In June 2017, Albert “Prodigy” Johnson passed away due to sickle cell anemia. He was one half of Mobb Deep, a New York City hip-hop duo whose 1995 song, “Shook Ones, Pt. II” drew some attention from the 2002 film 8 Mile.
Approaching the seventh anniversary of Prodigy’s death, I hope to convey my own interpretation of his lived experience through a retelling of the myth by which he lived.
As a scholar of religion who examines race, religion and myth in the urban arts, I understand myth as metaphors, archetypes and stories by which people make sense of their lives. Myth also encompasses the person’s lifeworld itself, as it becomes enchanted by such mythic qualities.
