For this coming week and a little into the next one, I'm going to be digging into some slept-on records that I've had sitting around that I've been intending to post. Don't worry, the Homemade Deluxe Edition of Parade will be going up Tuesday and I'll be posting the February mixtape most likely before the end of the week, but there will be some interesting things that may have received an official release but you couldn't find a copy of if you tried coming up. That's all starting here...
I am a HUGE fan of Prince Paul. He's on my interview wishlist and while I don't have slightest as to how I might get to pick his brain that doesn't mean I won't stop looking into it. That said, Paul is one of those hip-hop producers that simply has so much material in his discography that it makes things a bit complicated when trying to research his history, much the way one could be quickly overwhelmed by the RZA or DJ Premier's production credits. Of course, the easiest place to start for those producers is usually their best known releases, Enter The Wu-Tang for RZA and the first few Gang Starr records for Premier. For Paul, hit the first two De La Soul records and you'll find yourself almost drowning in samples instantly recognizable and impossible to place, kind of like an even trippier Paul's Boutique with an emphasis on soul over the party. Listen to 3 Feet High and Rising next to Paul's Boutique and while you might initially think there is no similarity between the two you'll fully understand how much alike they are after the first listens. Layers and layers of samples that will start a party and keep it going, although the parties are a little different.
After producing the first three De La Soul albums, Paul had a bit of a falling out with the the De La crew as they decided to go for a more mature sound. They remained friendly and still collaborate frequently but another De La Soul album with Paul handling the beats never appeared, De La started their mature phase promisingly with Stakes Is High but fell short on later releases, and Paul's career fell on hard times. He formed the Gravediggaz with Frukwan of his first group, Stetsasonic, fellow ex-Tommy Boy associate Too Poetic, and the RZA, but their darker hip-hop didn't translate into hits despite being incredible and Paul's participation almost entirely ended after their debut album, 6 Feet Deep, known as Niggamortis in the UK. He did an insane indie album named Psychoanalysis (What Is It?) that got him attention from labels again and a new contract with Tommy Boy, but his incredible A Prince Among Thieves album never seemed to take off, mostly because Tommy Boy wasn't what they used to be. He collaborated with Dan The Automator to form the Handsome Boy Modeling School whose first album, So... How's Your Girl?, hit in the unexpected fashion that Psychoanalysis had and sounded like it was conceived out of joy, whereas their major-label funded follow-up, White People, sounded like it suffered from contractual pressures and A&R schmucks breathing down their necks. Another successful concept died a painful death and Paul went back to producing indie rappers and his own projects, all of which received indie releases despite strong connections to comedians like Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock and rappers like MF Doom, El-P, Kool Keith and the then returning Everlast. Probably the most successful release he had during this period was an EP he produced for MC Paul Barman, a goofy white guy who was ridiculously overly wordy and came off like the penultimate nerd and blew all of his lead-in success by waiting several years to release a full-length with other producers and horrid attempts at Bob Dylan-like folk.
I guess you could say that Prince Paul is kind of his own worst enemy. I've always gotten the impression that he's less about a professional career and more about being creative and having fun. When he's enjoying himself he always turns out his best records and he knows when things are going right. That said, it's rather hard to get labels to fund the kind of imaginative records he makes as they aren't necessarily filled with hits. Sure, they're great records, filled with his crazy humor and all kinds of catchy tracks, but he doesn't just make beats and send them off to potential clients, he works with them and contributes just as much to the final work as the artist whose name ends up on the cover. He's a bit of a dying breed with labels even cheaper than they were ten years ago and no one interested in hiring a guy who wants to take his time to put quality into the final product.
It should be noted that Paul isn't flawless, he's had his missteps as is the case with 2003's Politics Of The Business, his attempt at making a stereotypical hip-hop record with the hope that it would slip under the radar and get people interested in his craft again. The humor was limited, the guests were popular and the whole thing overly produced, and while it was easy to see what he was trying to do it more or less backfired. I bought a copy because it's Prince Paul, but it's certainly not on my frequently played list. Around that time though he did produce an incredible career-spanning mixtape named Prince Paul's Greatest Snips that featured everything that makes him great. Samples of tracks produced for Vernon Reid, Queen Latifah, 3rd Bass, Gravediggaz and far too many more to list filled out a nearly hour long collection of the best of Paul's career along with skits, funny interview snippets, an audio-trailer for A Prince Among Thieves and an almost infomercial-esque sampler for Politics Of The Industry that gave it a much needed jolt of humor. Of course, this being a mixtape and the source material being from all over the spectrum, an official release was unheard of and most people never got to hear it, which is truly a shame. It's the type of thing that should be sent to labels asking why they wouldn't hire Prince Paul over will.i.am or some other drop-in-the-bucket modern producers.
Today, for your listening pleasure, I'm sharing a very high-quality rip of Prince Paul's Greatest Snips which I'm sure you'll find thoroughly engaging, but it doesn't stop there! I'm also posting over and hour and fifteen minutes of rare Prince Paul produced tracks and remixes! So, grab both of these and if you're as knocked out by these collections as I hope you are you'll want to go check out a few of his other productions. So you can check some samples I'm going to post links below for some of those albums on Amazon, but definitely check the mixtape and rarities below as they're every bit as good as Paul's officially released albums and collaborations!
De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
Handsome Boy Modeling School - So... How's Your Girl?
Prince Paul - Psychoanalysis (What Is It?)
Prince Paul - A Prince Among Thieves
Prince Paul - Itstrumental
Prince Paul - Hip-Hop Gold Dust
MC Paul Barman - It's Very Stimulating
Quick note: I'm rather shocked by how many of these albums appear to be out of print or unavailable digitally. Some of these listed above might get posted after I do some more research.
Prince Paul - Prince Paul's Greatest Snips
01 Intro with Stetsasonic
02 De La Thing
03 That Brother's Production
04 It's That Skit Shit
05 Get The Message
06 The Gravediggz Bomb
07 That Stuff
08 Psychoanalyst
09 A Prince Among Movie
10 Now That's Politics!
11 princepaulonline.com
Prince Paul - Rarities
UPDATE: Don't know why it wasn't working but I've re-uploaded the rarities comp and the link above is brand new. I clicked it and it seems to be working fine.
01 Alliance Ethnik - Simple & Funky (Prince Paul Remix)
02 Queen Latifah - Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children (feat. De La Soul)
03 Fine Young Cannibals - Good Thing (Prince Paul Remix)
04 Slick Rick - Behind Bars
05 Nikki D - Freak Accident
06 Black Rock & Ron - You Can't Do Me None (Prince Paul Remix)
07 Dr. Octagon - Blue Flowers (Prince Paul Remix)
08 Cookie Crew - Born This Way (Let's Dance) (The Prince Paul Dope Mix)
09 The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Blues XXX Man (Prince Paul Remix)
10 MF Doom - Hot Guacamole (feat. MC Paul Barman)
11 Chill Rob G - Let Me Show You (Mixmaster Mase & Prince Paul Remix)
12 Gravediggaz - Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark (feat. Craig Gee)
13 The Jaz - It's That Simple
14 3rd Bass - No Static At All
15 Living Color - Funny Vibe (Prince Paul Remix)
16 Scotty Hard - Who Said (What?) (Prince Paul Remix)
17 Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. - Psyko Funk (Prince Paul Remix)
18 Cypress Hill - Latin Lingo (Prince Paul Mix)
19 Bill Laswell and Friends - If 9 Was 6 (Prince Paul Instrumental Mix)
20 Imani Coppola - Legend Of A Cowgirl (Prince Paul Mix)
21 The Waikikis (Prince Paul and Wordsworth) - Prince Paul's Bubble Party
