i think he didnt know how 2 respond and he was overwhelmed
he tried 2 rhyme,he hired wack rappers,and he played himself.
he let hip hop get in his head to a great degree.
"sexy motherfucker"was a response to hip hop and that was good,but for the most part he didnt quite get it.
in my book it goes from 84 where u see purple rain and then by the end of the decade -only a couple of years later-hes been eclipsed by about 18 million rappers.

source.nelson george(in the source march 04)

personally i dig princes hip hop....good life remix and 18 and over are stand out in my eyes but i can deffo see where nelson is coming from.the whole gun mic..tony m ,tc ellis etc just didnt quite ring true

it was perhaps the 1st time in his career he wasnt the innovator and became an imitator!(hey!i just reread that and ive impressed myself!! )

I've heard some of his hip hop songs (Sexy M.F, Pope, Gett off, and etc..) and i think his rapping is pretty good his rhyming was okay,..like in songs like pope-(i couldn't really understand what it meant tho). I think that his sleeping on hip hop kinda worked against him maybe b/c he was being compared and competed with other artists like Snoop, Dre, Tupac etc...
....still like the way he raps tho!...anyone else agree?

He was doing another form of music. He is not an innovator of rap. Oh, and so when he does something jazz does that make him a jazz musician and can be compared 2 Miles and Maceo?
I dont believe he used rap to gain anything, he was trying a new form of music, (and he made sure he got his little share of it).

He had his goodies, "Sexy MF" "Gett Off" "Days Of Wild" "Bob George" "P Control" and even the new Musicology tour cut "Prince N Da Band"

and misses "Jughead" "The Flow" "Arrogance" "18 & Over" "Poom Poom" "Sun Moon & Stars"
He was not out to set any line 2 say that he was a rap artist. That's where u r not correct. Prince doesnt have any set label.

The problem with Prince is that he’s a hybrid artist, borrowing sounds from many different genres and forcing them to work together. Sometimes the blend is really nice (like mixing Pineapples and Coconut), and sometimes it doesn’t work well (Like Sushi and Icecream).

Prince’s exceptance of hip hop culture came during a period of time that we started to get a more racially “aware” Prince. I think all minorities who grew up during the 70’s and 80’s in a predominantly white world come to a racial “awakening” phase. Often we search for our place in society and try to grasp how we can connect to our heritage, while at the same time understanding that we have to be more than our legacy—a balancing act, if you will.

You have to remember from 1990 to 1995, we saw a Prince who started moving away from racially neutral or even (ango influenced) styles of expression towards more afro-centric ones. First, the band went from predominantly white, to mixed, to mostly black. Then (and this came later), the girls went from predominantly white and white/Latino to mixed to more African looking.

I beg to differ with people who claim that it is anti-white, as you can be proud of your heritage without being openly hostile to anglo culture and vice versa, but I do understand when whites get uncomfortable with non racially neutral expression. The problem with Prince is that he doesn’t connect well with African American pop culture in the sense of “street” expression. He’s very black, very funky, and very soulful—but Redman and Methodman, he ain’t. But it’s part of growing and expanding, and even though most of his hip hop efforts have been eyer-rollingly embarrassing, it sometimes worked.

Being Asian, I’ve experienced episodes during my “awakening” when I would try to cook asian food as a form of expressing my new found love of my culture. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn’t. My Pad Thai is awesome, but my spring rolls suck. It takes a few nights in the kitchen before I find balance.

jonylawson said:

The thread title says he slept on hip hop, but the content in the original post says he acknowledged it.


He attempted some rap recordings, some cringe-inducing ones. In the scheme of his entire career it doesn't matter much, because it was short-lived and not a well-remembered era, except when it comes to mainly his hardcore contingent. His rapping was more effortless ("Irresistible Bitch") when he wasn't actually trying to come over to hip hop's house and be an MC.

Prince and his hired guns as MC's weren't part of that culture, nor did they have an affinity for it. That's why it didn't work. Just as a lot of non-disco recording artists weren't a part of the disco culture, but attempted disco records anyway. Listen around, you'll find many rappers (especially the male ones) aren't successful singing either. There are no Stevies, Donnys, Marvins, etc. in the bunch. Prince can't do what they do, and they can't do what Prince does. I don't think there's any shame in that in itself. As long as they all know how to quit while they're behind.