Prince Paul - Biography
By Paul Glanting
The competitive nature of Hip Hop is deeply ingrained into its makeup. Therefore, the music has a very serious and aggressive tone to its nature; consequently, there is very little room for abundant amounts of humor or subversions, as these elements aren’t typically conducive to competition. However, groundbreaking producer Prince Paul has consistently and effectively bucked this trend; with his production mastery he has steered Hip Hop (as well as other genres) into intelligent, humorous, yet still street credible territory.
Paul Huston grew up on Long Island , NY, where his father would play jazz records, piquing Huston’s initial interest in music. However, while these traditional musical influences would spark Huston’s interest, his ventures into music would soon stray to fairly unorthodox territory, abandoning the clarinet for a pair of turntables while his musical idols shifted from the jazz greats to funk legends like Parliament and George Clinton. Paul’s DJ prowess continued to expand, where he would fuse samples from cartoon theme songs with the traditional soul records DJs were playing. As his skills improved, he was approached by innovative Brooklyn Hip Hop group Stetasonic. Paul soon became a member of Stetasonic, contributing his production skills to the group’s second album In Full Gear (Tommy Boy-1988). In Full Gear earned a decent amount of praise and was one of the first Hip Hop releases to provide poignant commentary of society. Stetasonic’s live instrumentation would also be an influence on the live act of legendary Hip Hop group The Roots. While Stetasonic continued to garner praise, Prince Paul continued to develop his production skills, producing several tracks for 3rd Bass’ debut The Cactus Album (The Cee/Dee) (Def Jam-1989).
Between Stetasonic’s albums, Prince Paul would produce what is arguably the most pivotal project of his career, De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising (Tommy Boy-1989). As the 80’s approached its end, Hip Hop began to let loose a violent and often nihilistic growl with groups like N.W.A. Meanwhile, De La Soul’s lighthearted debut was a lighthearted and often goofy opus. Paul’s sound-scape to the Long Island trio’s mellow calls for harmony and love, utilized a vastly diverse range of sampling sources, ranging from Johnny Cash, Led Zeppelin, Billy Joel as well as the theme song from Schoolhouse Rocks for the track “The Magic Number.” Prince Paul also sampled The Turtles’ song “You Showed Me” for 3 Feet High and Rising’s “Transmitting Live From Mars.” However, The Turtles didn’t take this usage as flattery and would sue De La Soul. Nonetheless, the album was phenomenally successful both critically and commercially, and would also be the first of three highly lauded collaborations between De La Soul and Prince Paul.
Though he was a member of Stetasonic, Prince Paul quickly became better known for the work he did on his own, having supplied various projects with his ubiquitous production, such as Big Daddy Kane’s It’s a Big Daddy Thing (Cold Chillin’-1989) as well as the second album from 3rd Bass, Derelicts of Dialect (Def Jam-1991). Prince Paul also once again teamed up with De La Soul for their sophomore album De La Soul is Dead (Tommy Boy-1991). The group’s follow-up further showcased Prince Paul’s humor which was glimmering with social commentary. At the time of the release of De La Soul is Dead, De La Soul were simultaneously trying to fend off being pigeonholed as “Hip Hop hippies” as well as expressing their disapproval of the violence being expressed from the surging gangster rap movement. Paul’s cleverly crafted skits on the album allowed De La Soul to constructively criticize this violence, while evading restrictive artistic limits. While De La Soul is Dead failed to sell as well as 3 Feet High and Rising, it was critically acclaimed and is widely considered a classic Hip Hop record.
Later that year, Prince Paul rejoined his band-mates in Stetasonic for what would be their final album Blood, Sweat & No Tears (Tommy Boy-1991). Even though Stetasonic disbanded soon after the release of Blood, Sweat & No Tears Prince Paul would later again work alongside Stetasonic rapper Frukwan in their group Gravediggaz.
Thanks in large part to Prince Paul’s crafting, De La Soul had become household names. Their third album--and final collaboration with Prince Paul, Buhloone Mindstate (Tommy Boy-1993) was a comedic concept album exploring the theme of an ever-expanding ego as well as the pressure they faced to make their music more radio-friendly, once their music became more popular.
Further expanding his immensely versatile production resume, Prince Paul soon reunited with fellow Stetasonic alumni Frukwon, as well as Wu-Tang Clan’s enigmatic leader RZA and a fledgling rapper called Too Poetic. Collectively calling themselves Gravediggaz. The group’s fusion of horror and humor, can perhaps best be represented through the microcosm of the original title of their album, Niggamortis. Certainly due to the album title’s risqué nature, the album title would be changed 6 Feet Deep (Gee Street-1994) and was characterized by a morose and dark sense of humor. Featuring some of Prince Paul’s most ominous production, 6 Feet Deep gained a good amount of buzz, perhaps initially because it was a joint-effort between two of Hip Hop’s most prominent producers in Prince Paul and RZA.
Prince Paul had by now established himself as one of the premiere producers in the rapidly spreading genre of Hip Hop. After architecting the sound for a lengthy list of prestigious artists Prince Paul finally released his first solo album Psychoanalysis: What is It? (Tommy Boy-1997). The Tommy Boy print of the album was actually a second pressing, as it was first released a year prior on Wordsound Records, with different cover-art and a slightly different track listing. Paul has referred to Psychoanalysis: (What is It? ) as a joke that went too far. His charismatic productions for De La Soul had been partially characterized by his invention of the Hip Hop sketch, a convention still widely utilized in Hip Hop. However, the skits on his solo album may have been too clever for their own good, graphically explicating the sometimes malevolent thoughts of various subjects (hence the reference to Psychoanalysis).
Prince Paul dabbled with production in other genres such as rock music, for Vernon Reid(of Living Colour)’s debut Mistaken Identity (Sony-1996). Prince Paul also stepped into the comedy realm producing comedian Chris Rock’s Grammy-winning album Roll with the New (Dreamworks-1997). This pairing made sense in that aside from the live-material on the album, a good chunk of Roll with the New is Chris Rock’s edgy humor, which made the Prince Paul the perfect producer for the project. Later that year, Prince Paul worked on Gravediggaz’s second album The Pick, the Sickle and the Shovel (Gee Street-1997), although he had a significantly smaller role in the creation of this album. Consequently, Gravediggaz’s follow-up to 6 Feet Deep, dabbles far less in satire and instead tackles socially relevant issues with a sterner tone.
Prince Paul took another go at solo-work and recorded the groundbreaking concept album A Prince Among Thieves (Tommy Boy-1999). Known as a “Hip H-opera” for it’s linear storytelling, the album follows an MC named Tariq (played on-wax by Breezly Brewin) who is going to meet with producer RZA (who plays himself), but first must gather enough money to record a demo tape. Tariq’s struggles to attain monetary funds are complimented by cameos from rappers like Xzibit, Biz Markie, Kool Keith, Everlast and Sadat X, as well as past Prince Paul collaborators like Big Daddy Kane, Chris Rock and De La Soul.
1999 proved to be a prolific year for the Long Island born producer and he soon joined another often esoteric Hip Hop producer in Dan the Automator, collectively calling themselves Handsome Boy Modeling School. The duo’s debut So...How’s Your Girl (Tommy Boy-1999) experimented with a plethora of genres, so many in fact, it’s remarkably difficult to categorize the album. With a roster of guests as wide-ranging as Sean Lennon, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Biz Markie and Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori, the pair of producers incorporated Hip Hop, funk, soul, electronica and many other styles into So...How’s Your Girl. The tireless Prince Paul also produced Chris Rock’s second album, Bigger & Blacker (Dreamworks-1999). The album features the satirically didactic “No Sex in The Champaign Room.”
With a new century, Paul introduced a new MC, in the charmingly nerdy Paul Barman on his six-track EP, It’s Very Stimulating (Wordsound-2000) and also produced for bay area MC Del Tha Funkee Homosapien’s album Both Sides of the Brain (Hieroglyphics Imperium-2000).
Prince Paul continued to yield his trademark humor-infused Hip Hop on his third solo album Politics of the Business (Razor & Tie-2003). Paul also again joined Dan the Automator for the follow-up to their cult-hit, with White People (Elektra-2004), which proved to mingle with an equally, if not more, diverse crowd than So...How’s Your Girl, featuring collaborations with artists like Jack Johnson, Pharrell Williams, RZA and John Oates.
Continuing to push boundaries through his collaborations, Prince Paul teamed up with one of his personal heroes, former Parliament and Talking Heads keyboardist, Bernie Worrell, dubbing themselves Baby Elephant. The pair released a funk-fueled debut titled Turn My Teeth Up (Godforsaken Music-2007). In his fourth solo album, Itstrumental (Female Fun-2005), Prince Paul continues to follow a story line and simultaneously pokes fun at his apparent depression with plentiful wit.
Prince Paul has created a unique dynamic in bringing dry humor to Hip Hop while simultaneously pushing the musical boundaries of the genre. With a fearless desire to continue to innovate, Prince Paul should be considered not only one of Hip Hop’s greatest producers, but one of contemporary music’s greatest as well.