Prodigy – The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP – [Reduced by HOTASBALLS]
Prodigy from Mobb Deeps’ first piece of branded promo came in the shape of an EP via the good people at Complex Magazine a few weeks back. This Reduced version-excursion of the highly anticipated release was created by ourselves out of sheer impatience, an unwilling to sift through songs, no other reason, dont get it twisted. We got nothin but love for Mobb shit, that why we made this, and the fact that the P is free once again after three years locked away, is good news for anyone that understands and appreciates ‘Top of the Line’ reality Rap.
Over the years, there have been shed-loads of full-length alblums that have utilised dialogue from movies, skits, sound-bites et cetera, but the only way the listener can truly enjoy the experience is NOT having to fassy around with fast-forward keys, click wheels and the like. Unfortunately, the segue material on this is a little ancillary for our tastes. We aint professin to be some big-time internets nor are we too big or too proud to hit rewind, but sometimes we just wanna hear things as they should be heard, one track after another, without too much interruption. Too much to ask? The aural impediments if you didnt know, are from the 97 movie, Hoodlum.
Musically the EP has some great moments on it, and lyrically, P is on fire at times too, on the whole, it’s an interesting return to form but lets face it, listening to this EP is a wind-up. Were not here to review the content of the EP, mainly cos its a feckin mixtape, an undersized mixtape for an artist that is evidently holding the finest Sid Roams and Alchemist productions back until the finished product drops.
We respected the sequence, but in addition to the tracks and our updated transitions, we decided, for ease of access, to drop the majority of the Larry Fishburne dialogue and just lace the tracks one after each other [with sprinkles of a few specially and specifically chosen sound-bites and sample sources of our own]. This is the result. To P, to Alan, Benny, Joey & Bravo, big respect is automatic…
Bonus Proclamations
Phillip Mlynar – Top 10 Prodigy Prison Rants
Gary Warnett – My Infamous Overflow
Hip-Hop Isnt Dead – Gut Reactions
HOTASBALLS 
Good shit, fellas. I dig the ep, but fast forward through all the hoodlum intros, i already saw the movie and dont think what they used from it is worth hearing on an album at all. Good to hear this without the bullshit, thanks! Black Devil is still my shit here.
That was about the size of it fella, we didnt wanna upset the set-up too much, good to hear yer feelin it.
Fundamentally, it is a decent EP, but it’s not exactly Mobb standard is it, nowhere near menacing enough for alotta folk, and as I said, im still holdin out for that type of sound on the full length. Black Devil is a song with a disturbing undertone, im not sure what he’s tryin to say tbh. Is he sick of the mistrust he has to endure constantly with his ‘so-called niggas’? Has he gone pro-Whitey? Someone needs to tell him, Whitey has the ability to be a dick too ! Whatever it is, I coulda done with the break for this wee number
Even though Twilight isnt exactly a banger in a musical sense, its that ‘paint a picture Rap-singin’ I like, the mood of the narrative on it is spot-on, with the QB/ NY city-scape described in such detail; it’s enchanting at times, top stuff . The Infamous UStream was the spot were I first heard it; early in the mornin/ late at night, the Infamous heads drinkin water, makin sure they notified everyone that they werent boozin it up or doin any gear or what-not, just gettin grown. All very odd, a big turnaround for the crew, it really wasnt that long ago that they were all smokin skinny blunts and rockin chinchilla
I think Twilight or Stronger are my joints, even though King Benny should have kept his 3 year old away from the equipment when triggering that Nina sample [great idea but the execution of the ‘Stro/ Strong’ sample hurts my ears every time].
…and you can always rely on them for puzzling grammatical errors its too easy to point the finger at, like ‘Two Faceded’ and the classic ‘Vesteses’ from Hav… Hopefully someone did a spellcheck on the book. Lookin forward to that
Thanks again Verge, much appreciated