Nas Pays Respects to Prodigy on “QueensBridge Politics”

Nas and Prodigy of Mobb Deep had collaborated a number of times throughout the early stages of their careers, but later down the line the two ran into some issues. A rift between the rappers took place after Nas took shots at Prodigy on “Destroy and Rebuild,” which was a response to Prodigy’s perceived shots on Cormega’s “Thun & Kicko.” They eventually sorted out their issues and continued to collaborate up until Prodigy’s untimely death in 2017.

When Prodigy passed away, Nas paid tribute, making it clear how much love there was between them. On his new compilation album, The Lost Tapes 2, Nas has once again paid respects to his late collaborator. On the Pete Rock-produced song “QueensBridge Politics,” Nas raps, “On behalf of me and Queens and all of the Gs/Bandana P will always stand as tall as the trees.” 

The song makes a handful of references to Prodigy, including his book, My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy. In the book, Prodigy wrote—among other things—that Nas responded to “Thun & Kicko” with “Destroy and Rebuild” because “he was mad at me for doing a song with Cormega on which Mega took shots at Nas in his verse.”

“I wish the book never came out, and everything got straightened out before you left,” Nas raps on the song. “We needed to build more and get things correct/And now I gotta accept it, ’cause there’s honor in death/Wish you was here with us, P.”