Handsome Boy Modeling School

Handsome Boy Modeling School is a collaborative studio project formed by producers Dan the Automator (Nathaniel Merriweather) and Prince Paul (Chest Rockwell), two veteran hip-hop producers known respectively for work like «Dr. Octagonecologyst» and De La Soul's early albums. Adopting fake mustaches, tailored suits and satirical alter egos, they built the project as a comic parody of vain, self-obsessed high society, wrapped around dense, eclectic production.

The duo released two albums, «So… How's Your Girl?» (1999) and «White People» (2004), both marked by an unusually wide cast of guest collaborators spanning hip-hop, rock and alternative music, and by tracks such as «The Truth», «I've Been Thinking», «Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II)» and «Look at This Face (Oh My God They're Gorgeous)» that mix skits, humor and genre-blending beats. Their sound draws on Automator's cinematic, sample-heavy production style and Prince Paul's off-kilter, comedic sensibility from his De La Soul and Gravediggaz work.

The group disbanded in 2006 following a business dispute between its two members, but reunited in 2018 for a live performance in New York City and announced plans for further material, cementing their status as one of hip-hop's most inventive and unusual side projects.