Prodigy’s 20 Best Guest Verses

By the early 2000s, P was losing his luster a bit. He had one of the greatest runs ever from Infamous to Murda Muzik, but no one could stay that nice forever. Still, when he likens the broken hearts of women to dudes getting robbed, you can tell he still has a unique way of seeing things. "Respect My Gangster" is another exclusive that Alchemist dropped with Prodigy on the Insomnia mixtape from the same year.

Bars-N-Hooks were an obscure Queens duo comprised of Mike Delorean and Bars. They had a bunch of songs with Prodigy at the turn of the millennium on mixtapes like The Next Generation Vol. 2, but in 2001 they released a single with two freestyles featuring Prodigy—one over Sugarhill Gang’s "The Message" and another over The Gap Band’s "Outstanding." The results were fantastic.

P breaks the life of crime down to its uncomfortable elements—“Dead man tell no tales/And if you think a nigga gon’ squeal, put up his bail/And twist that nigga when he touch down.” Sounds straight out of a mafia movie.

The original version of KRS-One’s "5 Boroughs" features a slew of dope MCs, and while the best verse is probably between Cam and Redman, P comes nice as he describes QB—“We one big borough with dons with firearms.”

First appearing on DJ Clue’s Stadium Series Pt. 3 mixtape, this was originally the final track on the rare advance copy of The Giancana Story. The final version moved this song to track three, but other songs were cut, such as the classic "Holler Back" with Nas and AZ.

This sounds like it was recorded before 2000, judging by P’s delivery. He has the right rhythm to his speech, not the more stagnated stuff from later on.

Alchemist once said Prodigy tried to write verses for him and Alc couldn’t figure out the way to say them. That’s how he knew Prodigy was special. Makes sense when you listen to this. Also peep the freestyle these two did over "Whose World Is This" where P goes at Jay.

At the tail end of his historic run, P sounds like a battered war veteran who’s seen too much senseless death, yet still clings to crime as a way of life.

One of the best odes to dealing drugs ever made. Cam wanted listeners to taste the streets, so he brought in Bandana P to drop knowledge. It sounds like he’s explaining to someone why they should shut up when he says, “Don’t let your mouth get you in shit your legs run from.”

Four incredible MCs over a Muggs beat from a Warren Beatty film soundtrack. Not much else to say, except that KRS-One comes out gun blazing with shots fired at various publications.

P sparks this vintage track that was originally recorded for Hell on Earth, and any verse that reference God-U-Now deserves a spot in the hip-hop hall of fame.

This is always a treat to return to because it showcases three brilliant rappers with vastly different styles. INS is surgical while Pun unleashes a barrage of heat, but Prodigy has a completely individual way of attacking this Juju beat as he conjures images of shirts wet with blood.

Alchemist is at his best with hypnotic beats like "Basics," and the beat moves Prodigy to say things like, "I’m P like the stank urine in your staircase/Nigga from me, stay the most distant, you out of place." Grimy.

This sounds grounded in the Hell on Earth period as P rhymes about struggling to stay on earth and images of Timbs and storming the world.

Benzino and his Almighty RSO did few things right in their career, but their best move was probably securing this Prodigy verse. What’s better: Houdini P saying he was taught to bust guns by reptilians or rhyming “apostle” with “arsenal”?

Big Noyd’s debut album Episodes of a Hustla was idiosyncratic—of 11 tracks, only eight were actual songs, and five of those featured Prodigy’s vocals. Over Havoc beats, they almost sound like Infamous leftovers, minus Q-Tip's influence. P sets it off with, “We explode like supernova, and implode your whole sculpture/We make quota and cook up some big boulder.”

According to Prodigy, this was recorded for Murda Muzik (somewhere between ’97 and ’99) and Cormega, who takes shots at Nas in his verse, recorded his part long after P did. Listen closely as P breaks down punk rappers with recording metaphors:“Yo you’s a notebook crook, with looseleaf beef/a backseat criminal who pass the heat.” Numerous references to gats on your DAT and analog outlaws make this a dismantling verse aimed at no one in particular. Nas apparently thought P was taking shots at him and recorded "Destroy and Rebuild" in response.

Hostyle, KL, Blaq Poet and Solo don’t get enough credit for their Y2K Is On album, with production from Pete Rock, Godfather Don, DJ Premier, and more. Prodigy eviscerates his verse on this cut, flowing like water in that ungraspable style that he perfected.

Prodigy is one of the few rappers to ever diss someone that he’s on the same track with, hence the censored name in his rhyme (it’s Keith Murray). There also might not be a more memorable phrase from a Prodigy verse than “Illuminati want my mind, soul and my body/Secret society, tryna keep they eye on me.”

Ghostface blacks out on here, but Prodigy has a crazy underrated verse with internal rhymes only he could think up—"My rap scroll belittled your goals and visions/Prohibition got my whole block pissin’ Christian."

Two days before his 16th birthday, Hempstead, N.Y. rapper A+ dropped his debut album The Latch-Key Child, and he allegedly wrote this song when he was 13. P’s first verse can also be found on an unreleased Mobb Deep song called "Take It in Blood," but the real issue is which of the two Prodigy verses is better. These are his some of his most heartfelt rhymes ever committed to wax.