Since the death of Mobb Deep hood griot Prodigy was announced earlier this week, the hip-hop community has been in mourning. His reach was worldwide – and in Brazil, at least one artist has put in work to celebrate the life of the legend. Sizzling São Paulo emcee Lay dropped a video for her track “RIP Prodigy,” an athletic tribute to a cutthroat lyricist whose influence went far beyond Long Island’s Queensbridge Houses, the world’s largest public housing development where Prodigy spent his formative years.
“Even without being able to speak English and the means to follow the lyrics of the music, I understood through style, through video, Prodigy’s essence of ‘being’ gangsta, living your realty with the tools that you have,” explains Lay in the Genius liner notes for the single, adding that “Young Veterans,” the beat she samples, was a particular inspiration.
Prodigy’s pursuit for self-realization is reflected in Lay’s version of the war cry. In the video, the self-styled rapper shares the fruits of her workout routine, spending the bulk of frames working a low squat or a boxer’s spar in Fila while rifling through clear-as-a-bell lyrics. “I know what I am/I owe nothing to anyone/I was always enlightened, never alienated.”
Read our profile Meet Lay, the Brazilian Fashion Killa Making Waves in São Paulo Rap.