#365songs (189 / 365)

A weird interlude on Deltron 3030, on which I do like actual songs too, "Meet Cleofis Randolph the Patriarch" is showoffy multisyllabic rhymer MC Paul Barman showing off his multisyllabic rhymes for 36 seconds in some kind of weird posh character voice. Based on the bizarreness of this I thought I would like Barman more than I actually did; turns out that in 2000, even for me, 36 seconds was just about the right amount of "nerdy, juvenile white Jewish rapper in love with his own cleverness."

In 2026, Barman has a couple more albums that I bought out of curiosity but haven't really gotten into yet, though cursory listens indicate they keep the over-cleverness but tone down the juvenilia. Perhaps worth a revisit? While I don't always love features on rap songs — after all, I'm not listening to artist X because I wanted to hear artist Y — sometimes it is a great way to find out about people you never would have otherwise.