On this day, March 7, in hip-hop history...

2011: Long Island-born rapper Prodigy was released from New York's Mid State correctional facility on March 7, 2011 after serving three years behind bars for criminal possession of a weapon.

As one half of New York duo Mobb Deep, Prodigy has been a longstanding name in the rap game. Joining forces with Havoc in 1992, the two have given fans classic albums like Hell on Earth and are hailed as one of the best duos in the history of hip-hop.

During a traffic stop following an illegal U-turn in 2006, police searched the rapper’s bulletproof Chevy Suburban and found a .22 caliber firearm. The rapper pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to serve his time in March of 2008. Prodigy spent only three years in the medium-security prison as a result of a plea agreement. Upon his release in 2011, Thisis50 got the first post-pen interview outside of the prison where Prodigy said he was feeling good but was ready to get out of the New York snow.

Prodigy has dropped four albums since 2011, has been in a legal battle over royalties, announced a new tour with Havoc, dropped a prison-inspired cookbook Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook, and released the album Hegelian Dialectic (The Book of Revelation) in 2017. Sadly, P passed away in June of that year.

The Mobb lives on.

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