Return of the Mac

Return of the Mac is the second solo studio album by American rapper Prodigy. It was released on March 27, 2007, through Koch Records. Production was handled entirely by The Alchemist, who produced the project utilizing song samples from the Blaxploitation era, with DJ Muro, who produced two tracks. It features guest appearances from Majesty and Un Pacino.

The album debuted at number thirty-two on the Billboard 200, selling 27,000 copies in its first week. As of December 2007, the album had sold 130,000 copies. The album spawned three singles—"Mac 10 Handle", "New York Shit" and "Stuck on You", with accompanying music videos directed by DanTheMan.

Background
Soon after the release of the Mobb Deep's seventh studio album Blood Money, Prodigy parted ways with G-Unit Records and began working on a H.N.I.C. sequel. Record producer and circa Murda Muzik days collaborator the Alchemist, who pictured on the album cover alongside Prodigy, took on the project, which was intended to be a prequel mixtape to upcoming H.N.I.C. Pt. 2. Due to the unexpected level of quality of the resulting record, it was decided to release the effort as a traditional studio album.

Six years after the release of Return of the Mac, Prodigy and the Alchemist released a full-length collaborative album, Albert Einstein.

Critical reception
Return of the Mac was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 75, based on eleven reviews.

Tom Breihan of Pitchfork wrote: "what it is is the announcement of a stunning and unexpected late-career renaissance; Prodigy is tapping back into the fearsome frustration that once drove him". AllMusic's David Jeffries resumed: "even if this is familiar ground, an album so tight in theme and feel is refreshing in an era where most lyricists invite anybody and everybody". Steve 'Flash' Juon of RapReviews stated that the album "is everything that Blood Money should have been and wasn't". Mark Abraham of Cokemachineglow was "happy to hear Prodigy sounding engaged and excited again, even if the quality of his lyricism doesn't match his newfound enthusiasm". In his mixed review for PopMatters, Quentin B Huff found the album "presents a more refined and progressive Prodigy than the one we heard on Blood Money, but there's no indication that Hell on Earth's Prodigy will be heard from anytime soon".

Track listing

 * Sample credits
 * Track 2 contains samples of "Kamen Rider" performed by Shunsuke Kikuchi.
 * Track 1 contains samples of "Blacula Strikes" performed by Gene Page.
 * Track 4 contains samples of "Easin In" performed by Edwin Starr.
 * Tracks 5 and 6 contain samples of "Down and Out in New York City" performed by James Brown.
 * Track 11 contains samples of "Do I Stand A Chance" performed by The Montclairs.
 * Track 14 contains samples of "Playing Your Game Baby" performed by Barry White.

Personnel

 * Albert "Prodigy" Johnson – vocals, executive producer
 * Madgesty – vocals (track 7)
 * Jamal "Un Pacino" Brayboy-Brady – vocals (track 10)
 * Alan "The Alchemist" Maman – producer, executive producer
 * Murota "DJ Muro" Takayoshi – producer (tracks: 1, 8)
 * Eddie Sancho – mixing (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6-14, 16, 17)
 * Kevin Crouse – mixing (tracks: 3, 15)
 * Arnold Mischkulnig – mixing (track 5), mastering
 * Andrew Kelley – art direction, design, photography
 * Rayon Richards – photography
 * Ted D'Ottavio – photography
 * Paul Grosso – creative director
 * Alyson Abbagnaro – A&R
 * Bob Perry – A&R