Arabian Prince
Real Name: K.R. Nazel
D.O.B.: June 17th, 1965 Inglewood, California
Label: Macola/Ruthless/Orpheus Records.
Arabian Prince is an electro-funk and rap artist from Los Angeles. Better known for his work appearing in the early formation of N.W.A., he seemed to shine out from behind the shadows of gangsta rap and leaned towards other aspects of the west coast hip-hop culture.
Arabian was born and raised in the heart of the South Central warzone. His early introduction to music saw him recording mixtape beats and performing at high-school parties before getting regular gigs at The Cave in Lennox. Here he met another innovative West Coast DJ, Egyptian Lover.
He soon started recording alongside Egyptian Lover and Russ Parr (a leading DJ for KDAY FM, the only hip-hop station in the nation at the time.) Under the alias, 'Bobby Jimmy and the Critters', Arabian and Russ Parr sold over 50,000 copies of their first release, a parody joint, "We Like Ugly Women." They released the early electro tracks, "Strange Life" (which was a Middle-Eastern styled tune, giving back to Arabian's roots) and "Innovator" under Parr's own vanity label, RapSur Records.
Two years fresh from high school, Arabian dropped his first solo album, Situation Hot. Within a year he was hooked up with World Class Wreckin Cru's wonder boy Dr. Dre and DJ Yella. He and Dre co-produced early J.J. Fad song, "Supersonic" and the accompanying album. One day while riding shotgun in Dre's ride, Arabian and he envisioned the future of a super rap group representing the bowels of their Los Angeles neighbourhood. In an LATimes interview, Arabian prince recalled that moment in Dre's Mazda -
"We were driving in Dre's old RX7 with no back window to see J.J. Fad before they became J.J. Fad," he says, laughing. "They lived out in Rialto, and the entire way there we were listening to the radio and hearing our songs. We looked at each other and were like, how is it that our songs are getting played on the radio and we ain't got any money?"
When the idea was brushed past local entrepreneur, Eazy-E the notion of N.W.A. became the urban dream-come-true. Eazy orchestrated the coming-together of N.W.A. with a business plan of basing the group around several already brand-name famous DJs, Dre, Yella and Arabian who in turn would carry the rest of the relatively unknown emcees, Ice Cube, MC Ren and The DOC (who later became ghost-writer for the group).
In 1988 Before "Straight Outta Compton" Arabian Prince found himself without a position inside N.W.A. The chief writer and leading emcee Ice Cube's return from Technical school in Arizona saw Arabian prince officially bumped the South Central super group. he left behind his production work for the first underground group hit A-side single, "Panic Zone", "Dopeman" and "8-Ball". From here he redeveloped his solo career.
Post N.W.A. Arabian dropped Brother Arab in 1989 on Orpheus Records, his second solo album. In the wide shadows of N.W.A. and their hot platform of hardcore Gangsta rap his album fell well beneath the R&B pop charts radar and went virtually unheard. He returned to Bobby Jimmy & The Critters in 1990 releasing The Best of Bobby Jimmy & The Critters and Hip Hop Prankster for K-Tel and Priority Records. In '91 they released Erotic Psychotic which was the be their last group effort. They disbanded later 1991, same year as N.W.A. Arabian dropped his third album, Where's My Bytches in 1993 in an attempt to recapture his 15 minutes of gangsta rap fame.
Arabian Prince made several more recording works before taking a career turn. He re-emerged as the inner-IT nerd he professed he always was, running his own 3D animation studio and testing video games for FOX Interactive. His most recent project is, Professor X on the Dutch label Clone records. Arabian has continued his passion for engineering music and remains somewhat active in recording DJ remixes. As of 2007, is finishing an album under his Professor X alias and has plans for another Arabian Prince record.
Arabian Prince takes great satisfaction in the current generation's incorporation of old-school electro-funk sound in its work. Today his work is considered a classic piece of West Coast hip-hop innovation.
LA Times Interview [CLICK HERE]
Discography:
- 1985 Situation Hot
- 1988 Brother Arab
- 1993 Where's My Bytches
