By Odeisel

Prodigy continues his connection with Harlem crime boss Bumpy Johnson on his latest project The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP. It’s Prodigy’s first project since his release from incarceration and there is rust on the rhyme skills and a lack of BPM deviation, but it is a welcome return to an emcee with a strong history.

“The One and Only” opens the track with an excerpt from Larry Fishburne Bumpy Johnson flick Hoodlum. The tortoise-paced track incites melancholy but exacerbates the weaknesses of Prodigy’s current skill level. His once fluid delivery is now slow and methodical, with bars that don’t even rhyme in places. Without musical distractions to take pressure from his verses, the gap between what he once was and what he is presently is glaring.

The atmospherics present on “Go Off” along with his flow interpolation of Biggie’s “What’s Beef” flow, along with the concurrent vocal sample camouflage those deficiencies with guile and novelty. Producer Sid Roams keeps the same speed but adds enough elements to support the flow. The track surprise comes with a Prodigy acknowledgement of Jay-Z, once a bitter enemy, as one of his favorite rappers.

Prodigy’s energy level and flow are more intense on the soul-sample, string-addled track “Black Devil.” Roams once again lays the proper groundwork for P to lay his science of how racism clouds people to the true evil of those you come into contact with. P dismisses the black man is god/white devil dichotomy, with prison as his conversion point.

“Twilight” led with another Hoodlum excerpt alluding to having something to kill/die for is another low bpm track with light atmospherics that finds Prodigy spitting that hood, crime rhyme talk. In his heyday, nobody did urban dystopia like Prodigy and that skill hasn’t atrophied.  Drugs, gangs, prison are demons that escaped Pandora’s box and plague the hood. Partner Havoc guests on the track which draws allegory to the Vampire-driven vehicle Twighlight.

The Alchemist switches the feel with the grinding, distortion-crusted, parochial “For One Night Only.” Prodigy gets slick with his rhyme construction, vaulting over the many moving parts of the track. He’s on tour and coming to your town and he’s exhorting your to come see him rock. Leave the beef outside and come see “the greatest show on earth, minus all the clown shit.”

King Benny contributes “Stronger.” The jazzy track simmers at a slow burn as Prodigy presents the closest simulation his sublime skills. His malevolent grit is in full effect , as well as his simple yet effective allegory and presence hover over this track like the phantom menace.  It’s a song of perseverance through all the beefs and jails time and personal issues that have stood in his way over the years. Bonus track “Told Ya’ll” steps away from the rest of the work in theme and feel. The digital and synth related production isn’t pop but less organic than the other production on here.

As the first entry of his return, this tape is a cool s starting point especially if you miss Prodigy. His history and his established work are many levels higher than this. It will be interesting to see if this is the result of rust or whether his once impregnable foundation has settled to a lower, solid but no longer sublime station.
3.25 out of 5

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