Artists United

‘All that is in the works, man,’ Prodigy tells MTV News’ ‘RapFix Live.’
By Nadeska Alexis, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Rick Ross

Photo: Spiff TV

As Mobb Deep prepare to roll out theirBlack Cocaine EP in November, followed by their ninth, self-titled album at the top of 2012, Prodigy and Havoc are looking to expand their horizons with a series of new collaborations. One artist the Queensbridge duo are particularly keen to work with is Rick Ross.

During Wednesday’s episode of “RapFix Live,” Prodigy told MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway that he has already reached out to Ross for a feature.

“All that is in the works, man. We like Rick Ross,” Prodigy said. “I’mma be honest: We come from an era where longevity and consistency is key, and in the beginning, I ain’t really see that in him. Then while I was locked up, he was dropping more and more music. I was like, ‘Damn, I’m starting to like this dude.’ That’s when I was like, ‘We need to holla at son and do some music with him.’ ”

After wrapping up a three-year prison stint for weapons possession in March, Prodigy said he headed directly to G-Unit’s NYC offices, where he met with 50 Cent — who signed the group to G-Unit in 2005 — to discuss the collaboration. 50 Cent and Rick Ross have a notorious beef, which hit fever pitch in 2009 when Fif launched a full-scale attack against Rozay on his blog ThisIs50.com.

“The first day I came home, I went to the G-Unit office and told [50 Cent], ‘Listen, Mobb Deep needs to start doing songs with everybody. We need to start reaching out to people even if we got little conflicts — people like Rick Ross, people like Lil Wayne, everybody that we respect and we like their music — and start doing songs with them.’ ”

50 Cent’s answer? “He was like, ‘Yeah, you right.’ ”

Prodigy didn’t talk specifics about his intended Rick Ross collaborations, but during an earlier episode of “RapFix Live,” the Bawse himself confirmed that fans could expect a Mobb Deep collaboration soon.

“I respect him most definitely, as being a Boss,” Ross said of Prodigy. “When he was released, he gave me a call a few days after that. We spoke on the phone maybe once or twice, and it was a genuine conversation, us just touching bases. We most definitely put a record or two on the table, and just to be frank, I was always a fan of the homie, HNIC.”