Words by Sarah Wolfson
If you lived through the 80′s, then you can vie that music led the decade into an era of fresh sounds, techno- colors and let’s face it, down right flavor. With little knowing, the youth in the day would soon become progenitors of innovation and pop trends. Along with Mohawks, jheri curls, leather, and adidas suits, youth back in the day took ciphers, breaking circles, and DJ techniques to commercial ends. Body rock anthems welcomed party-goers to showcase their moves on the dance floor, creating a sub-culture that would soon gain acceptance in the mainstream arena.
Although hip-hop may have originated in the East Coast, West Coast hip-hop proliferated, setting precedence within the streets of Los Angeles. Unique to L. A. culture, hip-hop descended from a P-funk era that introduced a wave of electronic and computerized beats. One of the individuals responsible for popularizing this current was Arabian Prince. To those of you who don’t know this talented fella, he is the MC and producer/DJ mixing up those sexy ass, synthesized bass lines that brought West Coast electro hip-hop to the forefront.
This musical era may have been short lived, but Arabian Prince, born K.R. Nazel Jr., put the term “innovation” to good use. Nazel was introduced to music early on, toying with radio and DJ equipment at his father’s show on KACE radio. Growing up in a home where both his father and mother spoke an artistic language, one would assume Prince was pushed into pursuing music, but it was quite the opposite. Prince suggests that his mother must have thought he was odd because he was just seven years of age when he would sit alone in his room, with the lights turned low, listening to Parliament.
However, with a natural drive for music, Nazel hustled and slanged mix tapes to fellow high school students. After gaining a reputation around town, he rounded up L.A. residents and welcomed them to The Cave, which became a base for local, up-coming DJs/producers such as Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and Uncle Jamms Army. After befriending Egyptian Lover, he earned his moniker Arabian Prince. It seemed fitting because Egyptian and he had become close at this point and Nazel’s style of dressing resembled the o.g. “Purple Rain” singing Prince. Who could think of a better name? Nazel shared that early on Egyptian, Dre and he “kind of grew together and by working with them, they got to feed off each other and that’s how the sound in the West Coast grew.”
Although many of these burgeoning hip-hop artists were competitive, their innocent rivalries were based on their affection for music. Unlike today, many hip-hop artists have beef. Prince described that “back then, the power of the culture was different. Showing your skill was one thing, but showing your power was another. So you had this thing with having more speakers than the other crew. For example, Uncle Jamms Army would have to have more speakers or they would print out 1,000 fliers and posters for a party and put them up. Then, other crews would take them down.” Although it may seem petty, it was harmless compared to today’s standards. West Coast hip-hop was not formed around a bravado attitude, weakening the community. Instead, it served as a positive contribution, allowing artists to push each other in a healthy direction. “It was crazy,” Prince described. “Early 80′s, hip-hop wasn’t an identity. They were taking pieces from things that they knew. The East coast had Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; the West Coast had a lot of rockers and p-funk admirers. So, L.A. was a crazy mix of culture back then.”
It was not long before Arabian became a recognizable figure amongst this eccentric new group. After working on his own record, Arabian was invited into the Russ Parr family. Parr was a well-known KDAY personality and owner of Rapsur Records. With an ability to showcase his creativity, Prince released “Strange Life,” “It Ain’t Tough” and “Let’s Hit the Beach.” Although Prince was a bit shy away from where other MCs were lyrically, his beats were funky and his vocoder style stood out amongst his counterparts.
Eventually, Prince teamed up with Eazy-E and Dre to form N.W.A. Although his collaboration within the group did not last through out their commercial success, Prince was a vital component to the group’s formation. Due to his undeniable production skills, the tracks “Panic Zone” and “Something 2 Dance 2,” gave N.W.A. a faithful following. Shortly after, Prince produced the hit song “Supersonic,” by J.J. Fad. By now, it was clear to Prince that although he respected N.W.A.’s craftsmanship, he did not feel he was receiving proper pay.
When questioned if the split was due to a difference in artistic visions, ‘gangster’ versus ‘electro,’ Prince responded, “No, N.W.A.’s sound was actually who we were. We grew up in the hood; we grew up in Compton. Whatever I brought was electro stuff. When, I worked with DJ Yella and Dre, they used to dress up with sequin suits and that was out of character for them, but when we did N.W.A., we were just doing what we were doing. It’s so funny that it was coined gangster rap. We just talked about a story of what we saw everyday. We just did what we did. It was not until the government and MTV glorified it that it blew up.”
Although Prince was in tuned with his crewmates, he did not have that hard edge that N.W.A was moving towards. So, Prince continued his solo career, even creating an alias, Professor X. Prince shared that Mr. X was born at a period when he was exploring his identity as a solo artist. “I already had 3 albums out under Arabian Prince and I was sitting at home, alone in my studio working on this track. It was a hot track and I had to put it out immediately. So, I thought I had to come out under a different name. I was hanging out with my boy and we’d always talked about starting a group called X-men because we were into comic books. He ended up liking my track and he had a label so we put it out. The style differs because Prince is more about partying, girls, clubs, sex and music and X is more true to the computerized, electro stuff.”
In addition to fulfilling his musical niche, Prince expanded himself creatively, working as a cartoon animator and graphic designer. He explains that he has “always been an electronic freak and a tech head so getting a chance to do special effects is cool.” Although Prince still produces music and is actually in the process of releasing another album, he lends himself to all sorts of projects. He is truly a humble kat who has been in the music industry for some years now and still maintains an honest and sincere disposition. He explains “When I first started doing this, I never thought about the fame, just creating music. I didn’t care about fame because when you get big, you can’t really be by yourself. Now, people come up to me for beats and I’m like you know what, just pay me the royalty and I’ll hook you up. I really took the time to make my own signature sound. I don’t use everything everyone else is using and that’s what has made me different. It may not have made me the dollars, but I try to make music and art that others can appreciate.”
After recently witnessing Prince live at a warehouse party in DTLA, it was quite special to see his words come to fruition. The energy was an intoxicating mixture of hipsters, b-boys/b-girls, rocker-chic fashionistas and punks, all of whom seemed to be enjoying themselves. The crowd was nestled under one hot roof (literally) with an anticipation to hear Prince spin the jams. Knowing how to get a party started at 3 in the morning, hands were flying in the air and bodies were bumping to 90′s classics. It seemed, at least for one evening, that Prince had taken us back to a culture and a movement ‘we’ know and love called hip-hop.
FYI: Check out Prince’s re-mastered album, Innovative Life: The Anthology: 1984-1989 on Stones Throw Records.
