«Researched, analyzed and diagnosed by Prince Paul». Whatever it means. He writes «conducted» on the cover, which is a bleak artwork in which he allows himself to take an image of Freud and puke on it with random writing and images. His debut album running around the concept of psychoanalysis, mentioned in the titles and subtitles of the tracks, without being explored too much further. What Is It? It's the end, for Prince Paul, it should be his last record shortly before his retirement.
From the beginning of his career until 1995, when he started working on his first LP, Paul Huston worked with MC Lyte, Stetsasonic, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, Queen Latifah, 3rd Bass, Chill Rob G, Jaz-O, Boo Ya Tribe, Nikki D, Cypress Hill, Boogie Down Productions, Candyman, RZA, Kurious, and Slick Rick. He's undoubtedly one of the best producers of the period, however, this record doesn't play in favor of this thesis. Prince Paul arrives at this album emptied, devoid of ideas and desire to do, leaving the winning combination with De La Soul, isolated from the industry and immersed in personal problems. He's undeceived with hip-hop and wants to retire and quit, but for some reason decides to give the world one of the worst albums of the year.
It's sometimes sold as an instrumental album (even "fully instrumental", according to The Fact) in order to improve its poor quality content, but it's not an instrumental album. Nobody even has the courage to credit Paul's friends who have come to help him, because none of the professional rappers contacted by the producer decides to participate in his record. There are actually dozens of performers with unknown names, The Flipper, Therapists, Del Rio, The Squid, Mad Scientist, Scully B, The Mic, Omega Man, Ilmatic Motion, Jason X, Nod, Popmaster, Scotty Hard, The God Sincere, G. Smiley and Specter. Nobody has come to stay.
The project combines funny pieces and parodies together with other sicker, violent and confused ones, in a completely random sound collage that is created solely to annoy. It's inaccessible, cumbersome, grumpy, erratic, boring and simplistic, it's also too simple to panned it because it was born to end the career of Prince Paul, who no longer wanted to continue. Paradoxically, it will help him to heal and fuel his career in the industry in the following years, allowing him to go on living making music, this time good music, as ever but here. The whole record escapes being pigeonholed and labeled, it sounds bad and isn't meant to please, in Prince Paul's own words.
It was released by Wordsound in 1996, then the following year Prince Paul signs with Tommy Boy who reissues the record, changes the tracklist and puts in twelve more minutes, with the same result and a slightly less poor cover. The original edition features 15 tracks and 47 minutes of useless and disappointing material. Prince Paul wanted it to be like that and he succeeded, it's not a good album. Having said that, the album is viewed favorably by both fans and retrospective professional critics, the same ones who believe that "Nastradamus" is actually a good album, and trying to pass it off as a "slept-on" record, "underrated" or, perhaps the funniest, a "New York trip hop album". Avoid it and listen directly to the next one, "A Prince Among Thieves", a masterpiece worthy of the name of Prince Paul. 3/10.
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