RUN

Prince Paul, the twisted mind behind the beats for Stetsasonic, De La Soul and the Gravediggaz presents his hip-hop opera/movie A Prince Among Thieves. WARNING!! Extreme fat content alert.

Do yourself a favour and make sure that the first few times you listen to this album, you listen all the way through from beginning to end. Much like Organized Konfusion's magnum opus, "The Equinox" (You _did_ run to the store and grab that one didn't you?), A Prince Among Thieves has a storyline which flows through the entire album. Without giving too much away, it involves two friends going through drama together.

Prince Paul can't rhyme, and has never pretended to, but he does know how to recognize raw talent. With that in mind, he recruited Breezly Bruin and Big Sha to play his main characters. Who? you scream. To quote the man himself, "I support the underground, the underdog, the highly skilled but underrated. That's why my choice of artists on my albums are not necessarily Billboard's Top 10, but the World's Top 10!; Not a popular marketing plan for a record label, but Prince Paul's marketing plan for life."

That doesn't mean by any means that he doesn't recruit any hard hitters, having the likes of Kool Keith, Chubb Rock (remember him?), Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie, Sadat X, Xzibit to bless the album. Oh, and don't forget Chris Rock as the crackhead.

I can't really explain too much about this album without giving away it's secrets, but suffice it to say that it's iller than ill. The production is top notch of course and the lyrics don't dissapoint.

Tracks to watch for are hard to mention because they all fit in with the storyline, but "Weapon World," with Kool Keith, "Pain," with Sha and Breeze, "More Than U Know," with De La Soul and "The Men In Blue," with Everlast(?????? yes, I'm just as surprised as you) stand out.

The final verdict: Throw this one in the bag with The Roots. In other words, pick that shit up as soon as humanly possible. No joke, you won't be disappointed.

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