As a solo rapper and one-half of the Queensbridge duo Mobb Deep, Prodigy has built his career on street savvy and true-to-life rhymes. We talk to P about dirty cops, his upcoming jail sentence and why rap buffoonery needs to stop.
On January 9, Prodigy will begin serving a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for weapons charges , a result of police pulling the rapper's vehicle over last October and finding a gun inside. Prodigy says the time in lockup will actually help him re-focus after working nonstop for the past 15 years.
"I've never, ever had a vacation in my life," he told us. "I've never stopped and said aight I'm gonna take a break today ... So by me goin' to jail right now, it's just givin' me a chance to stop, relax and just really get myself together ... I'm goin on a little vacation, that's all."
Although he's found the silver lining in his prison sentence, Prodigy has hardly made peace with the cops who he said illegally searched his car and asked him to set up G-Unit boss 50 Cent.
"The cops did something illegal man, it needs to be known," Prodigy said. "In my case, they just searched my car without asking because they felt like they had the power to do that I guess. And they did it. They found a little gun in my car and they locked us up, locked me and (Alchemist) up."
"And then, on top of that," he added, "while I'm in there they're tellin' me 'We'll rip up your arrest sheet, we'll rip up the arrest report and let you and your friend walk right now and forget this ever happened if you help us set 50 Cent up.'"
He said cops later lied on the stand to cover up the fact that their search was illegal, forcing P to cop a plea rather than go away for 15 years.
"These n*ggas is foul man, they real foul," he said. "They'll make up sh*t and make their case stick. Then it's your word against the cop's word. Who's the grand jury gonna believe? Some rapper that raps about guns and violent stuff that they don't understand ... or are they gonna believe the friendly neighborhood officer?"
He said he believes dirty cops are responsible for the unsolved murders of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G., and that it's time to stop flashing ice grills and start thinking about self-protection and survival.
"It's time to really, really wake up man," he said. "These n*ggas is murderin' us out here. They lockin' us up forever out here and we runnin' out buyin' jewelry, actin' like clowns in videos ... Like how can you be a f*ckin' buffoon in a video when this sh*t is goin' on in the world? It's time to f*ckin' snap out of that sh*t."
P does get a little revenge against dirty cops in his new video, "ABC," off his forthcoming album HNIC2. Stay tuned for P's thoughts on the video, his new album and violence in hip-hop in Part II of this  exclusive.