H.N.I.C. (Prodigy album)

While Prodigy was working on H.N.I.C. and the Murda Muzik album with Mobb Deep, he started living a healthy lifestyle. His verse on "Quiet Storm" explains this:

"I spent too many nights sniffin' coke, gettin' right wastin' my life, now I'm trying to make things right."

Quiet Storm, a track that appeared on Murda Muzik, was originally intended for H.N.I.C. Prodigy utilized the song as a platform to share his personal struggles with Sickle-cell disease, which has affected him throughout his life. In the track "You Can Never Feel My Pain," Prodigy delves into the emotional toll of the disease, revealing that it has led to depression and a desire for controlled substances and alcohol.

A further example of this conscious writing style is visible in the lyrics of the song "Genesis."

"The positive and negative war has now begun. P helps you separate both the sides let the truth arise, black devil doesn't hide You can't hide from me, you might from the others. I've been employed to pull your ass out from the covers. You walk like you got hooves and talk like you 'sposed to. Trickin my brothers into followin you? Yo, Potential energy is easily made kinetic."

The album is not strictly conscious, though. The album also contains songs with hardcore lyrics. Prodigy can therefore be described as a 'conscious gangster'.

On the track H.N.I.C, Prodigy lets you know that he is the boss:

"I be the H.N.I.C. The head nigga in charge. The boss, the Captain Crunch dog, the sarge. The M.O.B.B., the status - we large. The guns, the drama, the love, the Mobb."

The 6th track "Keep It Thoro" does not have a hook or chorus; this was the central idea of the song, with Prodigy making this clear with the penultimate line "heavy airplay all day with no chorus." However, Prodigy's manager at the time, Chris Lighty, thought the song could do better on the radio with a chorus. This then led to the recording of a version with a chorus by Havoc after the album was released, with the penultimate line edited out. The Alchemist, the producer of this track, later commented that "the hook was dope too but the song was already powerful enough." This version of the song was included on the Japanese edition of the album as a bonus track.[9]

Prodigy's wife KiKi appears on the track "Trials of Love" as B.K. (aka) Mz. Bars, the only time she appears on a song. She made her video appearance in the Hey Luv video from Mobb Deep's Infamy (2001).

The album appeared on "The 100 Best Albums of the 2000s" list by Complex magazine.[10]