Prodigy Opens Up About Battle with Sickle Cell in One of His Final Interviews

Before his tragic passing at the age of 42 last month, Prodigy opened up about his lifelong battle with sickle cell anemia during an in-depth interview with “The Therapist” on Viceland.

In what is believed to be one of his final interviews, the Mobb Deep MC discussed the agony that he’s had to endure since he was diagnosed with sickle cell as an infant. “It’s excruciating pain,” he said. “It’s to the point where I can’t even move. They have to pick me up or put me in a wheelchair and carry me to the hospital. I can’t move my body. I can’t move my legs or anything. The pain is just incredible.”

But sickle cell affected more than just his body, according to Prodigy. “I feel like it gave me a mental disorder, a little bit,” he added. “It was really traumatic, going through all the pain as a kid and next thing you know, a week later, I’m back to normal.”

His health battles even made him doubt his faith. “It made me not believe in God,” he said. “I didn’t believe in God. Having conversations with God, begging God to make the pain go away, and then the pain wouldn’t go away. I’m like, ‘Who the hell am I talking to? God is not responding so I don’t believe in that.'”

During other portions of the show, including a deleted scene, Prodigy spoke on the importance of eating right, in particular, as a black man. “Our bodies are like plants,” he said. “Before changing my diet, I was in the hospital maybe four times a year, five times a year. I switched my diet for five/six years straight and never got sick.”

Elsewhere, Prodigy spoke on seeing a dark shadow in his room that presented itself shortly before he got sick for the first time in six years. “I already knew what it was,” he said. “I already knew what that black shadow was.”

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Beyond seeing a black shadow, Prodigy apparently witnessed another strange object. “I was asking to see a U.F.O., basically,” he said. “And it came over my house, just started shining lights in our bedroom.”

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