CD REVIEW: HANDSOME BOY MODELING SCHOOL’S WHITE PEOPLE (8 OUT OF 10)

Five years ago prominent hip-hop producers Prince Paul (De La Soul) and Dan the Automator (Gorillaz) adopted the respective alter egos of Chest Rockwell and Nathaniel Merriweather and founded Handsome Boy Modeling School, dropping a critically acclaimed debut album entitled So How’s Your Girl? Sporting fake mustaches, pimped out clothing and a true love of all things handsome, these celebrated producers crafted an original sound consisting of bone-rattling beats, innovative hooks, and an overall laid-back attitude. Half a decade later, they have fashioned another creative album which is infused with a slew of musical genres including hip-hop, R&B, jazz, classical, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Handsome Boy Modeling School’s sophomore release White People drops more names than Carson Daly at an ass-kissing festival. The album includes guest appearances from De La Soul, Pharrell, John Oates (Hall & Oates), Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, Rahzel, and beach-bumming guitarist Jack Johnson, just to name a few. Some of the combinations used on this album work extremely well, as on the track “A Day in the Life” which features Cedric Zavala of Mars Volta belting out a soulful chorus between angry verses delivered by the RZA (Wu-Tang) and AG. On other tracks the guests seem out of place as on “The World’s Gone Mad” which has Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand singing a meek and unnecessary chorus on an otherwise solid track jammed out by Del the Funky Homosapien (Gorillaz) and reggae legend Barrington Levy. Also, the album could do without the appearance of Chester Bennington on the track “Rock and Roll (Could Never Hip Hop Like This) Part 2” as he whines out the same chorus we’ve heard a million times in every one of Linkin Park’s songs.

White People does not escape the popular standard of most current rap albums which include skits and interludes between the actual music. Chest and Merriweater enlisted Father Guido Sarducci of “Saturday Night Live” fame to provide a semi-funny CD intro and outro in which he gives a mock testimonial of the results students can expect to see upon graduating from the Handsome Boy Modeling School. The best part about his ranting is that he gives a shoutout to Buffalo, albeit a cynical one. While I’m not a big fan of rap CD skits, they do work out better than usual on this album considering that the Handsome Boys aren’t exactly an act that take themselves entirely seriously.

White People will not be the instant classic that their debut was, but if you can weed through some of its weaker tracks and goofy interludes this disc brings a sound that is as innovative as any hip-hop act out there today. Chest and Merriweather still have an incredible taste in music but they seem to focus more on cramming star power onto this disc than making sure it’s the right fit for their particular style. Regardless, White People is one of the best hip-hop albums of 2004 and is head and shoulders above the generic rap that clogs up the airwaves of popular music radio stations today. If you can’t dig White People then as Nathaniel Merriweather says in the CD booklet of this album: “It’s a handsome thing, you wouldn’t understand.”