Prince Paul - "A Prince Among Thieves"

Prince Paul’s 2nd studio album, “A Prince Among Thieves”, was released on February 23, 1999 on Tommy Boy Records. On the Prince Paul produced “3 Feet High and Rising”, Prince Paul came up with the idea of including skits are a way to piece the album together to tell a story. This idea of telling a story on a record eventually became the idea for his Rap opera or a “movie on wax”.  Prince Paul watched a bunch of B-rated crime dramas and eventually came up with the plot for “A Prince Among Thieves”. Rapper Tariq, played by Breeze Brewin’ of the Juggaknots, needs $1,000 in order to finish his demo before his meeting with RZA. Tariq, who is convinced that this meeting will lead to a record deal, against his own better judgement agrees to help from his friend and mentor True, played by Big Sha of the group Horror City, and hustle the money. The album chronicles the highs and lows of the life of a dealer and a friendship scorned by jealousy. Prince Paul recruited an all-star cast for support roles in his Rap opera, like Big Daddy Kane, Kool Keith and De La Soul. The album is produced entirely by Prince Paul and features both new and classic Prince Paul beats. It’s a familiar story but it’s also often humorous and keeps your head nodding throughout. You can’t knock the creativity that went into making this album nor its cast of characters. “A Prince Among Thieves” is one of a kind.

Review with Jav (@javdunyan)

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Chris: Going into this review, “A Prince Among Thieves” was probably one of my favorite Hip Hop albums. It’s just completely unique and because of that I thought it would be an interesting album to review. I guess I probably heard it not too long after it came out because at the time, I was pretty obsessed with anything related to my favorite group, De La Soul. Do you have any memories of listening to “A Prince Among Thieves” before this review? 

Jav: Fond memories indeed, thinking back to this era of Hip-Hop feels great, not just for the sake of nostalgia for an old school Hip-Hop “head” but the time when the internet was budding and a few years before downloading music from the internet would absolutely destroy your computer. The album’s story and theme requires time to unfold, each song is an episode in the overall Hip Hopera which needs some time to grasp the whole concept. 

Chris: I can think of a few Hip Hop concept albums from over years, like “MM..Food”, “Deltron 3030”, Masta Ace’s “Disposable Arts”, and “Dr. Octagonecologyst” but none of them are what “A Prince Among Thieves” is, which is a true Hip Hopera. I wonder if you remember when MTV put out that musical, “Carmen”, that starred Beyonce, Mekhi Phifer and Mos Def. I remember them calling that a Hip Hopera but come on. I guess, it was Prince Paul’s idea for “A Prince Among Thieves” to be a film but Tommy Boy balked at the idea. They did, however, give him $10,000 to shoot a trailer/music video. Are there any other concept albums in Hip Hop that you can think of? Also, I read that Chris Rock owns the rights to any potential theatrical versions of “A Prince Among Thieves”. Given a decent budget and all the characters from the album being used in the film, what’s your interest level in seeing it? 

Jav: I’m DOWN to see a live action version of the album, funny that Chris Rock owns the rights to that? Not sure who I would expect to own it but hey! Better than Martin Skrelli being the sole owner to an unreleased Wu album.  MTV is so lame, throwing Mos Def in there to bring some needed street cred into the mix. I imagine the board meeting with Beyonce’s agent like hey it’s a modern day opera! The kids will love it and it comes on after Real World, who remembers that show?

Chris: Good point! Chris Rock, please do something with this! Is the Real World not on anymore? Road Rules gone too? Haha

”A Prince Among Thieves” (Extended Music Video)

 

Chris: The album, the story of Tariq, is supposed to be loosely based on the struggles, in both the music business and personal life, of Prince Paul. I guess as a fan it’s hard to think about someone like Prince Paul being outcasted by the industry and struggling to find work in music. Do you have any thoughts on Prince Paul as producer and Hip Hop contributor? And what did you think of the production on this album?

Jav: Boggles the mind that Prince Paul would have problems and maybe it is expected. He would not do well with LL Cool J or whomever was the breadwinner throughout the 90’s lol. De La Soul is legendary, and Mr Paul is the producer that made the first three albums, I wonder what the impact of De La’s legacy would be without Prince Paul’s production. Hard to say at this point (not to cast shade on the album Stakes is High). Who remembers the second Gravediggaz album that came out without Prince Paul producing? Exactly. 

Chris: I think the thing I appreciate most about Prince Paul is the wide array of genres he samples from. He’s very eclectic with his sample sources. He’s not afraid to challenge himself or be himself and because of that we’ve gotten so many quirky but quality projects to listen to. From his work with De La, to his work with the Gravediggaz, to his work with Dan the Automator.

Chris: I really enjoyed the production on this album. Again, a very eclectic choice of sample sources from Albert King to Extra Ts, from the Average White Band to Magnum.

Average White Band – “Reach Out”

 

 Chris: One of the things I really enjoy most about this album is that it cast some not as well-known rappers in the most prominent roles and some of the most prominent rappers, legends really, in support roles. You have Everlast as the corrupt cop, Kool Keith as the arms-dealing nerd, you have Big Daddy Kane as the pimp supreme, you have Chubb Rock as the crime boss, you have De La Soul as junkies and then Sadat X, Xzibit and Kid Creole as the intimidating but also sage inmates. Which was your favorite character(s) on the album and why?

Jav: Kool Keith stands out to me as the arms-dealing nerd, love the way you put that by the way. His monologue at the end of the song gets me everytime. “with the aluminum skin of an alligator” like what kind of sales pitch is that Keith c'mon man!? Don't worry i wont tell nobody in the projects. Something about Big Daddy Kane as a pimp in a movie, and his track “Count Makula” feels like a 70’s b movie which makes sense, knowing you mentioned Prince Paul watched a lot of B movies for inspiration, it just works somehow. 

Chris: I really enjoyed both of those tracks too. Kool Keith’s wordplay and then the subject matter, it’s like all the stars align. The same can be said for the Big Daddy Kane track. He just comes off so smooth and believable in his role.

My favorite feature though was “More Than U Know” featuring De La Soul. Pos and Dave playing drug addicts and then the metaphors for getting high and taking a plane flight and a drug dealer as travel agent. I thought that really funny and creative.

Prince Paul feat. Big Daddy Kane – “Count Macula”

 

 Prince Paul feat. De La Soul – “More Than U Know”

 

Chris: Did you have any favorite tracks?

Jav: I was totally a huge Sadat X fan so “Handle Your Time” is one of my favorite songs. “Weapon World” has my favorite beat, those strings and Keith’s high pitched voice match so well together, wonder what a Kool Keith and Prince Paul album would have sounded like?

Chris: Oh man! Can you imagine? The Dr. Octagon stuff with Dan the Automator was so ill and no disrespect to Dan but I could only imagine an album with Prince Paul sounding better or at least funkier. On another review, I talked about how much I would have enjoyed hearing an album with Chubb Rock and Prince Paul, an album with Kool Keith and Prince Paul would be incredible.

An additional track, I liked was with two Juggaknot members, Breeze Brewin’ and Queen Herawin, on “The Other Line”. Tariq calls his girl, Tammy, to convince her to call-in to work for him and Tru. I just really enjoy the back and forth. In my opinion, the dialogue between the two is like modern Shakespearean.

Prince Paul feat. Kool Keith – “Weapon World”

 

Prince Paul feat. Breeze Brewin’ and Queen Herawin – “The Other Line”

 

Chris: One of the things I read about the making of the album, is that the Rappers/Actors were all left in the dark about what was going on with the project as a whole. Prince Paul recorded them all and then pieced together all the dialogue and everything else himself at the end. So you’ve made beats and you’ve worked Rappers, what do you think of Prince Paul’s method for putting together this album? In your experience, have you tried to implement something like this yourself and if not, do you feel like maybe the finished product would have come out better if you had?

Jav: I have not taken such a task, mainly small projects and home-produced music that does not match the quality of a legendary producer. The amount of thought and creative effort that it must have taken to put this together is astounding. It is unimaginable really, the time required to make all these beats and come up with dialogue AND to piece them all together after the recording was done! Maybe as a virtuoso producer such as Prince Paul, the beats maybe would not take as much time, but sitting in a dark and smoky studio editing and matching the vocal tracks, dialogue and background sounds of a cinematic experience doubles his workload, in film industry there are departments alone that create sounds like cars and people walking, that takes time to set up and make sure everything is lined up correctly, wonder how many people helped with the engineering of the album. Prince Paul is like George Lucas, like nope that jail cell slamming sound was a little too loud, can we knock that down a tad?

Chris: Thank you for taking the time do this review with me, Jav! I appreciate your perspective and I hope that we can do it again! “A Prince Among Thieves” turns 22 on the 23rd, has it stood the test of time for you? Also, did you feel bad for Tariq?

Jav: I do feel for the guy, from the beginning it's like hey would I trust Tru or not, hmmmm. All of Tru’s verses have the feeling like hey I'm totally going to betray you because I feel I’m the better rapper and Tariq is so wack. I honestly did not know who Tru and Tariq were played by until recently, which gives the great opportunity to listen and discover some older unheard music, thanks Chris for giving me the chance to give my thoughts to this piece of art! I'm ready to do some more anytime Man! The best way to close out the decade with this gem of an album for sure.

Chris: I felt bad for Tariq as well. He was getting played from the start. I think that time has only made me appreciate this album more and I’m glad we got to review it because I really got to delve into it.

Thanks again, Jav!

House of Pain - "House of Pain (Fine Malt Lyrics)"

 

“House of Pain (Fine Malt Lyrics)” is the debut album of the Hip Hop group the House of Pain, consisting of rappers Everlast, Danny Boy and DJ Lethal. After an unsuccessful solo debut, Everlast recruited his old High School friend Danny Boy O’Connor and DJ Lethal, whom Everlast had met while touring with Ice-T’s Rhyme Syndicate, to form the group. The name the House of Pain is a reference to H.G. Wells’ novel “The Island of Dr. Moreau.” Their first stuido album was released on July 21, 1992 on Tommy Boy Records. Tommy Boy Records signed the group on the strength of their demo which featured “Jump Around” which was produced by DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill. In 1992, “Jump Around” reached #3 on the charts in the United States, #6 in Ireland and #8 in the United Kingdom. Even though DJ Lethal is technically Latvian, the trio celebrated Irish-American culture and their lyrics on the album mostly promote Irish-American stereotypes. Muggs, along with DJ Lethal and Ralph Tha Funky Mexican from Funkdoobiest produced the album.  “House of Pain (Fine Malt Lyrics)” went multi-Platinum and has a huge cultural impact. It can still be heard at any event where there more than three people present, as it required by federal law. 

Guest review with Mike T. (@mike_t_bvnm)

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Chris: Is it true that the first time you heard “Jump Around” was on the soundtrack for Mrs. Doubtfire?

Mike T.: Haha. To be honest I don't know when the first time I heard “Jump Around” was. It very well could have been Mrs. Doubtfire. That scene is so easy to remember just from listening to the song. I can picture Robin Williams dancing on the dining room table, and then his wife just shows up.

Chris: Haha right? I remember that scene well too. For me, my Aunt Sonya had the album and I would wear it out. Listening to it now, is kind of funny as much of the lyrical content went over my head back then but this album definitely brings up a lot of nostalgia. 

Chris: So the beat that became “Jump Around” was actually offered to Cypress Hill and then to Ice Cube, but was turned down by both them. Everlast, who met DJ Muggs through his girlfriend, who was the roommate of Everlast’s girlfriend, heard the beat and wrote the lyrics for what would become “Jump Around” in a couple hours in his car in DJ Muggs’ driveway. I think it’s fair to say it is the most significant thing they’ve ever did, in terms of cultural impact. You can’t go to a sport event or watch a movie without hearing “Jump Around”. Can you think of a particular occasion or event where you heard “Jump Around?” Also, what is your opinion of Pete Rock’s remix of “Jump Around”?

Mike T.: I know I've heard it before at an Isotopes game back in the day. I haven't been to a sports event in years. But "Jump Around" is just a song you can play in almost any place. I've heard it in bars all the time when we could go to bars. The thing is to when the song comes on people are always going to get down to it. Whether it's a head bob, mouthing the lyrics, or even dancing. It's just a song that hits for everyone. So I have mixed feelings with the remix. I like the beat of the remix. The incorporation of the horns was a nice touch. Now the thing that I'm kind of like meh on is the timing change that the remix has. It's a little slower so when you first hear it, it throws me off a bit. If I were to grade it 1 out of 10 compared to the original. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

Chris: I definitely heard “Jump Around” at a Quinceanera and one time when Bill Clinton came to Albuquerque for a rally in Civic Plaza. “Jump Around” is for everyone, even the Emo kids.

I would say that particular remix is probably one of Pete Rock’s best or at least one of his best-known remixes. I do prefer the original though. It’s some of Muggs’ best work.

House of Pain – “Jump Around” (Produced by DJ Muggs)

 

 House of Pain feat. Pete Rock – “Jump Around” (Pete Rock Remix)

 

Chris: Mike, I know that you are a Mason and I’m sure you probably aren’t surprised that I found a way to ask you about it on here but did you happen to catch the Masonry reference on the song “Life Goes On”? I couldn’t find anything on the web about Everlast (a.k.a. Erik Schrody) being a Free Mason and after talking to our friend, who is also Mason, it’s very unlikely that Everlast was a 33rd degree Mason considering he was only 23 years old at the time the album was released. Can you comment on this and maybe any other Masonic references in Hip Hop that you are aware of?

Mike T.: So I am glad that this did come up because when I first heard the song I was just driving around just to listen to the album uninterrupted. So when that line came up I had to double take, and rewind the song. So yes, I am a Freemason, but I am not a Scottish Rite Mason. So I don't know a lot about 33rd degree Masons other than it is an honorary degree that you get in Scottish Rite. Scottish Rite is basically like a branch of Freemasonry. I don't personally know of many other Mason references in Hip Hop. Netflix put out a documentary a while back called "Inside Look At Freemasonry" the end credits have a Rap song that is just dedicated to Masonry. It's called "So Mote It Be" by J Row.

House of Pain – “Life Goes On”

 

 J Row – “So Mote It Be”

 

Chris: There is a lot of promotion of Irish-American stereotypes on this album, particularly drinking and fighting. I remember seeing the video for “Jump Around” and listening to this album as a kid and getting really pumped up by it. There are a lot of Italian-American stereotypes promoted in Hip Hop and just in Pop Culture in general but not by any Italian-American Hip Hop groups that I can think of anyway. What did you think of the lyrical content of this album and being that you come from an Italian-American background, how do you feel about the promotion of stereotypes in music? And I also want to suggest that we find an Italian-American rapper or group to listen to for our next review together. 

Mike T.: So personally I didn't have an issue with it. I know people probably do or in the past when the album came out did. In the end it didn't bother me. I think most people would even really know what they were talking about when they say "Dago". When I first heard it I laughed a little and I won't lie, because I hadn't heard the term in a long time. Being in New Mexico you wouldn't hear that, but back East you would know right off the bat. But the vibe I got from them referencing Irish, and Italian-Americans they were just making fun of themselves. From their songs they must have eaten a shit load of corned beef and cabbage. Plus, all the beer and blunts they must have put down haha. I am down to find an Italian-American rapper or group to listen to. That's one thing I really enjoy about doing these reviews. Being that I am not really versed in Hip Hop I get to branch out my music selection that much more from these.

Chris: I appreciate your honesty, Mike. I think sometimes there is power in owning a stereotype, at that point you can’t be ridiculed for it. As far Italian-American stereotypes, there is this fascination with both in Hip Hop culture and Popular culture. We all love a good mob flick and a part of us enjoys rooting for the antihero.

Chris: For me, the best thing about this album is the production. The beats. It is classic, funky DJ Muggs material. In my opinion, you definitely wouldn’t and I probably wouldn’t know who the House of Pain was if it weren’t for DJ Muggs’ contribution on this album. Along with “Jump Around”, he contributed to the production of 7 other tracks on the album. What is your opinion on the production of this album? Are there any beats on this album that you had a particular affinity for?

Mike T.: The beats were dope on this album. So much fun to listen to. I think the production was great on this album. It doesn't give me that feeling of being at a live show like some of the other 90's albums we've done, but I like the sound of this album. This is probably my favorite album we've done so far. I really had a fun time just putting this on the speakers and just jamming out. One beat in particular that really stuck with me was "House and the Rising Son". That saxophone that really hit for me. The beat wasn't just a typical "banger" that sax just gave it this depth that I really liked. "Top O' the Morning to Ya" is another one. That harmonica just was a nice addition to the beat. It already makes you bob your head, but that harmonica just topped it off for me. I really like how these beats are just funky. Then you get that hint of scratching from the DJ. Then I gotta go with "Put on Your Shit Kickers" that little vocal drop to already a gritty beat. I enjoyed how its very bass drum kick heavy. Then they just layer it with other instruments or vocal drops.

Chris: It makes sense that you’d enjoy that saxophone since you played yourself. I’m glad that you mentioned “Top O’ the Morning to Ya” because that is a beat I enjoy too and it’s actually a song that was produced by DJ Lethal and not DJ Muggs. 

House of Pain – “Top O’ the Morning to Ya”

 

 Willie Dixon – “I Ain’t Superstitious” 

 

 Chris: Other than “Jump Around”, were there any songs on the album that you particularly enjoyed?

Mike T.: So I really try to keep this question limited to 3 songs. This album made it hard for me to pick those 3 because I liked this album a lot. So first I'm gonna go with "Top O' the Morning to Ya". The beat right away pulls you in. Then right off the bat you get "Ya see I'm Irish, but I'm not a leprechaun", and just talking about fighting right away as well. Then next I gotta go with "Danny Boy, Danny Boy". I just got pulled in with that hook in the song. Then "One for the Road" how can you not get into the hook?! "Mickey Mouse, you know he's in the house, I said Mickey Mouse, you know he's in the house, One for the road, this is one for the road". But all in all I think this album had a lot of really good tracks. So this was a real difficult one for me to pick 3 because I could just keep listing songs. 

Chris: "Put Your Shit Kickers On" was on that stood out for me. I felt like that was the best track where both Everlast and Danny Boy were featured. The song with B-Real is pretty good as well.

House of Pain – “One for the Road”

 

Chris: Now that you’ve listened to the entire album, would you consider the House of Pain to be a one-hit wonder?

Mike T. : I would have to say just from this album, yes. I know I don't know much about them, but I couldn't even tell you if i heard a song from them outside of "Jump Around" on anything. I do think the album was great, and don't know why you didn't hear much about them afterwards. But I guess in House of Pain fashion "Life Goes On". 

Chris: I didn’t care of the album as much now that I have re-listened to it. True, the production is dope but to me, Everlast and Danny Boy’s lyrics are pretty basic and leave a lot of be desired. "All My Love" is probably the worst shout out songs of all time but it’s a good album, I just don’t hold it in the same regard that once did. As far as a one hit wonder, I would say no. I liked their second album as well and the name House of Pain is firmly entrenched in Hip Hop’s story.