Dez was ahead of his time because music was still quite segregated in the late 70s and early 80s. It is still stoday but the industry actuallu created some bullshit category that they actually called "black music" back in the day and if you were black and made music, that is the category that you were in. Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, and Prince did much to counter this racist standard but it was too late for alot of black rock musicians.

With the exception of Living Colour and perhaps Fishbone (on a underground punk rock level), there were few black rock artists that actually were taken seriously and exposed to the general public in the proper fashion. After reading Dez's book and listening to his solo album for a couple of years now, I think that Dez could have been like Lenny Kravitz - a rock star of color that has some roots in funk and hard rock with the universal appeal. Unfortunately, one had to be an undeniable phenom like Prince to get that kind of consideration from the music industry back in the early 80s when the racist but influential programming practices of MTV were first called out. If Lenny came up with "Fly Away" and one of those cool videos in 1984, MTV probably would have blown him off just as they did Rick James because he did not fit their "rock" or "new wave" format.
[This message was edited Mon Jan 5 12:53:29 PST 2004 by undulatingacrobat]
[This message was edited Mon Jan 5 15:38:13 PST 2004 by undulatingacrobat]

sorry dissagree if dez was as good as lenny he'd have made it in a big way ! SORRY 4 ME NO COMPARISION !

interesting point of view but although mtv didn't support black rock artists back then the r&b charts did and they sold a lot of records. rick james for example was incredibly successful long before mtv appeared on our screens, to be honest to this day i've never seen a rick james video!. i think it's safe to say that the record industry is as fickle today as it's always been, some people make it and some don't, i haven't read dez's book and it would be interesting to do so only to know what's his perspective on the prince fronted mpls sound and his also views on the industry

danielboon said:

Dez's album is really nice. We all know how much baggage folks can be saddled with when they leave Prince's camp.

I have all Lenny's albums, but havin' a Cosby kid for a wife didn't hurt him in the publicity department back in the day.

BlaqueKnight said:

I must agree. That album COOKS!!! Can you imagine him doing a video of "Bring Your Love Down Hard on Me" with the likes of Clapton?

Jesse's so talented. He nails Hendrix's sound on that disc, actually has a totally different sound from the one during the 1980s...

Unbelievable.



BK, how can I learn to solo like Jesse?

skilletnomicrowave said:

yeah..but arent you missing a big part of the guys arguement? that black *rock* wasnt getting airplay? even in today's self-named r&B neo-soul radio stations you will hear doves, erotic city, controversy, beautiful girl and other r&b leaning songs...but u never hear I Would Die 4 U or any of his rock-ier tracks...


i will never forget one day one of the dope head vj's on mtv introduced Terrence Trent Darby's "She Kissed Me There" video and declared, "Here is the next Lenny Kravitz"... :O

thats when i lost all faith in mtv...i think i was 16...

ThreadBare said:

Most definitely - Jesse could go toe to toe with Lenny anyday and could have been as big if his career took a different route. Coming from under Prince marks you for life in comparisons to him.
[This message was edited Tue Jan 6 17:20:02 PST 2004 by undulatingacrobat]

sosgemini said:

Thanks for getting my point.

BlaqueKnight said:

now we r talkin jesse had the talent and shoulda been massive !

BlaqueKnight said:

i agree withcha... Dez & Jesse both got "It" it's just that they probably don't "want" it anymore & it's all about making music 4 u'rself now...