There was a lot going on in 1999. Y2K was looming over us, we were all partying like Prince (the artist formally known as) told us to, all colors were quickly being replaced with chrome, and all the pop monsters like Britney Spears, Cristina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, etc, RULED the charts. But underneath the bubbly surface, a hip hop coming of age tale of epic proportions was being carefully crafted... by hip hop royalty, Prince Paul. If you're wondering why you can't remember a specific song by him, it's because he's not usually center stage. A prodigy from the New York hip hop scene getting attention as young as 14, Paul was in several groups in his teenage years, including the influential group Stetsasonic, before producing De La Soul's first three albums. Paul continued producing and grouping up over the years, with mixed results, including a three song collaboration with Boogie Down Productions (which included KRS-One), a team up with RZA and others called Gravediggaz, and demo for Horror City with Superstar and various other MCs, which although not a success, would end up providing material for "Prince Among Thieves." In 1996 he was ready to make something for himself, but apparently did not have a lot of success in getting people involved, opting to get people outside of the music industry to guest on his debut "Psychoanalysis: What Is It?" It's a very strange album that wasn't exactly a banger, but for the following album, he had more than enough success in getting people involved. Featuring some of the greatest names in hip hop of the time, including Big Sha, Kool Keith, Everlast, Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, Sadat X, Xzibit, RZA, and De La Soul (to name a few), with a Chris Rock cameo for good measure, "Prince Among Thieves" is a time capsule. It's a fully formed rap opera with compelling characters and a story of the streets as old as time...
This episode is a CROSSOVER with our brother/sister podcast, Pick Apart the Passion (anchor.fm/pickapartthepassion)!! We have on RamBunxious, host of that podcast, and he tells us his own hip hop origins!
RamBunxious links:
video eps of Pick Apart the Passion: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4Uk6UBPMYEu9mW8iHZraNI932p95Fkdf
https://www.facebook.com/RamBunxiousMusic
https://www.facebook.com/pickapartthepassion
Other Links:
OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/2stA2P7pTC
TACHP Desert Island Discord Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4wNErQHfrAYgSsIZlLJ6ym?si=dtrMJCuqQwa1Zt7RtwrXNg
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www.twitter.com/FlyoverPodcasts
https://discord.gg/2stA2P7pTC
www.anchor.fm/AlbumConceptHour
www.twitter.com/AlbumConceptPod
