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Arabian Prince

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Arabian Prince
Arabian Prince in 2018
Arabian Prince in 2018
Background information
Birth nameKim Renard Nazel
Also known asProfessor X
Born (1965-06-17) June 17, 1965 (age 59)
Compton, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • DJ
  • record producer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • synthesizer
  • keyboards
  • turntables
  • drum machine
  • sampler
Years active1984–present
Labels
Formerly ofN.W.A

Kim Renard Nazel (born June 17, 1965),[1] better known by his stage names Arabian Prince or Professor X, is an American rapper and record producer.[2][3][4][5][6][7] He was a founding member of N.W.A. and performed on one track from the group's major debut Straight Outta Compton before leaving.[8]

Early life

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Nazel was born in Compton, California, to the son of Joseph "Skippy" Nazel Jr., an African American author and radio talk show host.[9] His musical background came from his mother, a piano teacher and classical musician.[9] His family tried its best to shelter him, sending him to a Catholic school and keeping him busy with football to keep him away from the gangs. The younger Nazel got his first experience with making music at the radio station his father hosted his talk show on; Nazel used the radio station's equipment to put together mixtapes that he would sell at school.[9] Nazel went on to graduate from Junípero Serra High School in nearby Gardena.[10]

Music career

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Nazel took the stage name of DJ Prince and started selling mixtapes at school. While working at a luggage store at the Del Amo Mall, its owner, Sam Nassif, asked him to DJ a party at a community center. He kept performing there for several weekends and the success persuaded Nassif to invest even more in the place, renaming it "The Cave", where Nazel would continue to host for over three years and even after his N.W.A days. Nassif also funded DJ Prince's first record, "Strange Life".[11]

He changed his stage name when he was 15 years old at the Skateland USA, the same skating venue credited for launching N.W.A a few years later, due to a fan's suggestion. He said about his name:[12]

I called myself DJ Prince at first; back in the day, I always used to dress like Prince. That was the thing in the early '80s — either you dressed like Prince or you dressed like Michael Jackson. I used to wear the tight parachute pants, and I had the trim moustache, the whole thing. One day I was DJing at a skating rink. I was with Egyptian Lover, that was my boy, still is. This girl comes up to us and asks us our names. And he's like, "I'm Egyptian Lover." And I'm like, "I'm DJ Prince." She looks at me and goes, "I always see you two together. You should call yourself Arabian Prince." And I guess that just stuck.[10]

Arabian Prince started working with Bobby Jimmy & the Critters in 1984. He also produced the hit single and album for J.J. Fad, "Supersonic".

In 1986, he was a founding member of N.W.A, helping with production on some tracks and appearing as a vocalist on the last track of N.W.A.'s hit studio album Straight Outta Compton (1988), "Something 2 Dance 2",[13] a relatively radio-friendly song which was also removed from later pressings of the album due to a dispute.[14] Arabian Prince left over royalty and contract disagreements. "I started off as a solo artist", he said, "so I was aware of what a royalty statement was. I knew that when these many records were sold, there is a quarterly statement. When you look at it, you can see how much money was paid and then share it. This was not the case. We were also never paid for touring." Eazy-E, Ice Cube and MC Ren remained as the main performers, DJ Yella was the turntablist and Dr. Dre was the main producer.[15]

After leaving N.W.A, Arabian Prince began a solo career. His first album, Brother Arab, was released in 1989 with the single "She's Got A Big Posse"; Where's My Bytches followed in 1993.

In the mid-2000s, he started releasing music again, with his Professor X project on the Dutch label Clone Records. "I could not release the record under Arabian Prince", he said, "because I already had a single out, so I called myself Professor X on that record."[16] In 2007, he performed as a DJ on the 2K Sports Holiday Bounce Tour with artists from the Stones Throw label. In 2008, Stones Throw released a compilation of his electro-rap material from the 1980s.[17] One of his songs was included on the 2007 video game, College Hoops 2K8.

In 2015, a biopic about N.W.A. titled Straight Outta Compton was released; however, Arabian Prince was not portrayed in the film.[18] After the release film, Prince said to VladTV: "A lot of the scenes in real life, I was there—I'm just not there in the film, which I'm like, if you're gonna write me out of a movie, shoot some other scenes. Don't write scenes where I was there."[19] Some of the pivotal scenes would be choosing the name for the band, the tour and the infamous Detroit concert. He also remembers himself as the main opposer to Jerry Heller about the royalties and the money, a role that in the film was instead given to Ice Cube.

The following year, N.W.A. was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but again, Arabian Prince was not included nor mentioned.[11]

In 2018, Arabian Prince appeared on the AmeriKKKant album of industrial-metal band Ministry. He made a second appearance on Ministry's 2021 album Moral Hygiene.[20][21]

Other ventures

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Aside from his music career, he worked in special effects, 3D animation and video games.[10][22][23]

Discography

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Solo

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  • Strange Life (Rapsur, 1984)
  • It Ain’t Tough (Rapsur, 1985)
  • Take You Home Girl / Innovator (Rapsur, 1985)
  • Situation Hot (Street Kut, 1986)
  • Freak City (Macola, 1986)
  • Professor X (Saga) (Techno Kut, 1989)
  • Brother Arab (Orpheus, 1989)
  • Where's My Bytches (Da Bozak, 1993)
  • Simple Planet / Beatdabeat (Stones Throw, 2008)

Compilations

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With Bobby Jimmy and the Critters

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  • Ugly Knuckle Butt (1985)
  • Roaches: The Beginning (1986)
  • Back and Proud (1987)

With N.W.A

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References

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  1. ^ "Kim R Nazel, Born 06/17/1965 in California - CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". www.californiabirthindex.org.
  2. ^ HipHopDX (23 August 2008). "Arabian Prince: New Funky Nation". HipHopDX. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  3. ^ Martin Cizmar. "Arabian Prince: What Happened After N.W.A. and the Posse?". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  4. ^ Southern California Public Radio (16 July 2012). "Lost N.W.A member Arabian Prince plays MacArthur Park on July 28". Southern California Public Radio. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  5. ^ Kyle Grace. "N.W.A. - AskMen". AskMen. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  6. ^ "Arabian Prince | West Coast Rap Artists | West Coast Rap Pioneers | Tribute to the Early West Coast Rap Scene: Website Title". Westcoastpioneers.com. 1965-06-17. Archived from the original on 2015-08-08. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  7. ^ Brandes, Wendy (September 8, 2015). "Kept Outta "Compton": N.W.A's Arabian Prince Has No Regrets". Huffington Post. Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  8. ^ "N.W.A.'s Forgotten Member Explains Why He Was The First To Leave The GroupAmbrosia For Heads". ambrosiaforheads.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  9. ^ a b c Eshaiker, Amin (2008). Egon (ed.). Innovative Life: The Anthology, 1984-1989 (Liner notes). Arabian Prince. Los Angeles: Stones Throw Records. pp. 6–7.
  10. ^ a b c Mike Sager (16 January 2016). "Arabian Prince Left N.W.A and He's Doing Just Fine". MEL Magazine. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  11. ^ a b "10+ Singers & Rappers Born on June 17". Gemtracks Beats. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  12. ^ Jasmin St.Claire (3 May 2016). "How Arabian Prince was written "Straight Outta Compton"". Kindland. Archived from the original on 8 March 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Rediscover N.W.A's 'Straight Outta Compton' Turns 35 | Tribute". Albumism. 2023-08-05. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  14. ^ "N.W.A.'s Forgotten Member Explains Why He Was The First To Leave The GroupAmbrosia For Heads". ambrosiaforheads.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  15. ^ Martin Cizmar. "Whatever Happened to N.W.A's Posse?". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  16. ^ Christina Li (16 February 2017). "Hey, DJ: OG Arabian Prince".
  17. ^ "Arabian Prince | Stones Throw Records". Stonesthrow.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-16. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
  18. ^ "Kept Outta "Compton": N.W.A's Arabian Prince Has No Regrets". HuffPost. 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2024-03-29.
  19. ^ "Arabian Prince reveals discrepancies in "Straight Outta Compton"". Archived from the original on 2021-11-22 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ Scott Munro (2 March 2017). "Ministry Bring In Ex-NWA Man Arabian Prince". Metal Hammer. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  21. ^ Blabbermouth.net (15 July 2021). "MINISTRY Shares 'Unity Mix' Of 'Good Trouble' Single Featuring N.W.A.'s ARABIAN PRINCE". Blabbermouth. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  22. ^ Martins, Chris (10 September 2008). "Arabian Prince: A Jheri Blossoms".
  23. ^ Weiss, Jeff (22 August 2008). "His 'Innovative Life'" – via LA Times.
  24. ^ Paine, Jake (2008-07-03). "Stones Throw Records Releases N.W.A. Affiliate Album". HipHopDX. Retrieved 2015-08-15.
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