Longtime fans of Hip Hop embraced Fergie's "Fergalicious" not because of Stacy's rhyming abilities, but because the 2006 hit was an almost textbook recreation of Ruthless Records' first hit single, J.J. Fad's "Supersonic."

The man who concocted that track, and benefited greatly from Fergie royalties, is Arabian Prince. A pioneer of the Los Angeles that would go on to yield Ice-T, Toddy Tee and a group that Prince helped found - N.W.A. Having appeared on the first group album with Dre, Cube and Eazy alone, Arabian Prince's Electro-Funk endured in the party culture that happened against the backdrop of street politics. Releasing records since 1984, this Compton-born, Inglewood-raised legend hasn't stopped since.

Stones Throw Records and Peanut Butter Wolf recognized this. A year after recognizing New York's Percee P for a lifetime of quiet accomplishment, the L.A. label now celebrates Arabian Prince with Innovative Life: The Anthology (1984-1989), releasing this August 19th. The remastered album shows listeners old and young where it came from, and why Electro-Funk truly never left.

Just returned from Germany with longtime friend and name-sake Egyptian Lover, Arabian Prince walks HipHopDX as he readies his Gorillaz-comparable next project Funky Anime while steadily collecting checks off of ghostwriting and production. When he ends his deejay sets with the trademark Haddaway "What Is Love," you might not realize it, but the Prince hasn't lost his Raiders cap or his props.

HipHopDX: Firstly, why Stones Throw?
Arabian Prince: Oh man, it’s crazy. I’m an idiot when it comes to music, believe it or not. Like, there’s cats out there that are like music historians. Don’t get me wrong, I’m one of the baddest deejays on the planet, when it comes to vinyl, the collection and all of that, but I’m not the guy who’s really up on every little nook and cranny of Hip Hop and all the underground stuff. I’m just really into my own music. I figure the more I stay into myself, the better I have a chance of my music staying pure rather than picking up sounds from somewhere else.

So I had bumped into Peanut Butter Wolf, and man, I’d never heard that cat! I didn’t know who he was to save my life. What the hell is a Peanut Butter Wolf? He’s like, “Man, I really want to do something with you, maybe get some of your old stuff, and put out a greatest hits.” I’m like, “Who is this cat?” I did a little research and said, “Oh, that’s who that is!” So we became like best friends, and now we’re kind of inseparable in music and a lot of stuff we’re doing. So it was kind of a blessing to meet him, as somebody who really appreciates the music first. It kinda brought me back into the scene in the sense where I’m like, “You know what? I’m still in this thing.” Stones Throw has revitalized all that.

DX: This is all released material that is now re-catalogged, repackaged, correct?
AP: Right, right. And there’s two unreleased instrumentals on there as well.

DX: How do you think of the 1984-1989 era?
AP: It reminds me of the old days when there were no gangs in the clubs. [Laughs] We used to wake up, and all we was thinkin’ about was partying and deejaying and chasing women – every single day. That’s what it was, back in the ‘80s, man, in the clubs – especially in L.A. It was all about partying. You had the factions. You had your New Wave people, you had your Punk Rockers, you had your Prince people, you had your Michael Jackson fiends – everybody had their little niche. Show me some dude that thought he was hardcore gangster back in the ‘80s, and I’ll show you the dude wearin’ some spikes and a Michael Jackson jacket, you know what I’m sayin’? That’s what it was. Everything was cool back then.

DX: We all watched Colors. In 1984, when you started making regional and national noise, were the people buying your records part of the gang community?
AP: I’d say yes. The hood is the hood. I had uncles and stuff in gangs, growing up. The music was from the streets; I don’t care what kind of music it was, it originated on the streets. Electro-Funk on the west coast was a product of the streets, from hardcore to softcore people on the streets, everybody just partied to the same beat.

DX: How much of the sound of Electro-Funk was dictated by the equipment you guys were using, and how much was your own creativity?
AP: You know how it all started? When we deejayed back in the day, and even to my deejay sets to this day, I kind of read the crowd, but I’m gonna play what I’m gonna play, I don’t play the Top 40 hits. That’s how it was back in the ‘80s. Top 40 radio was everything – Parliament Funkadelic, Cameo, Bootsy [Collins], there was also Cyndi Lauper, ABC, Depeche Mode, it was also Prince, Michael Jackson, this big gumbo pot of music. When we started doing music, it reflected all of that. We were really into Kraftwerk, we were really into Prince, we were really into Funk. So if you listen to Electro-Funk, it pulls the heavy basslines of old P-Funk and Zapp & Roger stuff - Funk, it pulls the sexy side – Prince and pulls the electronic side from Kraftwerk. It was just a blend of all of that. With the equipment, yeah. The first thing we fell in love with was the 808 drum machine. After we heard that, it just fell right into place. Continued on page 2 »