Personnel: Prodigy (rap vocals); Truth & Soul (various instruments).

Additional personnel: Un Pacino (rap vocals); Madgesty (spoken vocals).

Arguably the more vivid of Mobb Deep's two lyricists, Prodigy returns seven years after his excellent debut solo release, H.N.I.C. This time around P works exclusively with the Alchemist, the preferred beatmaker for any East Coast thug MC. The pairing comes up big as RETURN OF THE MAC finds Prodigy at his darkest in years, lacing Alchemist's crisp production with chrome-heavy narratives. P feeds off New York's dark side in his ode to the city, "The Rotten Apple," and wallows in drug-induced paranoia in the bone-chilling "Mac 10 Handle." Every track is pure fire.

Spin (p.98) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[H]ere his troubles produce some haunting music....The album sounds as if it were recorded on the set of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM...."

Uncut (p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Always a purveyor of less glamorous street tales, he remains a gripping word slinger..."

XXL (Magazine) (p.149) - "[A] project steeped in 1970's soul and orchestrated exclusively by longtime affiliate The Alchemist."