Prolific producer Prince Paul on almost being fired, De La Soul classics, and wo

[Iron_Man]

Prolific producer Prince Paul on almost being fired, De La Soul classics, and working

excerpt:

In Set List, we talk to veteran musicians about some of their most famous songs, learning about their lives and careers, and maybe hearing a good backstage anecdote or two in the process.
The artist: As the producer for De La Soul, Prince Paul’s crate-digging, sample-heavy style contributed to a sonic revolution in hip-hop. Beside his work with De La, Paul has collaborated with a who’s who of hip-hop royalty, including RZA on seminal horrorcore group Gravediggaz, and Dan The Automator on supergroup Handsome Boy Modeling School. Paul’s most recent project, Negroes On Ice, is a comedy/music hybrid that showcases the storytelling of his son, DJ P Forreal, to paint a picture of one wacky day in New York.

“Just Say Stet” (from 1986’s On Fire with Stetsasonic)

Prince Paul: “Just Say Stet” was off the first record I ever made or was ever involved with. I remember that when I recorded it for wax, we recorded at Tom Silverman’s house, who was the president of Tommy Boy Records. I remember that he told Stetsasonic that they needed to get rid of me. He thought I was grossly underprepared as a DJ because I didn’t have a stack of records with me. It just so happened that I knew the records I wanted to scratch on the album so I brought exactly just that, and he told them that they should find somebody different.

The A.V. Club: Did he ever apologize for that?

PP: Nope. I was a kid. It was my first recording experience, so I definitely remembered that. It hurt, know what I’m saying? But the irony of it is that I made him a whole lot of money after that, so go figure.

AVC: Has the experience of making that record with a live band affected the way you’ve gone about making music since?

PP: I think your first experience in everything kind of shapes and molds whatever you do in the future. It was a learning experience. It was how I learned how to sample, how I learned how to arrange a song, how I learned about the music business in general, so it was definitely my introduction. Also it taught me the brutal reality that all that glitters isn’t gold. People see TV and they see people in the studio and they’re like, “Yeah, get some more wine and champagne, and you’re laughing, and there’s girls, and you’re throwing money in the air,” and it’s far from that.


“The Magic Number” (from 1989’s 3 Feet High And Rising for De La Soul)
PP: Pos[dnuos from De La Soul] came up with the initial concept. I think the thing for me was to figure out a way to make them sound good singing on the record. There was staying in key, but then it was also trying to figure out ways to put harmonies in the vocals. That’s when I started really learning how to work with a lot of outboard gear, like pitch shifters and all the other stuff. It was just a fun record. Then I was putting all the scratches at the end, which they thought I was totally nuts for doing, because a lot of stuff had nothing to do with the song. It was just being stupid, like all the little dumb vocal scratches at the end of the song. It was fun. Anything with De La and anything on the first album, all I remember is just smiling the whole time.

more here: www.avclub.com/articles/prolific-producer-prince-paul-on-almost-being-fire,93798/