Drug wars, recessions and record violence in the 1980s had US cities in crisis. Hip hop artists responded by shifting from party music to a new style called "conscious rap." Artists like Public Enemy and Digable Planets championed a sound that was political, community-minded and deeply pro-black. But about six years after it started, that first wave of socially-conscious hip hop seemed to be over. Christopher Johnson joins host Kai Wright to find out what happened on the new podcast The Stakes.

Who Killed Conscious Rap? Find Out on 'The Stakes'

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.

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.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Music

Health & Fitness

Documentary

After Prodigy was locked up on a gun charge, he took a plea deal and was soon headed upstate to prison. But even Prodigy said prison changed him for the better.
As the world of hip hop mourns his loss, there are still questions surrounding his death. We try to find answers, and go inside Prodigy’s memorial service to say goodbye to a rap icon.
 

 
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.

Special Broadcast #3: Missing You

Someone is shot inside Def Jam. A rap star chases Mobb Deep through Lower Manhattan. And Prodigy convinces a hip hop mogul to sneak weapons into one of New York's most decadent nightclubs. Mobb Deep came up in rap’s golden age. No other group defined the era quite like the duo from Queens.
When Prodigy went on trial for violating parole, his lawyer filed over 90 pages of P's medical records in his defense. We found those records buried deep in a Brooklyn courthouse, and they open a window into how Prodigy's body was at war with itself.
 

 
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.

Special Broadcast #2: Son, They Shook

Prodigy and Havoc began laying down rhymes together in high school. When their first album flopped, they came up with a new sound that was directly influenced by Prodigy's lifelong battle with sickle cell anemia, and it helped define a generation of hip hop. 
As a kid growing up with the disease, Prodigy was told he'd barely make it to adulthood. But the work of doctors, athletes, Hollywood stars and The Black Panthers helped transform his fate. 
Plus: Big Twins talks about the sickle cell attack he’ll never forget.
 

 
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.

Special Broadcast #1: This Sunny Day Right Here

Prodigy is supposed to fly back home right after a show in Vegas, but he never gets on the plane. As the world of hip hop mourns, there are still questions surrounding his death. We try to find answers, and go inside Prodigy’s memorial service to say goodbye to a rap icon.
Explore More: 
... You can dig into some amateur recordings of Prodigy’s 2017 performances at Blue Note on YouTube and Instagram.
 

 
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. 
 

Who Killed Conscious Rap? Find Out on 'The Stakes'

Download our free app to listen on your phone