True or false. Prodigy was GOAT levels before the voice and energy change, pre HNIC.

[FrankieLymon757]

it's funny, i was listening to keep it thoro the other day, and i noticed his voice/delivery was different. and i hadnt noticed it before

but that run from 95-00 is he's in my top 6 or so

Alchemist mentioned P had a cold while recording that joint..

 

[Whips-n-Chains]

Happy Birthday to my GOAT

RIP P

 

[Street Knowledge]

Prodigy not even a MT Rushmore NYC guy, how would be “GOAT level”?

 

[ThirdAct]

Prodigy not even a MT Rushmore NYC guy, how would be “GOAT level”?

Well for starters those MT Rushmore NYC guys acknowledge his greatness...EVEN Jay, a dude he had beef with his entire career, acknowledged that P was at one time the best rapper in the game

 

[Street Knowledge]

Well for starters those MT Rushmore NYC guys acknowledge his greatness...EVEN Jay, a dude he had beef with his entire career, acknowledged that P was at one time the best rapper in the game

You can acknowledge someone’s “greatness” without them being a GOAT candidate.

 

[ThirdAct]

You can acknowledge someone’s “greatness” without them being a GOAT candidate.

To be fair the thread isn't asking is he the GOAT...it's asking was he GOAT levels until the dip in quality (which to me didn't happen on HNIC, it happened on Infamy)...its asking was he a GOAT in a certain period of time

 

[krackdagawd]

I would put prime P up there w anybody

 

[Mac Ten]

P had bars…


Being in QB kinda made him step his bars up.


Hav got better as a producer and P was rapping at Raekwon levels.


I’d say yes.

 

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Happy b day.

 

[Second Chance Lance]

he had that mezmorizing flow that made his lyrics hit hard pause

 

[TheJet]

 

[BreezyH]

We had him goated in the city

 

[DaHNIC82]

I still have no clue how he fell off so hard from the HNIC era to the later albums he made after that, it's like his way to put words together and so on was just not the same and as you said he just sounded angry and was saying stuff and not rhyming all the time anymore. I liked some of his message though on HNIC 2 and it had some heat on it as did Hegelion Dialect which was one of his deepest albums message wise, he just seemed to lose his flow though and he was not nearly as nice as he was in his prime days as you mention.


What caused that fall off to that degree? IDK but he just never sounded the same and I still wonder to this day.... Prime P though was a top MC NO DOUBT, dude was up there with anyone around that time IMO.

His sickle cell and poor health played a role in that. Plus as the game started changing, he wanted to be able to rap over different types of production which would mend with his voice

 

[TheDarceKnight]

His sickle cell and poor health played a role in that. Plus as the game started changing, he wanted to be able to rap over different types of production which would mend with his voice

I don't really feel like he was trying to rap like his earlier years/style and just couldn't. I always felt like he made a deliberate style change to a slightly slower style of flow with in a spoken word style. IMO it seemed way to deliberate to be an accident. I just never bought the idea that P was trying to rap like he did on his first few albums but just was failing.

His style was so different in the 00's and beyond that it had to be on purpose. I always hated that no one ever asked him about this, because I don't know if he ever confirmed it or not. It was like a "grimy spoken word" style.

The more you listen to P's solo catalogue as the years go on, the more it's obvious people over-hated on it. One of the most (if not the most) underrated solo catalogues of any golden era artist.

@Sean7 tagging you on this too

 

[TheDarceKnight]

Speaking of HNIC, where's the original version of Keep It Thoro with Havoc on the hook? Can't find that anywhere.

The OG is the one with no hook. That was the whole reason P was saying "heavy airplay all day with no chorus" and wanted to choose it as a single to be unique. The Havoc one is a remix, but it's on youtube here