Politics of the Business
It took Prince Paul an incrediblefour yearsto release a follow-up to his critically acclaimed 1999 album,Prince Among Thieves.  What’s up with that? As Paul himself would say, it’s just thePolitics of the Business, baby. Featuring old friends and collaborators, elderspokesmen and newcomers, poets, comedians, and off-the-beaten-track MCs,Politicstakes a 360-degree look at what it takes to survive the music-industry shell game. Wildy creative and sprawling as you’d expect, the album juxtaposes straight-up hip-hop tracks with radio voiceovers, acoustic hip-hop poetry, and a "special word from DJ Premier," whose gravel-voiced pronouncement that "hip hop is wack right now y’all" makes you want to laugh and cry all in the same breath. On the music tip,Politicsis Paul’s most experimental offering, signaling his desire to make his music "go even further undergound." Hope it’s not another four years before he resurfaces!--Rebecca Levine