Politics Of The Business

producers: prince paul

guests: dave chappelle, erick sermon, masta ace, guru, planet asia, chuck d, ice-t, the beatnuts, jean grae, chubb rock, mf doom, others.
year of release: 2003
If you need an introduction to Prince Paul, then your knowledge of hip hop is as limited as are the million dollar bills. And like KRS said: You must learn. What brings us right smack into the middle of what this record is about: the politics of business. Yes, this is another one of those Paul concept albums. What's a good thing though. Even if in this case also a confusing thing. Because Prince Paul stopped being Prince Paul for a minute. Instead he's biting, he's not groundbreaking, he's phony, he's regular, he's commercial. Well, in theory. As that's what this album was supposed to be: a record exposing all the shenanigans that are so horrible about the politics of business, both musically and politrickingly. But was Paul able to just switch himself off?
Because basically Prince Paul tried to do those Hip Pop production beats, that he paired with his friends and family emcees, to come up with, better Hip Pop? This is where the whole thing gets confusing. As it remains unclear if Paul thought that with him doing this, he'll be able to get sales, or if this was merely a: see, even those beats can be done a little different and with a good rapper, they are even good. Maybe it's something in between. However, this is what it is and at times, it's just not Paul. Like on "Make Room", the beat is jiggy, while Erick Sermon, Mally G and Sy Scott provide the rhymes. And that sets the game plan: the beats stay flat and empty. While the cuts are always loaded with a number of emcees, pointing out the spot where this album is actually good.

tracklisting
1. A Day In The Life... feat. Dave Chappelle (Skit)
2. Intro feat. Popmaster (The Black Italiano)
3. Make Room feat. Erick Sermon, Sy Scott, Mally G
4. The Drive By (Skit)
5. So What feat. Kokane, Masta Ace, Pretty Ugly
6. Drama Queen feat. Trugoy (of De La Soul), Truth Enola
7. Not Tryin’ To Hear That feat. Guru, Planet Asia
8. Politics Of The Business feat. Chuck D., Ice-T
9. Original Crhyme Pays feat. Tash, Beatnuts, Tony Touch, Biz Markie
10. What I Need feat. Kardinal Offishall, Sly Boogie
11. Princepaulonline.com
12. Controversial Headlines aka Champion Sound (Pt. 1) feat. Horror City
13. Beautifully Absurd feat. W. Ellington Felton w/ K'Alyn
14. Controversial Headlines aka Champion Sound (Pt. 2) feat. Horror City, Jean Grae
15. Chubb Rock Can You Please Pay Paul the $2200 you Owe Him (People, Places And Things) feat. Chubb Rock, Wordsworth, MF Doom
16. A Life In The Day feat. Dave Chappelle (Skit)
Especially as on "So What" Masta Ace is returning to his west coast phase, as Kokane and Pretty Ugly team up with him. More interesting pairings are in "Not Tryin' To Hear That" by Guru and Planet Asia, "Politics Of The Business" by Chuck D and Ice T (that's spoken though), "Controversial Headlines AKA Champion Sound (Pt. 2)" by Horror City and Jean Grae, as well as "Chubb Rock Can You Please Pay Paul The $2200 You Owe Him (People, Places And Things)" by Chubb Rock, Wordsworth and MF Doom. Here Prince Paul does this 'rework a classic beat' trend, by him revisiting some old De La Soul gem, with it still looking fresh like grass green salad, making this easily the best song on here (with more good ones coming as hidden tracks). This however also shows the obvious shortcomings of this album: the beats are just, as said, flat and empty. While Tash, The Beatnuts and Tony Touch get really into it on "Original Crime Pays", the simple piano is just repetitive, the synthesizer and the women highly annoying. But as said, that's what the intention was. However, how good of an idea can it be to consciously not cater to your audience?
And there's high doubts that a "What I Need" will be released as a single and blow up. Despite all the ingredients being set in place for that. The beat is just one of those generic ones and Kardinal Offishall and Sly Boogie come correct. Nevertheless, the label won't push it as a smash hit, the radio stations will not pick it up as a smash hit, as the sarcasm still lingers in the aftertaste, making this neither here nor there. Further add some somewhat neo soul by W. Ellington Felton with K'Alyn called "Beautifully Absurd". The backpackers are just not ready for this. They probably don't get it too. Even if there's not much not to get: the people intelligent enough to understand the intention and humor in this, will struggle to really get into pumping this just for the sake of pumping it. As the beats are boring and the lyrics are always playing catching up with our attention.
So with Dave Chappelle offering some comic relief at the beginning and end of the album, Paul gets another couple of laughs in. And he sure was able to turn himself off. But what for? Why? Don't we love Prince Paul because he's not like this? Did he prove anything we didn't yet know on this album? Was it worth the experiment and risk? Isn't this carrying water to the stream, as all the people that will listen to this record, already know? Preaching to the choir? As interesting the concept is, that's still how this feels like.
review: tadah
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