Rapasaurus Rex

If you're a parent with a child of a certain age, you're probably familiar with the Baby Loves Music brand—the Baby Loves Disco dance parties, the Baby Loves Jazz record, Baby Loves Death Metal mini-mosh pits (OK, we made that last one up). Well, now add hip-hop to the ever-expanding list of genres that baby loves. This week sees the release of "Baby Loves Hip Hop Presents: the Dino 5," a concept album about a quintet of kid dinosaurs played by an aging A-list of headliners: Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, Ladybug Mecca of Digable Planets, Wordsworth, Scratch of the Roots and Prince Paul. As the album unfolds, we hear the story of a prehistoric rap crew as it learns to embrace its newest member and competes in the school talent show. You can just count the branding opportunities here—the Dino 5 concept is clever, catchy, fun and never cheesy.

And, bonus, the album was produced by Prince Paul. A founding DJ of Brooklyn's Stetsasonic in 1981, Paul (né Paul Hutson) was among the first wave of rappers to promote a positive black consciousness. In 1989 he produced De La Soul's quirky, witty and soulful "3 Feet High and Rising," ushering in hip-hop's Daisy Age with a kaleidoscopic array of samples—rock, country (the album's title is taken from a Johnny Cash song), disco and French pop. His career since has been as eclectic as his record collection: swinging from hardcore hip-hop with Gravediggaz to co-producing avant-garde guitarist Vernon Reid to comprising half of the ironic hipster rap duo Handsome Boy Modeling School.

NEWSWEEK's Brian Braiker caught up with Paul, who turns 41 this week, to discuss his first full-length children's album, fatherhood and his take on hip-hop today. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: My three-year-old daughter loves the Dino 5 theme song.
Prince Paul: Yeah. Kid-test it! I have a daughter. She's five. I'd just watch her to see if she responds to whatever I do: "That one doesn't work. But this one works. And that one made her sad."

I have a colleague with a toddler and I played him the theme and he said, "Hey, '3 Feet High and Rising'!"
[Laughs] At least that's a good thing.

What brought this about? Was this because you have a daughter?
Baby Loves Music contacted me about doing this a while ago. I remember doing this from "A Prince Among Thieves." The key is having the vocals match the visuals. Picture what a kid would think in his head what the dinosaur might look like.