Prodigy's lost it. He's lost the big label budget, the big label brand and on screen, he lost his marbles filming the video for "Mac 10 Handle.” After watching the rapper generously inflict stab wounds on his sofa in the first flick from his forthcoming Alchemist-produced mixtape, Return of the Mac (Koch), it's evident that Prodigy's at the grittiest and most creative he's been in years. Bouncing back from Mobb Deep's poorly received Blood Money, P is out to make a killing in 2007, and not only at Ikea. With his sophomore solo opus, H.N.I.C. 2 (G-Unit/Infamous), also hitting stores later this year, Prodigy will likely remind you of how he got you stuck off the realness in the first place. KING-MAG.com rapped with Prodigy about white rappers, his psychotic music video, and DJ Drama's legal woes.

KING-MAG.com: Tell me about your upcoming mixtape, Return of the Mac?

Prodigy: Return of the Mac is a collaboration project that me and Alchemist worked on just to get people ready for the H.N.I.C. 2. I wanted to put out a mixtape before my album came out to show niggas that I'm not playin' and how much material I got and how much I'm still hungry and got this shit in me.

From what I've heard, I can already tell. What was the chemistry like putting together Return of the Mac? Obviously you and Alchemist have worked together a lot over your career, but this is the first time you're doing a whole project together.

Shit was cool. We're family anyway; me, Hav, Al. We're always in the studio working on shit, so it was just like I'm going to Al's studio and then we just knocked this thing out in like two weeks. I came up with the idea, I was like "Yeah, ‘Return of the Mac,' that gotta be the name of the mixtape to let niggas know I'm back, I'm about to drop another album.” Once we came up with that, Al just started coming up with this concept about how the music should sound and we just put it together from there. Nah mean?

But this joint started out as a mixtape and now it's being marketed as an album. What made you go the indie route?

For me, it's just a mixtape. Me and Alchemist, we just made it a mixtape to get people ready for the album. When we made the deal with Koch, you know how they thinking. They like, "Fuck that, we can make money off of this shit, we're going to treat it like an album.” And it's going to sell like an album too, just like how Free Agents sold like an album. Free Agents was [Mobb Deep's] mixtape. But people consider that an album though. Same thing they're gong to do with Return of the Mac.

True, plus you have to be careful after the whole DJ Drama situation. How do you feel about him catching piracy charges?

That's some bullshit. They need to be fuckin' with the real bootleggers that's selling movies and niggas' albums on the street. I don't know why they're fuckin' with some little mixtape DJ. That's some bullshit. The feds are supposed to be on to bigger and better things. They fuckin' with the little guy. Why would the feds want to fuck with a little rap mixtape DJ when you got multimillion dollar movies being sold for two dollars in the street. And you got Beyonce´and Jay-Z and these big time artists, their albums are being bootlegged on the street and the feds are worried about mixtapes in the South? That doesn't add up to me, that sounds like some kind of racial profiling. They're targeting us because it's black music.

Yeah, it's crazy. Almost as crazy as you in the "Mac 10 Handle” video. What was it like for you shooting that?

We was just having fun, you know what I'm saying? Just fun, that's all. I called Dan the Man, he's the director of the video. He did [50 Cent's] Massacre re-release's 21 videos. So I told him, I was like, "Yo, we gotta do something crazy, we gotta do like a horror movie for this shit.” Some different shit. It came out crazy.

Yeah, you were hitting the dark liquor hard. I was hoping it was really apple juice in there, cause its probably not the best for your health. Has everything been good with your sickle-cell anemia?

Yeah, everything's straight.

That's cool. Maybe I was sippin' on something but in a couple of the video's scenes, there are quick glimpses of a Nas look-a-like. Is that pure coincidence?

Nah, there's no Nas look-a-like. That's the rumors on the Internet.

While we're in the rumor mill, there's also been whispers that you are unhappy with G-Unit. Is there any truth to that or is that just the people talking?

That's just rumors on the Internet.

Have you been following the NFL Playoffs at all?

Nah, I ain't into sports, son. I couldn't tell you the first thing about any kind of sport. All I know is "Bloodsport,” Mobb Deep music.

Yeah, the Colts and the Bears are about to go to the Super Bowl. And it's the first time there are two black head football coaches in the Super Bowl.

That's great.

Yeah, they're like the white rappers of football—there's only a few of them around. Have you gotten a chance to catch the White Rapper Show on VH1?

Yeah, I seen one of them episodes. Kind of funny.

Do you think white rappers get enough respect these days?

I don't give a fuck what color you is, blue, green, yellow. If you got some shit, you got some shit. If you don't, your shit is wack. - John Kennedy

Watch Prodigy's video for "Mac 10 Handle"

More From King