Artists

Prince Paul

Pair a Mickey Mouse record player and a "45 of James Brown's Hot Pants and you have what some may consider a perverted combination. Yet for Prince Paul, such a union has contributed to the structure of his entire career. Growing up between Long Island and Brooklyn, NY, Paul bought his first record at the age of five. Not long after he had Macgyver-ized his mothers component system into two turntables and a mixer. These hip-hop laboratory experiments eventually earned him the name of Fake Grandmaster Flash among his peers. In fact, it did more than just earn him the name. During consequent years Paul met and began to DJ for hip-hop native Biz Markie, gaining steam as a block party nemesis. His scratching and cutting abilities to tracks such as Rocket In the Pocket and Midnight Train allowed him to gain recognition long before turntablism was ever referred to as such.

His moniker was DJ Paul, he was having fun, learning his craft, and mastering skills that would impress the ladies. In 1984, while spinning at a local block party, a chance meeting with the Stetsasonic crew would lead to a group formation in which he was given the title Prince Paul. Their Just Say Stet demo earned the crew a deal with Tommy Boy in 1985, with release of the first single that same year. Several years, three albums and the first installment of industry insight later, the group parted ways. It was during the same time that Paul had met De La Soul through a high school music teacher and they too joined the Tommy Boy ranks. Using his newfound wisdom, he was able to help guide the group through the recording of Plug Tunin in 1987, not to be released until a year later. The release of Three Feet High & Rising in 1989 would give every hip-hop nerd of the future a textbook example of Prince Paul's cinematic approach to highly conceptualized narratives and quirky production. The album remains today as a staple of hip-hop's golden age. From MC Lyte to Queen Latifah and Big Daddy Kane, Paul was steadily gaining a slew of production credits. As testament, he went on to win Best Producer during the 1990 New York Music Awards.

After three albums with De La, Tommy Boy cut ties with Prince Paul. Being able to grasp his sense of humor had made record label endurance somewhat confrontational. The influx of a gangsta nation in the early nineties meant that labels were interested in keeping up with the media cash cows. Paul began receiving fewer jobs and sustained more heartache in the process. His reaction was a dark form of musical metaphor with formation of the Gravediggaz in 1992. 6 Feet Deep was released in 1994 on Def Jam after a two-year delay. The release delay created just enough of a time gap to allow other groups to mimic the style in a misunderstood imitation of the Gravediggaz concept, turning it into a satan-worshipping blasphemy of the original. Personal and professional adversity soon followed, forcing Paul to scrutinize his own musical inventiveness. The outcome was a 1997 solo album, Psychoanalysis, which threw the industry an examination of their own idiosyncratic social ills.

Paul's observations wouldn't be cast again until the release of 1999's A Prince Among Thieves. Teetering on the edge of hip-hop theatrics, the album maintained an underlying theme of street corruption weaved into a consistent story line. Even in 2003's Politics of the Business Paul's passion for musical ingenuity and play on industry absurdities provide mischievous commentary. After joining with Dan "the Automator" Nakamura to form Handsome Boy Modeling School in 1999 their concept album So... How's Your Girl? on Atlantic Records broke barriers on a production front. The beats intermingle rock with R&B with everything in between, providing a more than substantial backdrop for the even more superbly chosen vocals. The album's success allowed the duo to return with their second release, White People in 2005.

Paul's adventurous use of parody has created an even larger undertaking in recent projects including The Dix in 2005. Being able to recognize the stagnant nature within the genre, he brought together a cast of characters to conquer a modern day doo-wap meets hip-hop frontier. Titled The Art of Picking Up Women the Dummy Smacks release has even included a combo CD/DVD that chronicles the fictional journey of these soul singers in a faux documentary.

A keen awareness, wit and production expertise have made Prince Paul a legend, ranking alongside other hip-hop godfathers. He is one of few to step successfully outside of a genre, as evidenced by his production of Chris Rock's 1997 Grammy Award winning comedy album Roll With the New, and follow up album Bigger & Blacker in 1999. He continues to produce for a variety of artists and maintains his wildly creative roots.

"Scratch LIVE feels like it's taking old school to a new school level"