Paullelujah!

by John BushAs a rapper, MC Paul Barman makes a pretty good humorist, though he's actually more clever than he is funny. Like Gonzalez and others on the fringes of even the rap underground, his flow has more in common with the oldest of old school rap, pre-Rakim "stylists" like Kurtis Blow or Spoonie Gee. To this Barman adds a layer of postmodern irony that wears much less well than Gonzalez, since he lacks both delivery and good ideas for rhymes. He does get in a few biting lines on the abortion-activist nightmare "N.O.W." (sample: "If you all are so destitute, why do you dress so cute?"). He's much less intelligent, though, during "Burping & Farting," which describes in exacting detail the scientific process necessary for both acts. "Cock Mobster" is Fred Schneider meets the Native Tongues, with some of the most embarrassing raps to emerge from a non-commercial hip-hop artist in some time. A Dylanesque talking blues on time travel is only interesting the first time, and unlike many alternative rappers, the production isn't enough to make this one good on its own.