Prodigy

Eons after Mobb Deep’s sell-by date and 2007 high-water mark Return of the Mac, Prodigy stays strapped, gully, and weirdly preserved in early 1990s thug-rap amber. There’s something deformed, recalcitrant, and heroic about his doggedly sullen flow and sloe-eyed anti-punchlines: It’s like the man is just daring us to laugh at how comfortable he is in a lane he has no interest in transcending, how indifferent he is to anything resembling a resin-coated hook, how little he could give a fuck about self-promotion. You’ve gotta respect that, kinda, even if maybe you don’t want to spend an hour listening to the guy sleepwalk through yet another spiel about how deathlessly hard he is.

Fri., Dec. 28, 7 p.m., 2012