Rating: NNNN
Known as that dude from Organized Konfusion who isn’t Pharoahe Monch, Lawrence “Prince Po” Baskerville has been keeping busy producing tracks and making cameos on his friends’ records. Now, with a leg up from the suddenly hot Danger Mouse, he’s finally dropped his long-overdue debut, and it happily defies the boring backpack expectations that come with a Lex/Warp label affiliation. With beats provided by Anticon’s Jel, UK noisemaker Richard X and Madlib along with Danger Mouse, you shouldn’t expect a disc full of club bangers, but the catchy Hold Dat should do the dance-floor trick. Guest MCs Raekwon, MF Doom and Jemini add some lyrical heat, while Po explodes like a man wth six years’ worth of rhymes bottled up inside him. Word.
