But it’s there - the melodic backbone of a classic hip hop beat. It’s lifted from a Herbie Hancock song called “Jessica.” Havoc chopped and twisted it beyond recognition. And one of the elements they pulled from his grandfather’s collection is a gentle, minor key riff. And we made a lot of the - first album “Infamous” and - “Juvenile Hell” from my grandfather’s records.ĬHRISTOPHER: Like a lot of rap songs back then, Mobb Deep’s most famous track “Shook Ones Part 2” is made of several different samples. You know what I mean? And he left me - like - his jazz record collection. ‘Cause we would sample a lot of jazz records. Probably like - yeah - in high school when I first started making beats - then I understood, like, the power of my grandfather's music. PRODIGY: I just didn’t get it when I was a kid. He loved it, even if he didn’t always appreciate what he was hearing.

Sometimes Prodigy would get to see his grandfather play live. MARY: When Prodigy was a kid, he got to meet all these jazz greats when Budd would have them over to the house.

Like a song, called “Dirty Old Man” - he released it in 1974, the same year Prodigy was born. He was in a big band with Quincy Jones.ĬHRISTOPHER: And, he wrote and recorded his own stuff. MARY: Budd Johnson Senior was a sax player. He was big into jazz and like a big band. PRODIGY: My grandfather's name Budd Johnson. And her son - Prodigy’s dad - he was in a kid doo wop group called The Chanters.ĬHRISTOPHER: And then, there was Prodigy’s grandpa. MARY: Her students became TV stars, danced with Alvin Ailey - choreographed for Michael Jackson. It was just like random.ĬHRISTOPHER: Prodigy’s GRANDMOTHER - Bernice Johnson - ran that dance school in Queens, New York. They convinced her to do it, and she became part of the group, and went right on tour. PRODIGY: So, they convinced her to do it. They had hit songs like “Then He Kissed Me,” or the “Da Doo Ron Ron” - and when you listen to them you can really hear how they set the standard for girl groups in the early 60s. MARY: Francis was being recruited to join The Crystals. And they was like, you sure? We need an extra member for this group, because one of the members had dropped out. PRODIGY: And somebody had stopped her and was like, hey! Can you sing? And she was like, No. But she performed as Frances Collins after she got a totally random shot at the music business. PRODIGY: My moms was, like, walking down a street - somewhere - I don’t know if it was Queens, or wherever she was at.ĬHRISTOPHER: His mother’s name was Fatima Johnson. CHRISTOPHER: Prodigy comes from a super artistic family.

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