Thesselonious "Prince Paul Saved My Life"

Sometimes we all take ourselves a little too seriously, and that is even more common in the world of hip hop. But occasionally there are people and artist who have no trouble joking around and making stuff fun. Now there is a misconception that all fun hip hop is crappy hipster party music. Well first off, let us remember that hip hop started out as party music, but what is important is to make sure that that music is quality. But as I am rambling off topic I must reel myself back in. The idea was to convey that just because the music is incredibly good and high artistic quality does not mean that it has to take itself so seriously. In my opinion the king of doing this in hip hop (and in all honesty possibly all of music in general) is the one and only Prince Paul (one of my top five favorite producers of all time.) He is able to do just about any style of music and keeps it fun and even when he does something dark like Gravediggaz he keeps it very tongue in check. So when I heard that a very dope producer, Thesselonious, was going to drop an album inspired by the man himself I was ecstatic. If you are not familiar with Thesselonious I highly recommend you also check out his album, "...while I was curling my blunt." But then I got a little nervous, I mean, it is an album inspired by Prince Paul...if it missed the mark, it would be a train wreck. My worries were put to rest VERY quickly upon hearing this album, it is all you could hope for from such an album, captures that Prince Paul feel while still certainly being a Thesselonious album. Enough of my rambling you probably want to know what this album sounds like, so here it goes.

The album kicks off with, "Thesselonious Vs. The Neighborhood" a track obviously influenced by "Prince Paul vs The World," (and not just because of the title.) The other area of tribute is in the vocal snippets laid over the instrumental, but lets talk about the instrumental underneath all of this. It starts with some faded out but obvious drums (bass and kick) that builds as the surrounding instruments change, first keys before a bit of a sonic deconstruction into some synths and then back to the keys, before horns join in and the deconstruction begins again. It one hell of a trip that then blends right into a little interview snippet with Prince Paul, entitled "Prince Paul (It's Official, We're Here..)" which is really just an intro into "Chocolate Soup."

Now, "Chocolate Soup" is an odd track, for a few reasons, mainly the fact that it is an interview with Thesselonious laying instrumentals underneath it, consisting of drums (of course, since he is a drum snob) strings, with some whistling mixed in. But what is crucial about the track is the interview segment chosen, not only because it shows the humor and logic of Prince Paul, but because it is about the creation of skits, which really this is what the track is, it is a skit, but not a skit that so many artist do, no it is much more a Prince Paul skit, something that adds to the album and isn't just there for a bunch of filler, it serves a purpose and still will keep your head nodding. The track concludes by blending into "Prince Paul Speaks 11 (Who's Who)" which is a short snippet that concludes "Chocolate Soup" in essence giving the track an intro, and outro.

Bongos and communication between astronauts and the control center, that is how "Lunar Sunrise" begins. Then a few laser beam like keys enter the discussion before the cymbols and a few scratches come along as well. Then just as you feel you have this piece figured some ominous synths hit, and hit hard, just as the lunar sunrise is occurring. Just as quickly as they appear and jar you, they disappear before the pattern repeats with a few tricks. I keep listening to this track and getting more and more lost in it, it is only just over 5 minutes, but there is SO much going on, it was incredibly well done and you will not be able to pull yourself away. There is both a feeling of sadness and relief when the track finishes because it sucks you and takes you over, you don't want it to leave but you are glad to be back and feel like you have control (in case you cannot tell, this is easily my favorite instrumental on the album.)

I figure at this point, I should mention how Thesselonious classifies this album, not as a hip hop album, or an instrumental album....no it is a Skit-Strumental album. And really, that is the best way to explain this album, especially tracks like "Pardon Me, But Are You Wearing A Watch?" Which, like previous tracks, is an interview with Prince Paul that Thesselonious put an instrumental underneath to compliment and create a great environment for the conversation. The music is very laid back...until the drums hit and then it gets you moving, making you decide whether to listen to the interview or the music...or be bold and try to listen to them as whole (good luck doing that the first two or three times listening to it) but when you get it, you realize how well it works, and just how funky the instrumental is, almost makes you want to dance.

The energy continues on "High Heals..." a song that will test your bass. The high energy drums, keys and BASS come through quickly and carry that impact, forcing your you to nod your head as the vocal snippets get you ready for some pure craziness...then as it starts to reach the apex...the horns come in and calm you, before everything returns just long enough to make you excited, as the track ends.

As much as the previous two tracks make you want to move, that is how "Who Knows?" puts you down in your chair and makes you relax and just vibe out. The drums are much less in your face (but still have that oomph) and the subdues keys (even the vocal samples, especially the singing) just starts to make you float away and gets you lost, ready to digest what ever is coming next. And as the abrupt change shows you, you have no idea so you must be ready for anything, or not and just be surprised again.

On "Prince Paul Speaks III (Y'all Rhyme?)" Thesselonious stays away and just lets you listen to Paul speak and then blends it into what is probably the most fun track on the album, and the only on featuring MCs. "Pawn Shop" features G-Zos, K.T. and Brandon Steele and feels like it could have made it on "3 Feet High and Rising." The track is a mesh of rather well known samples with each vocalist talking about, well, the Pawn Shop and even doing their taxes there. Nothing that will be changing the consciousness of the world, but it fits so well into the album and has the feel of a group of guys sitting around and dropping rhymes over some cool beats.

We return to instrumentals, with "Other Side of the Pump" which has a sort of fun, flirty (there is a female laughing at time,) but at the same time dark sound and feel to it. The bass of drum hits hard as a piano plays, then every so often another layer of sound is added giving it much more depth, but the sounds are not any particular instrument just a feel and echo that you notice, and what started off so light becomes a sonic puzzle that your ears try to put together, and just as they come close, Thess switches it up again, wonderful example of how what you start with doesn't have to be what you end with.

The pure interview segment "Prince Paul Speaks IV (Grave Diggin' is Dead..)" blends right into "Mondo (Wow... He's Ill)" and for me is the most fascinating interview snippet, mainly due to how many labels missed the boat on the Gravediggaz because the me members were "played out." If you think about that, you will realize how wrong those labels were. The instrumentation of "Mondo (Wow...He's Ill)" features some very cool horns playing a sort of game of hide and seek with the drums on the track. The mesh of Prince Paul and the music are so well done that by this point, if it hasn't happened already, you see what Thesselonious was doing with the Skit-Strumental concept. The album ends with "Prince Paul Speaks V (Last Words?)" as the words "buy mine" of Prince Paul echo throughout to the end.

One of the many things I thoroughly enjoy about this album is you can tell that Thesselonious is a huge fan of Prince Paul and did this album as a way to honor him and not just cash in on his name. But it isn't an album of Prince Paul sounding beats, no, they are certainly Thesselonious beats, who just happens to have been influenced by Prince Paul (as well as others.) This album also does a bunch of other things well, besides the obvious of making a fully fleshed out album that flows from one idea to another. But it also shows artists and listeners that skits can work, when done correctly, they can really work to pull an album together and make that picture more clear. So do yourself a favor and get this album, put on your headphones and enjoy what might be the first of many Skit-Strumental albums.

You can stream and download the album here.