[positive rap/hip-hop thread] handsome boy modeling school

was reading the houston press the other day at cafe brazil, checked out the music section, and found this...

hp music link

Handsome Boy Modeling School
White People
Elektra
Following 1999's underground favorite So … How's Your Girl? -- a loose concept record rife with guest appearances by Del tha Funkee Homosapien, DJ Shadow and members of the Beastie Boys -- Handsome Boy Modeling School has returned. A perennial project featuring farcical producers Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (Kool Keith and Gorillaz) and Prince Paul (De La Soul), the School intends to school you with White People, which picks up where Girl left off and encompasses an even wider array of musical genres: hip-hop, rock, roots, jazz and even classical. The talented cast of guest stars has returned also, including RZA, John Oates, De La Soul, a couple of dudes from Linkin Park and Pharrell Williams.

White People playfully promotes the virtues of physical beauty and social grace, but don't let the album's humor fool you. Although punctuated by hilarious skits from Saturday Night Live alums Father Guido Sarducci and Tim Meadows, this record also tackles some pretty serious issues --sometimes satirically, sometimes forthrightly -- such as caste discrimination ("Class System") or crack use ("A Day in the Life"). Most effective, the single "The World's Gone Mad" preaches the importance of loving one's brother despite superficial differences, and appropriately brings together such diverse artists as Franz Ferdinand vocalist Alex Kapranos, reggae artist Barrington Levy and repeat offender Del to show us how. Handsome indeed. -- Joshua Rotter

anyway, i bought it. easily the best album that i've bought in a few years.

it reminds me of hiphop in the late, late eighties and mid ninety's (sp?) when rap used to be really fun. kind of an early 90's east coast feel to it (sorry moe)... when pretty much all the rappers were ahead of their time. there's no bling, no trunk bumping stuff, and no "sick reputation of handlin' broads. none of that crap.

tracks 11-13 are the shizz. 11... features pharrell (i know... pharrell, but the lyrics is what makes this one hot). 12... features the dude from black sheep (engine, engine number 9). 13... features rza from the wu tang clan. these are just the highlights. every other tune can hold it's own as well.

de la soul, wu, black sheep, gorrillaz, the nepunes, lead singer of franz ferdinand all put some stuff in this... how can this album go wrong?...
...well... linkin park is on one of the tracks.

other than that... this is a must have for any fan of intelligent hiphop.

 

you'll love it. the one with the dude from black sheep is bad arse. rza is the typical rza.... crazy in other words. the gorillaz guy sounds just like he always does... kinda like a less goofy biz mark. it's just a fun cd. funnier hearing pharrell of all people talk about a "class system" when he raps about bentley phantoms on snoop's cd. first class past commercial artists that still have something to say.

a guy over at cactus told me to check out the first cd and that it was just as good. prol' later.