This week will go down as one of the hardest of 2017 for the Hip-Hop community, as it brought the unexpected and tragic death of Prodigy from Mobb Deep. Together, with his musical partner Havoc, the Queens MC was one of the most influential artists in defining Rap’s New York sound.

A News Traffic Report Gives Up The Goods For Prodigy In An Amazing Tribute (Video)

When news broke of Prodigy passing away, many were in disbelief, and possibly none more so than Havoc.”I knew that he was in the hospital, but I know that he’s not dead. He goes to the hospital all the time,” said Havoc to TMZ. “Rumors get around, dumb shit. I was laughing to be honest with you, because I had not directly spoken to P, but I knew his status every day since I left Vegas.” The duo had recently performed in Las Vegas as part of Ice-T’s “Art Of Rhyme” tour, and Prodigy was taken to the city’s hospital soon after he left the stage.

“We’re used to P going to the hospital,” continues Havoc. “It’s not like every day, but we been dealing with this for over 20 years. P goes to the hospital, stays in for like three days, maybe five tops, and he get back better and he out. So, it wasn’t nothing to be like ‘oh my god, he’s crazy sick!’ It’s just sometimes he has sickle cell crises.”

Havoc continued to get updates on Prodigy and, as was typically the case, his condition was improving day by day. “I got home. I was checking up on him, calling my road manager to make sure how P doing, is he good?” According to Havoc, Prodigy’s road manager reported “Oh yeah. He was in pain, but he’s doing better.” Havoc continues, “Day two: he’s even better and better. He walking around. Better. Everything’s normal.”

Do Remember When Prodigy Reminded Us He Was One Of The Realest (Audio)

Prodigy’s being seemingly on the mend left Havoc ill-prepared for what was to come. “And, then…Yesterday, the day of my little son’s graduation, somebody called me saying that somebody told them that they heard a weird rumor. This is at 11 o’clock in the morning, they heard that P passed away in a Las Vegas hospital.” Havoc’s first instinct was to disregard what he heard, noting that rumors like that often circulated, and he believed he knew Prodigy’s status, from checking in on him. However, to ease his own mind, Havoc placed one more call to check in on his longtime partner. “The road manager was just crying like I never heard before, and I just had to hang up the phone.”

“I’m still just f*cked up,” say Havoc. “Like, I can’t even listen to ‘Shook Ones’ or any song. I hardly could look at the pictures because…I don’t know. People that lost somebody, they know what I’m talking about, but this is just a little bit more crazy. This is just a little bit more crazy,” he says, with his voice cracking. “I met him when I was 15. I’m 43 right now…I still can’t believe it. I just still can’t believe it. I can’t.”

Rest in peace to Prodigy.