When the rapper Prodigy suffered a sickle cell crisis after a Las Vegas concert in 2017, his friends didn’t think much of it at first: they were used to him getting sick. But a few days later, he died. The Realness goes behind Prodigy’s music to reveal his lifelong struggle against his own body, and how that struggle informed his lyrics and fueled his success.

WNYC’s health coverage and Only Human is supported in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Jane and Gerald Katcher and the Katcher Family Foundation, Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Thanks also to the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism.

Prodigy and Havoc first begin laying down rhymes together in high school. When their first album flops, they come up with a new sound that's directly influenced by P's sickle cell, and it helps defines a generation of hip hop. Plus: Big Twins talks about the sickle cell attack he’ll never forget.

The Realness by Only Human is produced by WNYC Studios, a listener-supported producer of leading podcasts including Radiolab, Snap Judgment, Death, Sex & Money, Nancy and On the Media.

As a kid with sickle cell anemia, Prodigy was told he'd barely make it to adulthood. The work of doctors, athletes, Hollywood stars and The Black Panthers help transform his fate. But what kind of life would he lead?

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... Keith Wailoo, one of our interview subjects for this episode, wrote a great article summing up the history of sickle cell in this country. Make sure you scroll to see the stunning graph that shows how patients’ life expectancy skyrocketed after the Sickle Cell Control Act.

... Prodigy’s childhood physician, Dr. Francis, loved reading the New York Times. And when she died, they wrote her a loving obituary.

... After getting out of prison, Prodigy started opening up about his childhood struggle with sickle cell. In this speech at Riverside Church, P talks about his teenage suicide attempt and how therapy helped him. P talking about his teenage suicide attempt and more at Riverside Church.

... But Prodigy’s childhood wasn’t all pain. After spending years of Saturdays at his grandmother’s dance studio, the young T’Chaka was a good enough dancer that he would occasionally compete with Alfonso Ribiero for parts. The first people on stage for this famed Diana Ross concert in Central Park are dancers from his grandmother’s studio (including Kerri Edge, who you hear from in this episode). P was supposed to appear at the end, probably to give Diana flowers. But the concert was rained out, and Prodigy later wrote that he got stage fright.

LANGUAGE WARNING: The Realness contains strong language that some listeners may find offensive. 

WNYC’s health coverage and The Realness by Only Human is supported in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Jane and Gerald Katcher and the Katcher Family Foundation, Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

Audio of Prodigy on Questlove Supreme is provided by Pandora, which also has a recording of Mobb Deep's classic hit "Shook Ones (Part II)" performed by Nas.

Additional audio of Prodigy provided from the audio book of My Infamous Life by Albert "Prodigy" Johnson.