So...How's Your Girl?: Handsome Boy Modeling School: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Rock N' Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This)

2. Magnetizing - (featuring Del Tha Funkee Homosapien)

3. Metaphysical

4. Look At This Face (Oh My God They're Gorgeous)

5. Waterworld

6. Once Again (Here To Kick One For You)

7. The Truth

8. Holy Calamity (Bear Witness Il)

9. Calling The Biz

10. The Projects (PJays)

11. Sunshine

12. Modeling Sucks

13. Torch Song Trilogy

14. The Runway Song

15. Megaton B-Boy 2000

16. Father Speaks

Product Description

From Amazon.com

As if A Prince Among Thieves wasn't conceptual enough, Prince Paul has now joined forces with Dan the Automator to create Handsome Boy Modeling School, an outlet through which the duo (and a dozen or so of their closest big-name friends) can mix and mingle with rap, turntablism, trip-hop, and--of course--tongue-in-cheek humor. And while this idea may sound original, its name came straight from an episode of Chris Elliott's short-lived sitcom Get a Life. Elliott--the goofball writer and cameo guest for David Letterman--springs up a few times on the disc in the form of a few vocal samples, but mostly this show is centered around the guests: Encore provides the disc's best rap on "Waterworld," Grand Puba and Sadat X (from Brand Nubian) perform "Once Again" on top of a sample of Three Dog Night's "Old Fashioned Love Song," and DJ Shadow does his usual magic with the 1200s on "Holy Calamity." Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Mike D., Sean Lennon, Alec Empire, and even Father Guido Sarducci are also along for the crowded ride. Does this runway of cameos ever sound thematically cohesive? Hell, no. With this many friends helping out, do we really need to hear Prince Paul on the phone with Biz Markie ("Calling the Biz")? Of course not. But this name-dropping vanity fair is nothing if not ambitious, and chances are there's something here that you'll dig. --Jason Verlinde

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Prince and the Automator Deliver Best Kept Secret of 1999, Jun 8 2004

By

Gymlinks (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So...How's Your Girl? (Audio CD)

There once was a time in the early to mid 1990's when rap actually meant something. Groups and artists like Souls of Mischief, De La Soul, Tribe, Jeru and Nas had perfected rap to a pure art form devoid of all of the corny cliches far too evedent in todays hip hop/R&B fusion numbers that grace the Billboard charts. Back then, rap music was mostly an underground phenomenon featuring artists who used their poetic skills to tell a story of the streets and social issues that were for the most part ignored by the public at large. Not all of it was serious to be sure. Groups such as the Pharcide and Digital Underground were great for those hot summer night parties.

Once the major record companies got hold of the idea that rap could be a major cash cow, they started to sign artists whose philosophy was more style than substance and groups who prospered during the heyday of rap either had to gloss their style in order to become more mainstream or disapear back into the underground. It was sad to see the artists who chose the former route sell themselves to make a quick buck. It was at this time that I deceided to get out of the genre that I loved so much.

When I heard about this album, I was overjoyed. With HBMS, you have two of the greatest hip hop producers to ever grace the sound boards coming together and producing a masterpiece, the lights of which have not been seen for quite a while. What makes this album so great is that they have invited some of the artists that shaped the glory days of rap (DJ Shadow, Del, Grand Puba, Sadat X) plus artists from totoally different genres such as Moloko and Alec Empire to create a work so varied in style, but at the same time focused into a cohesive unit. Del and Sadat are as good as they have ever been, but it is DJ Shadow and his "Holy Calamity (Bear Witnesss II)" turntablist masterpiece that steals the show. The Chris Elliot sit-com peices are also a riot.

Pick this up and you will be pleasantly surprised.

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5.0 out of 5 stars great compilation, Jun 4 2004

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B (houston, tx) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So...How's Your Girl? (Audio CD)

This cd plays more like the kind of cd producers make when they want as many guest artists as possible. Dan's old friends Del and kid koala make appearances, as well as the underrated Encore, one third of de la soul, and even biz markie. The cd is often funny, although the format provides a shortage of excellent rap tracks.
Dan and Paul are two of the most funamentally solid hip hop producers out there, and they consistently deliver strong beats and a plethora of expertly used samples. The key to them making this cd so good was having the guest artists deliver.
Magnetizing, Waterworld, Once Again, and the Projects are the strongest rap tracks. The guests are all good, especially del and encore. Torch Song has an erratic freestyle thing in it and i don't know whether the rapper is taking himself seriously or not. Megaton B Boy is actually very good if you can hear the lyrics under the loud grating over distorted beat.
The songs with singing on them are a little thin, especially Sunshine, which is disappointing for all the guest artists listed. The Truth is better but moloko's lyrics aren't that interesting.
The dj songs are mostly cool. Holy calamity has a lot of energy, and even though the runway song can get kind of annoying, kid koala saves it by showing off.
The interludes are funny and the outro is even funnier. Prince paul and dan the automator are the coolest. They have delivered a consistently strong album which does about as good as any record could with so many guests.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Modeling just sucks!, May 23 2004

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"b-cubes" (Albania or some Balkan country,......still) - See all my reviews

This review is from: So...How's Your Girl? (Audio CD)

This album not only has great music, but it's hilarious! The Guido Sarducci thing is beyond funny. The Chris Elliot things are great. The music can get really eccentrically trippy and good. I reccommend this to a wide variety of music listeners.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars i'm the first?
first, i can't believe no one has reviewed this. its one of the best hip hop compilations of all time. automator and prince paul can do no wrong. Read more

Published on Feb 13 2004 by Mr. Aaron H. Levine

5.0 out of 5 stars Impress your friends and win over new people
If this album is not part of your collection the only question left to ask is; "are you crazy? Read more

Published on Oct 21 2003 by Ambrosia Blue