Arabian Prince: hip-hop’s old new wave

L.A.-based hip-hop/electro producer Arabian Prince is best known for his beatmaking for N.W.A. While that group set the influential template for West Coast rap's gangsta legacy, Prince's solo productions were even further ahead of their aesthetic time. Hip-hop and electronica have a long and intertwined history, (going back to Afrika Bambaataa spinning Kraftwerk instrumentals), and Arabian Prince was one of the first to establish that crossover in the West Coast tradition, pairing reverbed-out drums and icy Goblin-style synths with lascivious sex raps.

The ever-more-essential local Stone's Throw label recently compiled "Innovative Life," a best-of retrospective from Prince's deep solo catalog, and it's the safest bet for a late-summer party starter we're likely to get in this gnarly heat wave. Prince lays out his intentions pretty clearly on the title track: "We design the beat with computers in mind, to regulate sensation, to re-possess your mind." Think Model 500 meets Egyptian Lover, and you're off to a good start. It's out Aug. 19, and when accompanied with a half-decent pool party and a cooler of gin and juice, will likely leave you agreeing with him: "Never have I been to a land with so much freakin'."

--August Brown

Photo courtesy Stone's Throw Records