Prodigy Goes Against The Grain On "H.N.I.C. 2"

In a recent interview, the infamous Mobb Deep emcee talks about bringing back rap music's mystery and how he prefers to make videos for YouTube along with the tone of his upcoming album, HNIC2.

"It's very, very rebellious, put it like that," Prodigy told of the sequel to 2000's H.N.I.C. "It's like, my n*ggas call me Go Against the Grain P' ... I'm just really speaking my mind about a lot of things in this world, just dealin' with certain issues about religion, about politics, about health, about real sh*t. Just real sh*t."

It doesn't get much realer than P's videos. Grimy and often violent, Prodigy said he prefers the straight-to-YouTube approach to maintain creative freedom.

"My whole reason for doin' what I'm doin' is because I just want to be able to express myself to the fullest," he said, "without having to make changes for certain TV channels that don't want to play (a video) because it's too graphic for them or they don't understand where we comin' from. So instead of doin' that, I'd rather just do what I do without no constrictions, without having to conform. I can just be myself. Because I want the fans to see me, naturally."

The video for H.N.I.C. 2's lead single "ABC," which was directed by longtime collaborator DanTheMan, is a dark, eerie tale of revenge that ends with P's character murdering the dirty cop who violated his wife and tried to set him up.

In real life, P says that a run-in with crooked cops is the prime reason he's headed for prison this January. But is he concerned about sending a violent message through the video?

"Nah, not even, because I feel like nowadays that's what's needed in rap," he said. "That's what's missing, the mystery of it. That's what made rap popular, from the beginning, because it was only for a small circle of people in the 'hood. And by it being for a small circle of people it had a mystery about it. The rest of the world was like 'Yo, what the hell is this? What's goin' on over here?'"

"So, I'm trying to bring that feeling back really," he added, "just like the whole mystery about it, where it's not for everybody. It's only for a small community. And the rest of the world is just gonna hear about it and be curious."