Last month, I was called by one of the artists that I am inspired by. Prince! My aunt was the biggest Prince fan as I was growing up. When Purple Rain came out, I wasn’t even born, but I constantly heard about this album and Prince most of my life. The first song I actually remember hearing on the radio was Diamonds and Pearls. I was a baby, but still old enough to remember hearing the song. It wasn’t until I really started digging into bass and music a few years ago when I discovered the awesome musicianship that embodies Prince. I was known for singing Prince’s song KISS and every time the crazy hard vocal came in toward the end of the song (you know the part) you could see everyone watching to see if I would be able to hit the notes! hehe!! But all of the screaming and high notes are actually my strength so I nailed it. However, the song that got me MOVIN was completely different. I was watching some old clips on youtube of Meshell N’Deggeocello to learn some funky bass lines and I came across a clip of her on the Arsenio Hall Show. She was playing a song called “Let’s Work”. When I heard that, that was when I became a Prince fanatic! So I bought the album and started studying his songs. “Let’s Work” actually stuck out for me. So I learned the song and the vocals and played the song for the first time on the Drum Channel. That was last year. Last month, at 11pm I was watching Prince’s new video Rock and Roll Love Affair on youtube. I went to my business partners house and showed it to them. It was a different Prince then what I was used to it had more of a country feel rather than a funky feel and it wasn’t a favorite for me. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE country music, I have gone out on tour with Dave Stewart and Sugarland so I dig it. But, I was expecting a groove from Prince and NPG. After all, that’s what NPG is known for GROOVE, POCKET, and in your face FUNK.
As I was leaving their house, I got a message that Prince wanted me to come to Minneapolis and jam. I said WHEN??? They said “How soon can you come?” .. I said “I have a TV show to film next week so I can come anytime before that…so NOW”… Next thing I know they sent me 4 songs to have ready and learned, and a flight ready for me to go the next day. I learned the songs and had them ready to go and I was nervous ;-<
I got to the rehearsal stage and started playing with some of the members of the band. I was facing the drummer and behind me was Prince who had snuck up on me as I was playing Larry Grahams song “It Ain’t No Fun To Me” … It was so funny because the band knew he was there and no one said anything.. it was hilarious! We stopped playing and he said “Hi Nik, Im Prince, give me a hug” I couldn’t stop smiling. He got on the keyboard and said “Now, let’s play it again”. He’s a beast on whatever instrument he touches. He took my bass and showed me things I didn’t even know about. He showed me Larry Grahams exact technique and approach for that song. WHAT A BASSLINE!!! After he slapped my bass crazy, he gave it back to me and said “now you do it” haha! I got nervous for a minute and messed up the first time. Then he said “Nik if you weren’t great and amazing at what you do, you would NOT be here” and THEN I played the bass line. Such a great teacher and musician. A lot of greatness. Later we chatted about books, Hendrix, how John Blackwell is a master of pocket and groove and many other things. He had been watching my videos While I was there, he challenged me to a game of ping pong, which I SUCKED at! Next time…..BASKETBALL…..now that’s a sport I have swag in!!
Ciao for now!

Another female has just been christened by Prince............

I was watching some old clips on youtube of Meshell N’Deggeocello to learn some funky bass lines and I came across a clip of her on the Arsenio Hall Show. She was playing a song called “Let’s Work”. When I heard that, that was when I became a Prince fanatic!

This is why YOUTUBE and the INTERNET are GOOD THINGS, PRINCEY!

i just love love love when i see young female players female or male they keeping the love on going and working hard at something real

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

I was watching some old clips on youtube of Meshell N’Deggeocello to learn some funky bass lines and I came across a clip of her on the Arsenio Hall Show. She was playing a song called “Let’s Work”. When I heard that, that was when I became a Prince fanatic!

This is why YOUTUBE and the INTERNET are GOOD THINGS, PRINCEY!

Yep!

i cant find that lets work clip on you tube....

Nice find, K!

Hmmm... Prince auditions a new Bassist, and there's little interest here?

Anyway... I like what she says about P. Seems good from the clip of her and Hannah, but I really like Ida's Funk Bass.

We'll see...

Cool!

Ida and Blackwell are now with Andy? Shame, shame!

Giovanni777 said:

Nice find, K!

Hmmm... Prince auditions a new Bassist, and there's little interest here?

Anyway... I like what she says about P. Seems good from the clip of her and Hannah, but I really like Ida's Funk Bass.

We'll see...

Has more to do with who posted the thread

Marrk said:

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

I was watching some old clips on youtube of Meshell N’Deggeocello to learn some funky bass lines and I came across a clip of her on the Arsenio Hall Show. She was playing a song called “Let’s Work”. When I heard that, that was when I became a Prince fanatic!

This is why YOUTUBE and the INTERNET are GOOD THINGS, PRINCEY!

Yep!

where ?? cant find it on utube

I really like how they play together, you can see how they respect eachother and have fun.

Beautiful, skilled, hard working and nice girls.

What more can he ask for?

I mean this was pretty awesome!

I remember discovering Nik West, a year back, and it is so cool she got a chance to meet with Prince. This was too funky!

Giovanni777 said:

Nice find, K!

Hmmm... Prince auditions a new Bassist, and there's little interest here?

Anyway... I like what she says about P. Seems good from the clip of her and Hannah, but I really like Ida's Funk Bass.

We'll see...

YEah I think it's because there's not too much on the net of Nik's new stuff. But if you catch her live, you might change your mind about Ida's funk bass. Her live shows are out of this world.

Looks like she's changed up her whole look. NuFunk

[Edited 1/14/13 17:40pm]

robertdroner said:

Looks like she's changed up her whole look. NuFunk

[Edited 1/14/13 17:40pm]

Fonkyman said:

robertdroner said:

Looks like she's changed up her whole look. NuFunk

[Edited 1/14/13 17:40pm]

Oh wow!!