First gaining attention with the Prince Paul-produced It's Very Stimulating EP, MC Paul Barman succeeds in turning most hip-hop conventions on their head. An Ivy League-educated rapper born in New Jersey, his frantic wordplay and rapidly esoteric lyrics capture the listener's ear like few others.
Now he has released a full-length, Paullelujah, on Coup d'Etat Records, and on it has honed his sometimes forced delivery. The same mix of clever rhymes and self-deprecating humor still exist, though, now more than ever. Nursing a new obsession with palindromes on the album, he recorded the first ever rhyme that reads the same way forwards and backwards on the Reading-Rainbow-inspired \Bleeding Brain Grow."" He took some time off of his tour to talk about Ralph Nader and dis the Cardinal's mom.
The Daily Cardinal: How's the tour going?
MC Paul Barman: Getting better every day. Can I get a hell yeah? [in background] Hell, yeah!
DC: Who's that, your posse?
PB: Yeah, my street team to keep my feet clean, you know what I mean.
DC: Anything bizarre happening on the tour?
PB: Every night. Let's start from the very beginning. This is convenient 'cuz I haven't been keeping a tour diary. The first night was on Halloween. There were these dudes in the front row that had homemade doll stuff hanging off their body. The next day was North Hampton. No, it was Clark. Should I talk about this in the press?
DC: Yes.
PB: I don't know, hold on. [Consults with street team.]
OK, I invited half the audience on stage with me, in Worcester, at Clark University. The next day was Montreal. That was just a really nice venue, I don't really have a story for that. The tour's just been a 100 percent success, the set list is really coming together. Things are changing and morphing. I thought that I would get assassinated in Detroit, but at the end of the show there were 10 girls on stage shaking their buttocks. There's this amazing thing, which is that people don't want me to leave the stage, so I just keep not leaving the stage.
DC: Ever been to Wisconsin?
PB: I don't think so, although I went on a cross-country drive once. Everyone knows I'm coming, right? Are there posters up? When's this article coming out?
DC: The day of the show.
PB: Basically, you've got to come. You've got to come. What can I say to convince you to come? I've got a guitar player, I've got a DJ, I've got millions and millions of rhymes, I've got spontaneity, I've got entertainment. How much is the ticket? Eight dollars?
DC: It's free, actually.
PB: It's a free show? Bitches better come. And by bitches, I mean you and your friends.
DC: Oh, yeah, we'll come.
PB: How can you let someone talk to you like that?
DC: It's OK, I'm from the midwest. We're docile. ""8 Mile,"" the Eminem movie, comes out this week. Any Paul Barman movie in the works?
PB: Of course. Starring Richard Gere! The true life story of Richard Gere taking down groupies and film buffs.
DC: Is there a basic plot to it?
PB: Yeah, he grows up on the mean streets of this town he owns. His mom is really dominating [to the street team] Is dominating dominatrix funny? You can't say dominatrix and think it's funny. [back to interview] I was thinking rhyming 'voyeur' and 'lawyer' would be ill. Like, 'walking around town acting as a voyeur/ Laughing at the thought of my lawyer putting me down as his employer.'
DC: You could say something about Diane Sawyer.
PB: Was it her who interviewed Castro? That was weird. [To the street team] Do they have eggs at Dunkin' Donuts? 'Cuz I can't just have bread.
DC: So ""Cock Mobster"" is the first single.
PB: How many singles do you think the album could generate?
DC: I think ""Old Paul"" could be a single, and ""Bleeding Brain Grow.""
PB: Yeah, ""Bleeding Brain Grow"" is what I think will be the next single.
DC: Do you think ""Cock Mobster"" will get any radio play?
PB: No, it's much too dirty.
DC: Is there a video?
PB: Yeah, there's a video for ""Cock Mobster.""
DC: Oh, yeah?
PB: Of your mom!
DC: What's your favorite newspaper puzzle, Isaac Asimov Super Quiz or Jumbles?
PB: What's the Isaac Asimov quiz?
DC: It's a quiz with, like, nine questions. If you answer them all right, you're at the graduate level.
PB: I've never heard of it. His son does a commercial in New York. Isaac Asimov's son is like 'Did you ever look for the perfect piece of pizza, but just couldn't find it? Hi, I'm Isaac Asimov's son. When I'm in New York eating pizza, I go to Joe's, Frank's, Ted's, Jordie's and Yvonne's. Middle Eastern pizza has qatar and feta. South American pizza has black olives on one side and white olives on the other side.' Sorry, I'm losing my mind a little bit. I'm really tired ... I'm really proud of George Bush for seeing everybody as equals and declaring war on Americans as well the rest of the world. How ironic, right?
DC: Did you follow this week's elections at all?
PB: A little.
DC: What's your take on it?
PB: The best sense that I get is that it's an absolute tragedy that Republicans won everything and that Democrats are a bunch of suckers with donkeys and elephants up their ass. If the tusks don't stop poking through their intestines soon, they should stop blaming Nader for standing for something, and stand for something themselves. Send out real leaders. It's all a bunch of honky, white-bread motherfuckers saying the same bullshit. And that's why Michael Moore said the Onion is the real news. Their jokes have more reality than any of the bullshit.
DC: The Onion is based out of Madison, or it used to be.
PB: Yeah, I know. I'm expecting the full staff to represent at the show.
DC: They're based out of New York now.
PB: But the AV club is in Madison, I know how this works. Sorry I'm a little bit belligerent, because I didn't get much sleep.
DC: Are you cultivating any feuds at the moment?
PB: Yeah, with the WTO.
DC: How about Levar Burton, because of ""Bleeding Brain Grow?""
PB: What! Oh my God! Are you saying Levar Burton should be upset about ""Bleeding Brian Grow?""
DC: I'm just kidding.
PB: He's like my hero. I don't want him upset at all. I think he's a wonderful man and a prince for putting on such a great show.
DC: Before I let you go, could you give our readers a quick lyrical thrashing?
PB: 'Here's a quick lyrical thrashing/ since you're asking/ Like a dominatrix/ I'll treat you low down and dirty like the common aphid.' My DJ's giving me the quit-while-you're-behind look.
DC: I'll let you go with that, and eat your breakfast.
PB: Do you know of a place we can sleep in Madison?
DC: We have couches and stuff.
PB: Beds would be ideal, but ask around. We need places to sleep. Bad. What's your name?
DC: Andy Masur.
PB: Andy Masur. I'll expect you in a candy blazer.
