A Prince Among Thieves
Studio album by Prince Paul
Released	February 23, 1999
Recorded	1997–1998
Studio	Paul's Coffee Shop (Long Island, New York)
Genre	Hip hop
Length	77:11
Label	Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. 01210
Producer	Prince Paul
Prince Paul chronology
Psychoanalysis: What Is It? (1996) A Prince Among Thieves (1999) Politics of the Business (2003)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Sun-Times	[2]
Los Angeles Times	[3]
NME	8/10[4]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[7]
The Source	4/5[8]
Spin	9/10[9]
The Village Voice	A[10]

A Prince Among Thieves is the second studio album by hip hop artist Prince Paul. A Prince Among Thieves was well received by music critics. Music essayist Robert Christgau has called it "the closest thing to a true rock opera you've ever heard".^[10]

Background

The concept follows the story of an aspiring young emcee named Tariq, played by emcee Breezly Brewin, who needs to collect money to record a demo tape before a meeting with Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA. The story follows a desperate Tariq, who skips work at his low-paying job and turns to his friend True, played by emcee Big Sha, who introduces him to drug dealing. The two make their way through the drug world, a police ambush, jail, and, finally, a deadly showdown.

The album features cameos by Kool Keith, Big Daddy Kane, Chubb Rock, Biz Markie, De La Soul, Everlast, Sadat X, Xzibit, Kid Creole, Special Ed, Chris Rock, RZA and Buckshot.

While recording, Prince Paul tried to get Vanilla Ice to appear on the album delivering a verse as one of the convicts in the jail scene, but was turned down by Ice's manager.^[11]

A single version and video in the style of a film trailer was also produced. Although conceived as a story that would be filmed, a movie never came about. In a 2013 interview, Prince Paul said:

"That was the intention. When I first made it, I was inspired by Master P's I'm Bout It. I was like, 'This movie is so poorly shot, and it's popular. I could do that with more star power.' I tried to pitch it to Tommy Boy, and they apparently didn't see the vision. I was like, 'We could make so much money', but they were like 'Yeah, yeah Paul, we're going to put this million dollars in' whatever group that they had. Then at some point Chris Rock bought the rights to it, but he didn't do anything with it. So it sits and it sits. If I had the opportunity, if somebody said, 'Hey, I have a small budget', or wanted to get a Kickstarter going, I'd love to put that together."^[12]

Track listing

Sample credits^[13]

• "Pain" samples "Pain" by The Watts Prophets.
• "Steady Slobbin'" samples "Reach Out" by Average White Band.
• "What U Got" samples "I'll Play the Blues for You" by Albert King.
• "The Other Line" samples "You Better Get It" by Joe Tex.
• "Weapon World" samples "Get Outta My Life Woman" by The New Apocalypse.
• "War Party" samples "Love Without Sex" by Gwen McCrae.
• "Macula's Theory" samples "Wind, Blow Her Back My Way" by Syl Johnson.
• "More Than U Know" samples "I Like It (Corn Flakes) by Extra T's.
• "Mood for Love" samples "Impeach the President" by The Honeydrippers.
• "The Men in Blue" samples "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss.
• "Handle Your Time" samples "Having You Around" by Skull Snaps and "Why Can't People Be Colors Too?" by The Whatnauts.
• "You Got Shot" sample "Midnight Theme" by Manzel and "Brooklyn Zoo" by Ol' Dirty Bastard.

Personnel

Charts

Album

Singles

References