Handsome Boy Modeling School~~White People

Welcome to the very handsome world where Dan The Automator and Prince Paul come to get their sonic freak on

by Bucky Dent

(Elektra) Exhibit A: Prince Paul and Dan The Automator. Two of hip-hop���s finest producers, both of whom have built careers from being as eclectic as they wanna be. Which is why critics will lavish this album with praise for its panoramic scope and savvy guest collaborators while its sales numbers will pale in comparison to whatever jewelry-encrusted pap-hop is currently being shoved down your little brothers��� throat on their Clear Channel-controlled outlet of choice. Paul and Dan are well aware that Handsome Boy Modeling School is their own personal funhouse where creativity is the rule and sales are a happy accident. With no inhibitions whatsoever, the results are an eclectic mess that will send purists of all stripes screaming bloody murder. You, of course, will love it.

Opening with a spoken word intro courtesy of classic Saturday Night Live character Father Guido Sarducci (ask your dad), the first proper song ���If It Wasn���t For You��� features De La Soul on vocals and reminds us why we still love Three Feet High and Rising with its happy-faced beat and those voices we know so well.

Nothing else here is nearly as familiar. Single ���The World���s Gone Mad��� finds common ground between guest stars Del The Funky Homosapien, reggae great Barrington Levy and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos over a Gorillaz-worthy beat. Mellow beach-rock hero Jack Johnson brings his sun-bleached melancholy to ���Breakdown,��� while indie rock anti-pin-up queen Cat Power���s ���I���ve Been Thinking��� wouldn���t sound that out of place on her own record. Soon we���re careening through a rock and rap unity lesson that has OGs Jazzy Jay and Grand Wizard Theodore collaborating with Linkin Park���s Mike Shinoda, who brings a break straight outta Meteora. By the time Deftones singer Chino Moreno gets grimy with El-P and Cage (���The Hours���) and John Oates (yes, that Oates) is getting his soft-rock on with UK piano-pop sensation Jamie Cullen, you won���t know what the hell hit you. Appearances by rappers Casual and Black Sheep Dres will sedate woozy hip-hop fans before The Mars Volta show up on ���A Day in The Life��� to deliver the death blow.
Track Listing:

01 . Intro
02 . If It Wasn't for You
03 . Are You Down With It
04 . The World's Gone Mad
05 . Dating Game
06 . Breakdown
07 . It's Like That/I Am Complete
08 . I've Been Thinking
09 . Rock & Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This), Pt. 2/Knockers 10 . The Hours
11 . Class System
12 . First... and Then
13 . A Day in the Life/Good Hygiene
14 . Greatest Mistake
15 . Dating Game, Pt. 2
16 . Outro