Militant said:

steakfinger said:

Militant said:

Roger's one of my favorite artists of all time, but I think Prince has the edge for having more range - Roger stayed within the realm of funk, r&b, with touches of blues and jazz, but Prince has done classical, folk, acoustic, orchestral stuff....

Prince has NOT "done" classical. Not even a little.

Or folk.

And the "acoustic" is questionable at best.

What would you classify Kamasutra as?

And of course he's done acoustic stuff, like "The Truth" was mostly acoustic, One Night Alone Piano, the acoustic mix of "Love" from 3121 website...

Good question but in that rarified air of talent I would have to say Prince - he is a unique superstar. Still Roger was a HUGE talent - "More Bounce To The Ounce" remains one of THE iconic funk tunes while "New Zapp IV U" is an incredible album along side his best solo effort "Unlimited". Also check out Roger's very impressive production and wriiting work for other artists - it may be a relatively unknown release but Roger's production on Sugarfoot's solo album "Sugar" is some of the best of an incredible time in black popular music.

/\ the Sugarfoot album Roger did is amazing!!! "Sugar Kiss". Love the tracks "I'm Your Sugar", and "Call Me", and the revamped version of "Fire" that's on there.

I prefer "Bridging The Gap" to "Unlimited" when it comes to Roger solo albums though.

klick2me said:

alexnvrmnd777 said:

Then why would you sit there and state it as a fact, knowing you might be completely wrong?!

You are absolutely right. I did say sorry for misleading anybody. Have you heard the music in question? If so, then I would like to think you would understand why I thought such a thing. klick [Edited 4/17/11 14:56pm]

Yeah, I've heard it. But to me, it only sounds "Prince-influenced". Especially since EVERYBODY and their momma was trying to get on the Minneapolis Sound bandwagon around this time period (1985)! The only thing that really sounds like Prince are the sampled "ow" screams throughout the track.

You know what happens when you ASSUME!

I was originally going to clown you for making outrageous claims without any factual evidence but I figured I would be nice about it instead.

All has been forgiven.

my vote goes to roger. i witness roger kicking prince's ass on that controversy tour. not to mention that prince has never put out anything more funkier than more bounce.

So Kamasutra is classical music?

vitriol said:

So Kamasutra is classical music?

It's debateable like much of Prince's music with regards to what genre/s it falls under. But some would say that. What genre would you classify it as?

If you have to ask then you've NEVER listened to classical music.

Spinlight said:

Virgo92 said:

These are my two favorite artists of all time. And I just wanna know who do u think is more talented? Roger can play guitar, bass, drums, keyboard obviously and he can sing, so can Prince. I can't choose.

Umm, I don't get it. Why do you need to choose?

Because life is a competition.

It's not about what you like, but what is best.

Western style philosophical discourse wisdom.

vitriol said:

If you have to ask then you've NEVER listened to classical music.

Still the question remains the same: What genre would you classify it as?

Country? Disco?

Prince is in a league of 1 compared 2 any artist I've ever listened 2 or heard of.

Period............and I've heard most if not all of them.

Soulstar77A said:

vitriol said:

If you have to ask then you've NEVER listened to classical music.

Still the question remains the same: What genre would you classify it as?

Country? Disco?

Exactly.

And I don't make a habit of listening to classical because it bores the shit out of me. I unfortunately had to a listen to my fair share of it growing up as my dad used to listen to it sometimes in the car when I was a kid.

The genre of Kamasutra would be: Prince-trying-to-shit-outta-the-loo-without-having-the-slightest-idea-of-what-he-was-doing.

The guy is such an ignorant when it comes to certain kinds of music that his I-can-do-it-all ego allowed him to put together some pieces of that crap known as 'new age' but calling it 'a ballet' and played by 'an orchestra'.

Still, there are 2 tracks I can stand on K and one of them is 11 mins long, that makes it for me a more interesting album than ONA Solo Piano album.

Karmasutra is synthesizer-new-age stuff, but definitely NOT classical music.

I hate to agree with Vitriol, but that's completely correct.

Btw, Militant, if you've been bored with classical music before, I'd like to recommend some Mahler to you. Listen to the end of the 8th symphony on a big stereo system, and that's going to wake up your neighbours! Or try it with Stravinsky - "The Rite of Spring" is extremely rhythmic!

EmancipationLover said:

Karmasutra is synthesizer-new-age stuff, but definitely NOT classical music.

I hate to agree with Vitriol, but that's completely correct.

Btw, Militant, if you've been bored with classical music before, I'd like to recommend some Mahler to you. Listen to the end of the 8th symphony on a big stereo system, and that's going to wake up your neighbours! Or try it with Stravinsky - "The Rite of Spring" is extremely rhythmic!

Heard both of them. As mentioned, my dads a fan so I heard hours upon hours of it growing up. Classical music just does nothing for me. It's just not my cup of tea. Possibly the only genre I can say that about, as I listen to a lot of pop, rock, jazz, hip-hop, r&b, funk, blues, acoustic, folk, heavy metal, electronic, techno, rave, house, grunge...amongst many others.

I just do not gain any pleasure in listening to classical, so consquently I do not listen to it. That does not mean I am unfamiliar with it though. But yeah, I'll trust you guys who know and like classical music to determine what is and what isn't considered to fall into that genre, so I'll be sure to refer to Kamasutra as "New Age" from now on

"New Age" isn't an appropriate definition either, because it refers to an attempt by the author to create music that reflects New Age beliefs. "New Age" music is often associated with yoga / meditation and it is usually used for relaxation purposes.

"Kamasutra" falls somewhere along the lines of the poppier works of Philip Glass (e.g. his orchestral arrangements of original compositions by David Bowie and Brian Eno). It is very close to music used in films. The combination of synthesizers and smaller orchestral ensembles in that context has been quite common.

People who listen to classical music are aware that most new music that gets filed under "classical" isn't really classical music. The word primarily refers to one type of music that appeared during a particular historical era. Using the word "orchestral" is one way to skirt around that issue. The most appropriate definition I can come up for the style of "Kamasutra" would be "semi-orchestral instrumental music". How's that? A bit too long, but that's what I think it is.

I loved Roger and he is certainly worthy of mention when you you talk about funk and R&B music but Prince is in a league that a few are in.

I stated long ago that Prince brought balence to the Funk.

What? WHy is this even taking up space here? Purple Rain alone is greater than ROger's entire career. Prince wrote When Doves Cry. Did Roger ever reach that level? Could he sing like Prince? Play guitar like Prince? I saw him open for Prince on the Controversy Tour. HE was good and I was a big fan - but he was nothing close to Prince then.

purplenuts said:

What? WHy is this even taking up space here? Purple Rain alone is greater than ROger's entire career. Prince wrote When Doves Cry. Did Roger ever reach that level? Could he sing like Prince? Play guitar like Prince? I saw him open for Prince on the Controversy Tour. HE was good and I was a big fan - but he was nothing close to Prince then.

Arguably yes, he could play guitar as well or better than Prince. I know professional guitarists who believe that. I personally find Prince to be a better guitarist, but Roger could sho' nuff throw down.

The licks on "Smooth Criminal" are some of my favorite guitar work of all time, and the biggest selling artist on the planet could have used damn near any guitarist he wanted in the world, but he chose Roger.

As for songs, that's all subjective. Even though I'm a much bigger Prince fan, I would take "Computer Love" over the vast majority of Prince's ballads, and "More Bounce To The Ounce" is up there, arguably even surpassing the funkiest funk Prince ever made. Like I said, Roger and Prince had a huge influence on each other which continues to this day.....Prince's "Dance 4 Me" from MPLSOUND bears more than passing resemblance to Zapp & Roger's "I Can Make You Dance".

Militant said:

purplenuts said:

What? WHy is this even taking up space here? Purple Rain alone is greater than ROger's entire career. Prince wrote When Doves Cry. Did Roger ever reach that level? Could he sing like Prince? Play guitar like Prince? I saw him open for Prince on the Controversy Tour. HE was good and I was a big fan - but he was nothing close to Prince then.

Arguably yes, he could play guitar as well or better than Prince. I know professional guitarists who believe that. I personally find Prince to be a better guitarist, but Roger could sho' nuff throw down.

The licks on "Smooth Criminal" are some of my favorite guitar work of all time, and the biggest selling artist on the planet could have used damn near any guitarist he wanted in the world, but he chose Roger.

As for songs, that's all subjective. Even though I'm a much bigger Prince fan, I would take "Computer Love" over the vast majority of Prince's ballads, and "More Bounce To The Ounce" is up there, arguably even surpassing the funkiest funk Prince ever made. Like I said, Roger and Prince had a huge influence on each other which continues to this day.....Prince's "Dance 4 Me" from MPLSOUND bears more than passing resemblance to Zapp & Roger's "I Can Make You Dance".

Really? Jackson choosing Roger would only mean something in this argument if PRince was available for the job - which we all can safely assume Prince would not take that job and Jackson knew beter than to offer.

Most people in the world are not going to place ROger over PRince in anything - not in the real world. It comes down to opinion, I suppose. Of course, someone can always argue anything that is not real.

purplenuts said:

Really? Jackson choosing Roger would only mean something in this argument if PRince was available for the job - which we all can safely assume Prince would not take that job and Jackson knew beter than to offer.

Most people in the world are not going to place ROger over PRince in anything - not in the real world. It comes down to opinion, I suppose. Of course, someone can always argue anything that is not real.

Bingo!

jackson35 said:

my vote goes to roger. i witness roger kicking prince's ass on that controversy tour. not to mention that prince has never put out anything more funkier than more bounce.

Funk-wise, I would tend to agree with you, but on an overall basis, Roger does NOT kick Prince's ass. I mainly say that because he wasn't as diverse as Prince EVENTUALLY got. But trust me, I have absolutely NO hate for my boy Roger. Very talented cat!

Virgo92 said:

These are my two favorite artists of all time. And I just wanna know who do u think is more talented? Roger can play guitar, bass, drums, keyboard obviously and he can sing, so can Prince. I can't choose.

I'd say Prince is more talented. This kinda reminds me of the age old question about who is the better guitarist Prince or Jimi Hendrix. If Jimi was still with us today, he'd probably would have given P a run for his $ but, unfortunately, he's no longer with us.

purplenuts said:

Militant said:

Arguably yes, he could play guitar as well or better than Prince. I know professional guitarists who believe that. I personally find Prince to be a better guitarist, but Roger could sho' nuff throw down.

The licks on "Smooth Criminal" are some of my favorite guitar work of all time, and the biggest selling artist on the planet could have used damn near any guitarist he wanted in the world, but he chose Roger.

As for songs, that's all subjective. Even though I'm a much bigger Prince fan, I would take "Computer Love" over the vast majority of Prince's ballads, and "More Bounce To The Ounce" is up there, arguably even surpassing the funkiest funk Prince ever made. Like I said, Roger and Prince had a huge influence on each other which continues to this day.....Prince's "Dance 4 Me" from MPLSOUND bears more than passing resemblance to Zapp & Roger's "I Can Make You Dance".

Really? Jackson choosing Roger would only mean something in this argument if PRince was available for the job - which we all can safely assume Prince would not take that job and Jackson knew beter than to offer.

Most people in the world are not going to place ROger over PRince in anything - not in the real world. It comes down to opinion, I suppose. Of course, someone can always argue anything that is not real.

I don't know.... Prince DID offer to play guitar on "We Are The World", and he also offered "Wouldn't You Love to Love Me?" for inclusion on Bad. I don't really see any reason that Prince would have declined to play guitar on an MJ song had he been asked.

Of course most people in the world wouldn't place Roger over Prince because Prince is infinitely more popular than Roger. But does that mean anything? I can find you a million people right now that would say Justin Bieber is a better artist than Prince - does that make it true? People who are musically educated know better.

And people who are musically educated with regards to funk KNOW that asking whose more talented is at the least a VALID question because Roger was phenomenally talented. Remember, that's the question being asked here - not "who displayed more talent on their records" or "who is more famous" or "who would more people say is better". None of those are the questions being asked. Remember that growing up, Prince and Andre Cymone were neck-and-neck in musical talent. Did Prince become infinitely more succesful than Andre because he was more talented - or because he was more driven and motivated?

Again - when it comes down to it, I'd take Prince over Roger, too. Based on more range, more incredible output, etc. But I wouldn't be so quick to shoot down this topic just because "most people in the world" would say Prince. That's not relevant to who is more talented. And like I said - Roger was one hell of a talented cat, and his impact - ESPECIALLY in hip-hop is incredibly significant.

This is still going on? Anyways they're both geniuses in what they do to me. Especially Prince.

everybody keeps talking about how diverese prince is with his music, but in the long run this diverse style of music didnt help him to sell a whole lot of records or increase his fan base. roger troutman is just as diverse as prince is. what do you guys think funk music is? a mixture of styles of music. prince booted roger off the controversy tour because he was making him work too hard on the stage right after he wreck it.

jackson35 said:

everybody keeps talking about how diverese prince is with his music, but in the long run this diverse style of music didnt help him to sell a whole lot of records or increase his fan base. roger troutman is just as diverse as prince is. what do you guys think funk music is? a mixture of styles of music. prince booted roger off the controversy tour because he was making him work too hard on the stage right after he wreck it.