Prince Paul: A Prince Among Thieves : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Forced to fly from the De La Soul nest because of creative differences, marginalized in hip-hop for his kitschy cult tastes, Prince Paul knows from betrayal. So it's no wonder that Tariq, the rhyming (anti)hero of Paul's new hip-hop fairy tale, finds his rap ambitions pulling him into a whirl of deception. A Prince Among Thieves is structured like a musical, featuring spoken bits interspersed with hip-hop numbers -- Chris Rock, who guests as a blow-job-giving crackhead, has actually snapped up the movie rights. It stars newcomer Breeze as Tariq, who reluctantly hustles for a quick grand to finish his demo tape. Wicked cameos abound: Chubb Rock as drug lord Mr. Large, Big Daddy Kane as the pimpalicious Count Macula and Kool Keith as a mad firearms scientist (password to his lair: enema bandit). As the fantastical-fables mastermind, Prince Paul cuts and pastes campy blaxploitation sounds, horror-movie screams, sinister robotic voices and ruffneck Nineties joints. A Prince Among Thieves is Paul's answer to those who have dismissed or ignored him; it's revenge served up bold. (RS 808)

NATASHA STOVALL