed me on the cover of The Source—my first solo magazine cover—I went into detail about my beef with Jay-Z. I had said in a previous interview that Jay-Z was all talk and no action. Jay-Z had a line in “Money Cash Ho” where he rapped, “New York been soft ever since Snoop came through and crushed the buildings. I’m trying to restore the feelings.” Prodigy thought it was hypocritical since Jay-Z wasn’t around during the major drama with Mobb Deep, Dog Pound, Tupac, and Biggie. That was our issue, not a coast-wide war, and Jay-Z was stirring things up without being fully involved.
The tension simmered for a while, but things blew up when Jay-Z dropped “Takeover” on The Blueprint. Jay-Z took some serious shots at Prodigy, and the situation heated up even more during Summer Jam 2001. At this huge event, Jay-Z humiliated Prodigy by flashing a childhood photo of him taking dance lessons, all while performing an unfinished acapella version of “Takeover” alongside Michael Jackson.
Summer Jam 2001 was crazy—an epic event with 20,000 fans, featuring both the king of rap and the king of pop. It was a huge celebration, and the energy was off the charts. That night was unforgettable and really marked a turning point in the ongoing feud.
Jay-Z really went for it by posting some old photos of a young Prodigy taking dance lessons. One even had him rocking that iconic Thriller jacket, just like Michael Jackson. In his rap, Jay-Z threw shade at Prodigy, saying things like, “Back in ‘88 when I was hustling, you were a ballerina. I’ve got those pictures; I saw you then. You dropped ‘Shook Ones’ and changed up your style. We don’t believe you; you need more people. I don’t care if you’re Mobb Deep; I hope this sparks your crew. Your money stacks are bigger than you. When I was big back in ‘88, you were a ballerina. I saw the picture. You’re switching things up, but we don’t believe you. You need more people, rocking from the students of the game. We pass the classes. Nobody reads you guys like we do.”
This was clearly a move to embarrass Prodigy and heat up their feud. Prodigy wasn’t about to back down. Fast forward to December 11, 2001, Mobb Deep dropped their fifth studio album, Infamy, just three months after Jay-Z’s The Blueprint. The album had tracks like “Crawling” and “The Learning Burn,” which aimed straight at Jay-Z. Prodigy especially came hard with lines like, “You let me get my hands on you, so I’m taking advantage. And that is you pulled, ain’t do me no damage.”
The feud didn’t die down. Jay-Z kept it going with his track “Hovy Baby,” and Mobb Deep hit back on their America’s Nightmare album and various mixtapes. Things got even spicier when Prodigy started talking about the Illuminati, suggesting Jay-Z had made a deal with this secret society.
In 2007, while Prodigy was serving a 3.5-year prison sentence for illegal firearm possession and just before his HNIC Part Two release, he wrote an open letter to Jay-Z that got a lot of people talking. The letter made cryptic references to the Illuminati, and many believe Prodigy was the one who really got the Illuminati hype going in Hip-Hop. He had mentioned it before, like in his 1995 verse on the “I Shot Ya” remix with LL Cool J:
“Illuminati want my mind, soul, and my body; Secret society, trying to keep an eye on me. But I’m going to stay incognito in places they can’t find me, Make my moves strategically, the God’s sort of similar. But other than a chess player, I use my thinker, It coincides with my blinker.”
Then in 2008, Prodigy released the track “Illuminati,” where he rapped:
“This is not a theory; the conspiracy is real. They want to put me in a straight jacket in a padded room And tell the world there’s 12 Monkeys so they can be confused.”
Prodigy kept the Illuminati talk going until his final album, Hegelian Dialectic: The Book of Revelation, which came out on January 20, 2017, just five months before his death. Rumor has it he was working on a musical about his Illuminati theories when he passed away on June 20, 2017. Initially, it was thought he died from complications of sickle cell disease, but later it was revealed that he choked on a boiled egg while in the hospital. This led to a lawsuit from his family against Spring Valley Medical Center in Las Vegas, accusing them of neglect. This stirred up more speculation and conspiracy theories, with some fans wondering if Prodigy was silenced because he was getting too close to exposing the Illuminati.
In his open letter from prison, Prodigy had expressed his disillusionment with various institutions, saying:
“The government, religions, politics, the Federal Reserve, IRS, and everything we believe and live by is a joke.”
He accused Jay-Z of siding with evil for corporate acceptance and hiding the truth from the black community, vowing to relentlessly attack Jay-Z and the Illuminati until his “lights are put out.” Prodigy later clarified he didn’t actually believe Jay-Z was part of the Illuminati, but he still insisted that the Illuminati itself was real.
During an interview, he was asked:
“I saw some of your letters online where you talked a lot about conspiracy theories and the Illuminati while you were in prison. Do you still believe in that stuff?”
He replied:
“Yeah, people talk a lot about the Illuminati and claim some rappers are involved, like Jay-Z and Kanye. Do you think these rappers are part of the Illuminati?”
He answered:
“No, I don’t believe that.”
Then he went on:
“So, how do you see the role of these conspiracy theories? How do they affect the Black community?”
He said:
“It’s not just about conspiracy theories. It’s more about things like food, the environment, medication, and branding. It’s a whole web of factors, you know what I mean?”
He added:
“People are definitely being manipulated. It’s a business. As artists and in the media, what can we do to change that?”
His suggestion was:
“We could be rebellious and speak out about it.”
The tension between Prodigy and Jay-Z wasn’t just talk; it led to some serious behind-the-scenes drama. Prodigy showed up armed and ready to take things to the next level. Jay-Z had to pull out of major events like the MTV Awards, The Source Awards, and Viacom’s BET just to avoid Prodigy. In mid-2011, Prodigy even told Hip Hop DX he wanted to confront Jay-Z at P. Diddy’s old mansion.
After Jay-Z messed with Prodigy’s childhood pictures, Prodigy and his crew of about 10 to 15 people waited outside Justin’s Restaurant where Jay-Z was hanging out. They surrounded the entrance so Jay-Z couldn’t leave without facing them. Jay eventually walked out with Jermaine Dupri. When Jermaine spotted them, he quickly left. Jay approached Prodigy and his crew with two bodyguards, trying to defuse the situation by offering a handshake and saying it was just music. Prodigy considered it for a moment, thinking about how he could overpower Jay and his security, but the drama didn’t end there.
Things got so serious that Cormega had to step in and warn Jay-Z that Prodigy was serious and willing to take extreme measures if necessary. This made Jay-Z nervous, especially with E Moneybags, a close friend of Tupac, also looking for him.
Rockefeller had their own crew ready to defend Jay-Z, but Cormega made it clear that Prodigy was unpredictable and could act out if provoked. Meanwhile, Havoc, Prodigy’s partner in Mobb Deep, felt like he inherited the beef with Jay-Z from Prodigy, even though he didn’t personally have any issues with Jay. Jay-Z’s disses were directed at Mobb Deep as a group, so Havoc felt he had no choice but to support Prodigy. Even though Havoc didn’t fully agree with Prodigy’s beef with Jay-Z, he felt a sense of loyalty and was drawn into the conflict. When Jay-Z dissed Mobb Deep, Havoc felt personally involved, even if he didn’t start the beef himself.
Over time, the beef between Prodigy and Jay-Z eventually faded, and both artists came to appreciate each other’s impact on the culture. After Prodigy passed away in 2017, Jay-Z revealed in an interview with former XXL editor-in-chief Elliot Wilson that they had actually patched things up. Jay-Z said, “We spoke before he passed. I saw him in a club maybe five years ago. He came over, and we kicked it. It’s just sad. Blessings to his family. It’s sad, young man.” Even with these words, some fans still doubt Jay-Z’s sincerity, feeling he might not be completely genuine.
There’s been plenty of debate about whether Jay-Z’s decision to bury the hatchet was out of fear or just smart thinking. Prodigy’s fans are still raising eyebrows, with some even suggesting that his death was suspicious. One fan commented, “When celebrities start breaking oaths and revealing secrets, their deaths often seem too coincidental—like a mysterious car crash, drowning, or overdose. Rest in peace, Prodigy. Thanks for trying to open our eyes.” Another fan added, “Check out the song ‘Real Power Is People’ to understand why he might have died.”
What’s your take on Prodigy’s feud with Jay-Z and the theories about his death? Drop your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t miss our next story.