Prince Paul

Prince Paul
a.k.a. Paul Huston

THE FRESH PRINCE
Producer Prince Paul Waxes Poetic on Art and Commerce
During his nearly two-decade career, hip-hop producer Prince Paul (Paul Houston) has racked up plenty of cool points. He got his start as DJ for the old-school hip-hop group Stetsasonic, helped put innovative rap trio De La Soul on the musical map, collaborated with fellow production wizards RZA and Dan the Automator (Wu-Tang Clan and Handsome Boy Modeling School, respectively), and has released several concept albums as a solo artist. And with 2003's Politics of the Business, Paul continues on his inventive path. Prior to the disc's release, Paul spoke to Barnes & Noble.com's John Carluccio about his career highs and lows, the new disc, and music industry politics.

Barnes & Noble.com: Tell me about the concept for this album and where it came from.

Prince Paul: [The concept] started out with [my 1999 album] Prince Among Thieves. I wondered why the label wasn't putting anything into my records. I was getting pretty good write-ups and stuff, and I remember [the label] saying, "You have no singles. It's a singles market." I guess they were trying to say I needed all the things that music embodied at that particular time. Like you need guest artists, contemporary people, like rappers. And I was like, man, I can't even get a [promotional] T-shirt? [laughs] I was hurt. So I was like, forget it. I'll make this fast-food record, this hip-hop record that's exactly what you want. I went to the Sam Ash and bought all these keyboard modules and this pre-packaged hip-hop gear. I was like, I'm gonna make these real cheesy keyboard joints. In the process of making it, it started to become funny to me. So I'm like, I need some girls to sing. [Still], making this album was difficult for me, because it wasn't really my style. But it ended up spoofing and making fun of the [popular] styles. But when I was finishing the album, a lot of stuff I thought was funny -- like the girls doing the cheesy hooks -- is so true to [the way] hip-hop is now that people don't get the joke. [laughs]

B&N.com: What three records did you produce that were most pivotal for your career?

PP: Well, the first album, On Fire with Stetsasonic, because that's how I learned about making a record and about the industry. The production of On Fire was organic and very naïve. We were just like, We love making music. I was a teenager, still in school, and I didn't know too much or care about the business. It didn't matter that I only got $600 for my advance. I'm making a record! We were out making music, and it was about getting together and saying to each other, "Wow, you got a bass line. I got a scratch." Everybody was doing their part and coming together. That's what made that album fun. 'Cause it actually made you feel like you were part of something.

B&N.com: What are two more pivotal records?

PP: Obviously, De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising. The process on that was great -- to find people who thought the same way I did. Working with Stet, where everybody had input -- that changed over time. [laughs] . So the Three Feet High album enabled me to work with guys who respected my vision and vice versa. All of us would come to the studio with stacks of records and be like, "Yo, how 'bout this? Yeah, but, how 'bout this?" And I think that made the record even better. [That record] changed my concept of production. My whole thing was, if we're gonna lay a sample, I want everything to sound as though it belongs together. I want the drums to come from the same era, you know what I'm sayin'? If it's a '60s loop, I want '60s drums, so it all had to mesh together.

B&N.com: Can you give me a third record?

PP: Third one would have to be Psychoanalysis. At that point in time it was like the end of my career. To me, everything was done. The Gravediggaz's Six Feet Deep came out, and people really didn't get it. That album is like my favorite. Now, almost ten years later, people get it. Also at that time everything was going bad, I was going through a custody battle for my son. A friend who was just starting a label asked me to make an album. He said I could do a concept record. I thought my career was over, so I was like, [I might as well].

B&N.com: You thought your career was over? How old were you?

PP: It was just at standstill for me. I was like 29 years old. I was thinking that nobody liked me. [laughs] So, I was like, whatever, I'll do it. [For Psychoanalysis,] I tried to get MCs to rhyme on it -- I'm not gonna say the names of the people who I thought were pretty cool, [but] nobody would come and help me. So, instead, I got my friends, who have always been there since I was a kid. I got all my junior high and high school buddies to come out to the house. I found a psychoanalysis/self-help record, and I thought it would be kinda funny if that was my concept. I decided to put all these crazy skits on there. To me, the whole album is a skit. I decided to do everything on this record. I talked about racism. I made a booty record, a blues record, and I got my friends to be very disrespectful. I got 'em drunk and threw 'em in the [mic] booth. Everything was just really over the top. I thought, this is gonna put the nail in the coffin. This is gonna end my career. This is gonna force me to move and open up a little stationery store somewhere down South.

The weird thing was that that record resurrected my career, and not only that, it brought my name out as an individual this time as opposed to being behind another machine. After that, Chris Rock called me and asked me to produce his album, Roll with the New. He said he'd heard Psychoanalysis and was a big fan of De La Soul's Buhloone Mindstate. Monica Lynch from Tommy Boy [also] called me and said she loved Psychoanalysis and offered to sign me. Then Dan the Automator calls, and we start Handsome Boy Modeling Club. So, it was weird. That record wasn't supposed to do anything. There were only supposed to be a few copies made, and it became the record that people liked and jump-started my career again.

B&N.com: What records have you listened to recently that inspire you?

PP: N.E.R.D.'s record [In Search Of...]. I couldn't get that out my tape deck, man. It was just so refreshing, because it wasn't what everybody else was doing. Even though it's really like a bite off of a lot of '70s and '80s music, it was catchy.

B&N.com: And what's next for you?

PP: I'm already into my next concept, but I can't start it just yet cause I gotta do another Handsome Boy record. But, put it like this: [laughs] I'm very excited about making the next record. I just hope I still have an outlet to make a next record. That's always my worry.

December 11, 2003