Based on outward appearance and reputation alone, most people wouldn’t normally associate Mobb Deep’s Prodigy with a “fine institution of higher leaning” like Morehouse College. Not to say that rappers and college don’t mix (don’t let the dropouts fool you), but in this particular case, the two are worlds apart. For starters, Prodigy, born Albert Johnson, has painted himself as a, well, “thug” for much of his career (cut it out, I can hear you laughing from here), while most Morehouse students and alumni are anything but. Seriously. Recently, while reading an article in the Village Voice documenting the rapper’s final days before beginning a 3 year prison sentence, I stumbled across a shocking bit of info that links P to ‘The House’ in a major way:

Prodigy carries a gun. It’s how he was raised. Though Albert Johnson comes from a long line of influential men–his great-great-grandfather, William Jefferson White, founded Morehouse College in the basement of his Baptist church in Augusta, Georgia

It’s almost unbelievable, I know. But imagine, in this age of bizarre hip-hop pairings, Morehouse officials jumping at the opportunity to align themselves with Prodigy based on this fact. Might we hear about young P receiving an honoray degree form the institution in the future? Or maybe delivering the keynote speech at one of their graduations? I seriously doubt it. But hey, these days you never know.

[via Village Voice]