Animal Skulls and Dusted Rigs: Prince Paul Breaks Down His Production Style and The Making of “Montezuma’s Revenge” (Part 3)

Gino: The guys in Souls rhyme about things in a way that’s clever and easy to relate to. “Tour Stories” is such a great song musically and lyrically. The beat is really somber and reflective, but there are also some funny lines where they talk about being nervous about smoking weed overseas. They also talk about their uncle tearing up when he talks to them about how he’s played guitar for 40 years and hasn’t been where they’ve been. I’ve always been a fan of Souls of Mischief, but with this album, I think I fully appreciate how dope they are as lyricists for the first time.

Prince Paul: I appreciate that. I’m glad you think so. Like I said, lyrics are something I tried to zero in on and focus on. It’s good that you listen to the album and you get it. If you’re a Souls of Mischief fan, you’ll appreciate this album a lot. Hopefully if you’re just a fan of good hip-hop, you’ll get into it. I made this more for the fans that were already there. I wasn’t trying to get any new fans on this, which is bad business. It’s like if Run DMC came back with the intensity they had on “Rock Box”. As a fan you’d think that was incredible. Would the young kids get it? Maybe not, but as a fan you’ll start tearing up. (Laughs)

Gino: Did the house you rented put financial stress on you, especially since you weren’t targeting a new demographic?

Prince Paul: Nah. It’s funny…it’s hard not to think about marketing, core audience, and trying to make money these days. I just tried to make a gut record by figuring out where the emotions lied and what sounded good. As far as renting the house out, the guys in the group took care of that. Tajai handled all the business, so I didn’t get too deep into that. There aren’t too many professional studios anymore. Back when I was recording with Gravediggaz, and in the early, mid, late 90’s and early 2000’s, to get a good studio was like a grand a day. Sometimes that wasn’t including the engineer. So if you rent a house for a month, for something like a grand, that’s way cheaper.

We did it on a laptop and an M Box. It was like if we recorded in someone’s bedroom…well, it was the living room actually. It was very ghetto. I had a junction to hook up multiple head phones, but I told people, “Bring your own headphones.” (Laughs) In essence, it was way cheaper to make this album than most albums that are out now. I mixed it at home, so it probably cost…I’d say under $5000.

“Even if people hate it, at least they’re talking about it. But if someone walks away from your record indifferent…then it’s like…for what?”

Gino: I read an interview where Tajai mentioned a possible future album of outtakes and scrapped material. Was there a lot of good material that had to be cut out?

Prince Paul: Yeah. There weren’t a lot of excess lyrics, but there was a lot of spare music. Maybe if they record more lyrics to some of the music that was leftover they could put out an album. A lot of the leftover beats are really good. What’s on the album isn’t necessarily the “best” of all the music we had, it was the music that worked well together. There are some beats that people would say are better than the ones we used, but I didn’t think that they worked within the context of the album. I wanted to build something you could feel as an entire album, as opposed to just having a bunch of songs.

Gino: Earlier we talked about the equipment you used to make this project work as an album. What sort of structural and musical elements did you have the guys in Souls focus on?
 
Prince Paul: For this record I really stressed the importance of hook and melody. Even if you don’t speak the English language, I want you to listen to the music and listen to how the words flow to the music. I want you to be able to feel it. I appreciate lyrics, but I appreciate flow equally, if not more. Not to discredit lyrics, but a lot of times if you can present something a certain way, it makes it much better. Something has to appeal. I try to stress that to everyone I work with. There has to something in the song that makes it work. Let’s say we don’t have the hot, crazy beat…at least the melody and lyrics have to carry it. Maybe the lyrics on the record are shocking or memorable. You need something that pulls people in. Otherwise, it’s like making a song just for the sake of making it. Even if people hate it, at least they’re talking about it. But if someone walks away from your record indifferent…then it’s like…for what?

“I wanted to build something you could feel as an entire album, as opposed to just having a bunch of songs.”

Gino Sorcinelli: Were there any songs on Montezuma’s Revenge that you felt most proud of or connected to.

Prince Paul: One song that I listen to over and over again is “Proper Aim”. That and the “Morgan Freeman Skit”. Those are the two I seem to like a lot for some reason.

Gino: Opio said in an interview about Montezuma’s Revenge, “Working with Prince Paul on the record, it had the potential to be one of our greatest, if not our greatest record. I know people look at 93 ’Til Infinity as a classic, but with Prince Paul, this is on that level too.” There must have been a lot of pressure coming into record with that level of expectation.

Prince Paul: Wow. I think I put the bulk of the pressure on myself. I can’t compete with the time and place of 93 ’Til Infinity. If that album came out now, would it have the same impact? Probably not. Same thing with 3 Feet High and Rising. Everything has a time, place, space, and vibe. I can’t compete with that. When people compare records from different eras, they forget to take into account what’s happening in the world, what the vibe at the time was, what had been created already, and what hadn’t been created yet. There are a lot of things that affect how an album is viewed.

I didn’t feel much pressure besides my own because it was easy to work with the group and they were open to suggestion. We had a few disagreements that we debated for a bit. But if I asked them to change or do something, they would do it. That made it so much easier. It made everyone open and willing to try new things. There was a lot of respect there both ways, which helps. It works when people value and trust each others input.

Gino: Since you were working in such a close environment, was there ever a lot of tension in the house, or was it pretty smooth overall?

Prince Paul: There weren’t any problems that I can remember. If they had any problems among themselves, they kept it away from me. I think they knew the importance of making this record. You get to a certain age and you look at what else is out in terms of music. You also look at all the things going on in your life. At some point you have to take music seriously, buckle down, and make it happen.

“It was very ghetto. I had a junction to hook up multiple head phones, but I told people, ‘Bring your own headphones.’”

Gino: And with the added responsibilities, in addition to needing the money, it also gets harder to find time to work on music.

Prince Paul: Yeah, it’s tough. Every day my son is up in his room making music and programming stuff. His friends come over and they record. When I see that, I’m envious. Recently I looked back at some stuff I was making when I was using a 4-Track cassette recorder in 89 or 90. There are 20 songs on one tape I made. I look at my recordings from that time, and I was making like a billion songs a week. Now, if I crank out one or two tracks in a week, it’s amazing. But then again, my level of critiquing is higher now. My quality control has gone up, which also slows down the process. I’m amazed at guys like Kanye and Pharrell. They do something major every two seconds. For them to just buckle down and make beats on the plane or on the bus…I can’t work in that environment.

Gino: After completing Montezuma’s Revenge, do you want to do another similar project with either Souls of Mischief or another group?

Prince Paul: Umm…probably…not. (Laughs) Not that the experience was bad, but it was a curiosity thing for me. I was thinking “Can I do it, and what will happen in the process of making the record?” A lot of the records and things that I do, I hate to say it, but it’s almost like…I don’t want to say guinea pigs, because that sounds degrading, but it’s almost like the artists are part of my experiment to see what I can do. Can I put together three guys who got kicked off of Tommy Boy and make something crazy? When Stetsasonic was kind of putting me down, can I get some kids from around my way and give them these beats and ideas and make it happen? Can I make a story on wax? A lot of it helps answers questions for me, but once I succeed with a certain idea, I’m like “OK, next thing.”

It’s bad for business. There really is no part two and I don’t capitalize on any momentum that I make from one thing. I get tired quick, I wanna go to the next thing and try something different. We’ll see, maybe if the right group and the right situation presented itself. Hey, I’m not gonna lie, if someone comes up and says, “Hey Paul, we have a $50 million dollar budget”, I’d probably say “What?! I feel inspired!” (Laughs) There are lot of things that could play into it, but I’d say based on sheer motivation to do another project like this, it probably won’t happen.