MVRemix: What motivates you? Very few producers have such a beautifully extensive catalogue - what keeps you inspired?
Prince Paul: Searching to make my best record. I haven't come close to making my best record yet and I think that kind of keeps me moving. I
listen to all the records I do, a lot of them are for fun - this Itstrumental album is just a fun record. It is not me trying to be
competitive. Whatever records I make, I have yet to make the record where I'm like "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout!" People will go [nasal
voice] "Yeah, "3 Feet High & Rising was a great record" or "Whatever was a great record," and I'll go "But that's not my best record!"
I have that in me and I don't know what it is, but it's what I'm searching for. That's why I keep making music to somehow fulfill myself in
some weird way.
MVRemix: Speaking of your DJ'ing, do you plan to tour again?
Prince Paul: Yeah, I'm hoping later this summer to get the chance to DJ more extensively. Right now I do a bunch of spot dates. I have to do
something for Red Bull in Portland in a week, then I've got something in Philly - here and there. On a tour level, yeah I like DJ'ing. I've
probably said this a million times, but that's my first love. Producing is great but DJ'ing is where I stem from. That's my whole childhood.
MVRemix: You've probably addressed this a million times, but Chubb Rock? Money owing, is that still an issue? What happened
there?
Prince Paul: Yeah Chubb Rock skipped town on me. I don't know where he's at. He owes me money. I told everybody, anybody that can get him to
come by my house and get me the money, I'll split it with 'em. That's a cool grand and some change in your pocket, if anybody can do it. Easy
money, well not that easy. Bottom line I got scammed man. I thought he was a friend... He came over, said he had this deal for me for a
camera but he needs the money right now. I thought, "Oh, it's Chubb Rock!" So I gave him the money and that was it. I found out he scammed a
bunch of my other friends and a whole bunch of other people with the same thing. It necessarily wasn't a camera, but it was other items. "Yo,
gimme the money right now I'll getcha this!" Then he skips town. So I got got. That's why I made that record, so anytime he made a statement,
that would come up. Put his name in a computer, "Prince Paul, pay Prince Paul his money." For life! Until he pays me my money back... I'll
gladly make a record "Thank You Chubb Rock For Paying My Money, You're A Nice Guy." But I've yet to make that record because he has yet to
pay me.
MVRemix: Another thing I've heard is that you're interested in Buck 65...
Prince Paul: Oh yeah, I love Buck 65.
MVRemix: Was there any chance of a possible collaboration in the future?
Prince Paul: Oh yeah, we had talked about it briefly about working on something together. I have a feeling whenever I next do a serious
Prince Paul record, I will definitely give him a call. When I say serious, I mean with an effort with some type of budget behind it.
Whatever record I'm trying to go out with a bang with, I wanna involve him.
MVRemix: Another rumour, what's up with the Chest Rockwell LP?
Prince Paul: [chuckles] That's definitely rumour. They say never say never, but that'll never happen. I keep Chest Rockwell within the
confines of "Handsome Boys," other than that, as soon as Chest Rockwell leaves the handsome world he turns back to his old corny self.
MVRemix: A la "Fight Club," "If you could fight any celebrity, who would you fight?"
Prince Paul: Heavy D.
MVRemix: The question is, would you win that?
Prince Paul: I think so. Because he's a big dude. I think he might have lost a little weight, but he can't catch me. I'd dance around, punch
him up a little bit, you know. I just can't let him hit me because he has all that weight behind him. The reason I say this, and he probably
doesn't remember this, but I remember it clearly because it hurt my feelings... Back in the day I remember... This was when Prince Paul was
that "It" producer for that short time in Hip Hop history. Puffy had called me, that's when Puffy worked for Uptown saying "I got this boy
Father MC on the phone, why don't you bring over some beats..." Finally Heavy D's on the phone, and they're playing the beat that I did for
"Ring, Ring, Ring" which is a co-incidence. But at that point, it was months later so I'd recorded it for De La Soul. So Heavy's on the phone
like "Yo man, Puff played the song, the beat for me. I want to use it for my next album." I was like "D, it's kind of late. I'm doing that
beat for De La Soul." "Forget them man, lets do this blah blah blah" "I can't man. I can't do the same beat over again." So he was like, aww
you sucker!" [chuckles] I was like "What???" I became a sucker all of a sudden? That made me angry, "How you gonna call me a sucker?" That
probably popped off with chumps and punks behind it. But then years later, I don't know but if you backtrack five or six or seven years
later, I guess it was still in his system that he wanted to use it. At the time, I was like "I ain't do nothin' to that man, why he gotta
call me names?" Ever since then, if there was a celebrity boxing, I'd wanna box Heavy D. For one, he's out of my weight class. But if I knock
him out I get a lot of respect. If he beats me, people will say "Oh, he's way bigger than Paul anyway." There's no way for me to lose.
MVRemix: Aside from the promotion of the album, what's next for you?
Prince Paul: What's next for me is right now, me, Dan (Automator) and Chris Elliot are in the process of writing a play, which should be
pretty interesting. So we'll see how far that goes. As far as musically, I was supposed to meet with Hank Shocklee today. There's a good
chance we're gonna collaborate on something, which I think might be very groundbreaking. He's on some weird experimental mode and I look up
to Hank, he's a great producer. I've known him since I was a kid, so I really look forward to that and a Bernie Worrel album, which I'm
working on this summer and looking forward to too because it's Parliament Funkadelic. He was the music supervisor and arranger, and a great
keyboard player. It's like my whole inspirational world is coming full circle right now because the guys who I really looked up to, like with
Chris Elliot with writing, is coming into my life to work with in some form or fashion. It's great for me.
MVRemix: How did you and Chris meet up?
Prince Paul: We used enough in the Handsome Boys stuff, the "Get A Life" stuff, that he'd definitely become aware of it. I think we kind of
put a little light back into the interest in "Get A Life," because immediately after we did "Handsome Boys Modeling School," they released on
Rhino some episodes of "Get A Life." One of the first episodes they put on was the "Handsome Boys Modeling School" - I don't think that was a
co-incidence out of a million episodes they made. He acknowledges that and I think he definitely respects the fact that we respect his work
and used it tastefully. We didn't put it in some "Shoot 'Em Up" type thing. [chuckles] It all worked out.
MVRemix: Do you have any last words?
Prince Paul: All I can say is, when it comes to my stuff especially, whether it be good or bad with the reviews - listen to it yourself.
Sometimes people do not get what I do. [chuckles] Either you get it or you don't get it and a lot of what I do is based on
individuality. You could be in the same household and love what I do and a sibling could hate me. My music is that extreme. So I wish for
people to listen and judge on their own what I do, and keep in mind that any record will never sound the same. I change all the time, so if
you're a true fan. You'll kind of get it. If not, if you don't like a record, hopefully you'll like another one. I appreciate everybody's
support though because I've had an amazingly long career for any Hip Hop guy. It kind of freaks me out to be honest. To me it's a big deal
because how many guys are out there now... I don't see anybody tryin' to interview Redhead Kingpin [chuckles]. I mean God bless him wherever he's at, but come on; you've got to be psycho at some point.
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