"I used to be cold and emotionless. I think my disease, sickle cell anemia, made me that way. I now know that good is the correct way to be. You have to choose a side." This flat, affectless statement, made early on in Albert "Prodigy" Johnson's My Infamous Life, sets the tone for his memoir, which takes us on a tour through the recesses of one of rap's darkest minds. As Prodigy, one half of… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »