Rapasaurus Rex

How do you do that? What's the first thing that you do?
I just think of a sound that will give a universal feeling. If it's sad I ask, "What instruments would make me feel sad? Violins. That might work." Or what's the tempo? A lot of times you just draw from records you've heard before, what something made you feel. There's a lot of psychology involved with certain sounds and frequencies. You know, Public Enemy came on and it was, "Eeeeeh, eeeeeh, eeeeeh!" and the horns are going crazy and it's going real fast. You wanted to dropkick somebody. [Laughs]

You're sort of known for having a hugely eclectic background. You were coming out with crazy samples early on, like the Turtles and Serge Gainsbourg and Schoolhouse Rock.
That was me and De La. Collectively we had an almost competition going on—who could reach the farthest.

Were you exposed to a lot of that growing up? Or were you just digging through crates and pulling out crazy-looking records?
For the most part it's what we were raised on. It's the beauty of being raised in the '70s. You listened to the radio back in the '70s and it was Hall and Oates to Aretha Franklin to Kool and the Gang to Rick Dees's "Disco Duck." We drew from all of that. So you dig deeper into the history, who they worked with, and you research and expand. It's a big difference from nowadays.

What effect do you think that will have on your kids? There's no radio like there used to be. There are no record stores like there used to be.
I just play it. To me that's the best way to really make your kids well-rounded. You could talk till you're blue in the face, but if they don't like it and they're not used to it, they're not going to listen to it. So if we're in the car I'll slip in some James Brown, slip in some Pharcyde, some Marvin Gaye. After a while they recognize it and they sing the songs. Of course, you have to play Hannah Montana or whatever. [Laughs] My son's gotten into DJ'ing, and his music knowledge is far beyond what I thought it would be.

Does he have a future as a producer?
I'm honestly not really into my kids pursuing any type of music career. But if it is what it is, go ahead. The business is just so unstable. It's just weird. You get your feelings hurt. It's hard to take your kids to the sharks.

You mentioned Hannah Montana . So even Prince Paul gets dragged to the Miley Cyrus movie?
[Laughs] You know, my mom endured me listening to "Free to Be You and Me" and all them other albums that came out back in the day. It's part of growing up. So I just grin and bear it. Plus, now making kids' records, it gives me a chance to show what I would do or what I wouldn't do.