Since they figured out how the pyramid of Cheops was built, only one great mystery remains unsolved. How the hell did hip hop become twinned with humour? The genre is certainly a suitable subject for satirical comment, but that's a different matter. From The Fat Boys through Beastie Boys to Andre 3000 and our own Goldie Lookin' Chain - and to the exclusion of every other musical genre you might care to mention – hip hop and comedy are viewed as a natural double act.
If anyone can make this dubious relationship work, it's producers Prince Paul (who made his name with Stetsasonic and De La Soul) and Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, whose highest profile gig to date is Damon Albarn's Gorillaz project. In 1999 they teamed up as Handsome Boy Modeling School, peddling a chirpy blend of Daisy Age hip hop and wonky electronica cut with comic interludes.
Their sophomore album sticks to the duo's original blueprint, this time inviting Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos (who adds guitar texture to skanking single "The World’s Gone Mad"), Mike Patton, Cat Power, Pharrell Williams and a couple of The Mars Volta, among others, to the party. At 68 minutes, "White People" outstays its welcome and the skits are lame at best (Don Novello's Father Guido Sarducci character should have been retired after the first LP), at worst offensive (Tim Meadows' affected lisping), but there's still much to like here.
Cat Power's husky tones provide a perfect counterpoint to the smoked soul of "I’ve Been Thinking", "The Hours" suggests a deeply disturbed Atmosphere and "If It Wasn’t For You" ropes in De La Soul for a sweet trip down memory lane. "Rock And Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This) Part 2" – a painfully clunky illustration of rock's appropriation of hip hop - and the sugary slush that is "Greatest Mistake" (a John Oates/Jamie Cullum collaboration) alone let the side down, skits aside.
No one could deny the pair have verve and an agreeably offbeat vision. If Handsome Boy Modeling School would only ditch the goofball shtick, their swagger would be so much more convincing.
