So...How's Your Girl?
by Handsome Boy Modeling School
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. AllMusic
    80
    Handsome Boy Modeling School succeeds where so many compilations fail. It's a great album from start to finish.
  2. Armchair DJ
    80
    "So ..." is one of the most innovative albums of the year, stretching the gamut of every musical genre that melts in your head, not in your mouth.
  3. Austin Chronicle
    89
    Ultimately, it all plays out like a 60-minute calling card that illustrates hip-hop's most liberal producers aren't afraid to keep on keepin' on.
  5. CDNow
    70
    So … How's your Girl is more an experiment in possibility than a cohesive album -- hip-hop rubs up against various other forms of digital noise, and the frictional frisson is both pleasant and surprising. Luckily, Handsome Boy Modeling School has lessons well worth learning.
  6. Delusions of Adequacy
    70
    These two guys are good on the turntables and production, and they've got some stellar hip hop and rock guests. Check out this collaboration, one of the few hip-hop albums that I truly think is a must-have.
  7. E! Online
    75
    A leader of the old school teams up with an upstart from the new, and the classy result is the way-out antics of Handsome Boy Modeling School.
  8. MTV.com
    80
    So ... How's Your Girl? ... mental infomercial, fashion Trojan horse, soundtrack to a movie we may never see, sheer genius ... uh huh, it's all that and so much more. Handsome Boy Modeling School is your ticket to a better quality of life.
  9. New Musical Express (NME)
    70
    'So ... How's Your Girl?' is precision-tooled to amuse the Beastie Boys, for sure. But it also harbours a wit and dexterity that not only represents the usual cliquey extended family, but also manages to transcend them.
  10. Pitchfork
    50
    It's all good enough, but how many times, really, do you need to hear the term "rock the mic" in an hour? Not this many.
  11. Q Magazine
    80
    Sixty minutes long -- the album's subtitle is "A Musical Curriculum" -- this is pure, hip-hop-based sampledelica and anything but po-faced.
  12. Rolling Stone
    70
    Rockwell and Merriweather may never sashay down Paris runways, but their How's Your Girl? has a hot style all its own.
  13. Village Voice
    70
    Albums like this one ... are by definition not great personal statements, nor even necessarily artistic peaks for the acts involved. But they keep going, A to the B to the C to the D, and right now that's more than enough.
  14. Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
    91
    More trip- than hip-hop in that its irresistibility is atmospheric -- a sound that pits industrial textures against quiet piano samples/parts.

Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best Album of 1999
11
#11 Most Discussed Album of 1999

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 8 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. [Anonymous]
    Apr 10, 2005
    9
    masterful.
  2. grug
    Feb 23, 2003
    8
    Not a fan of hip-hop, but this CD (and indeed most anything with Dan The Automator involved) is great, but no Deltron 3030. Once again, note Not a fan of hip-hop, but this CD (and indeed most anything with Dan The Automator involved) is great, but no Deltron 3030. Once again, note that Pitchfork drags the score down again...… Full Review »
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