I'll say this : any big name artist could be challenged the way this open letter challenges Prince to follow the sentiment of his recent, still unreleased but already dragged over red hot 0coals WITH action.

Action in the form of what is outlined in the expertly written and heartfelt missive.

Yet if every artist that sang against prejudice, brutality, hunger, suicide, guns, etc. would need to follow the same path Prince is dared to take and the same standard (words with action), I'm pretty sure world hunger would be cured by now.

Just like Ferguson...

Baltimore Police Commissioner - Anthony W. Batts

I'll respectfully agree to disagree on this topic...

In regards to Prince's lyrical content for the new song, I agree that it does fall very short. I suppose its the thought that counts?

bashraka said:

The only thing I am critical of is the high ticket prices for the Mother's Day show in Baltimore in honor of Freddie Gray. From a PR standpoint it looks opportunistic and "portion of the proceeds" is veryy vague. "Baltimore' lyrics didn't blow me away, but Prince doesn't need to be Curtis Mayfield or Gil Scott Heron. At this time, as long as it's from the heart, that should be enough.

I don't know if Prince celebrates days like Mother's Day, I wondered why pick that day, when people tend to want to spend time with their mother's/family. People even travel, take time off to spend days/weekends with mother's etc

OldFriends4Sale said:

bashraka said:

The only thing I am critical of is the high ticket prices for the Mother's Day show in Baltimore in honor of Freddie Gray. From a PR standpoint it looks opportunistic and "portion of the proceeds" is veryy vague. "Baltimore' lyrics didn't blow me away, but Prince doesn't need to be Curtis Mayfield or Gil Scott Heron. At this time, as long as it's from the heart, that should be enough.

I don't know if Prince celebrates days like Mother's Day, I wondered why pick that day, when people tend to want to spend time with their mother's/family. People even travel, take time off to spend days/weekends with mother's etc

Sunday is a good day for Bible thumpers to get together and pray to their higher power. Fat load of good that does cities like Baltimore.

Aerogram said:

KingSausage said:

Aerogram said:

I'll say this : any big name artist could be challenged the way this open letter challenges Prince to follow the sentiment of his recent, still unreleased but already dragged over red hot 0coals WITH action.

Action in the form of what is outlined in the expertly written and heartfelt missive.

Yet if every artist that sang against prejudice, brutality, hunger, suicide, guns, etc. would need to follow the same path Prince is dared to take and the same standard (words with action), I'm pretty sure world hunger would be cured by now.

I think part of the letter is a huge level of respect for Prince. Why bother asking him to work with the grassroots unless they know his word could matter more? I'm not articulating this well, but maybe you know what I mean. Some artists, who cares what they think. Prince? People care. So they want him to do and say more.

It's a compliment someone thought of him as a person that could help. Then again, this is the usual scenario for community activists seeking famous people to back a worthy cause: they say "come make a difference, we think YOU could". Ideally, every legend would drop everything and jump at the chance to humbly assist and be down to earth, committed and cooperative. However most times singers just sing, painters just paint -- it'd be cool if he showed his commitment in a big "grassroot" way, but it's not like we have any reason to expect him to do things this way after over three decades of superstardom. After that long, it's customary to accept people are who they are and not what we'd wish they were.