No doubt about it, Prince is one of the most talented musicians making music today. Unfortunately, Prince does not really have that much to say. While Prince has shown that he can make relevant points with campy songs like “Controversy” and more serious tracks like “Anna Stesia” these moments of lyrical clarity and insight are far and few between. In the majority of the consciously “serious” Prince songs Prince sounds out of his league. While I enjoy the music of both “Dear Mr. Man” and “United States of Division” the lyrics are uninspired and trite. Compare “Dear Mr. Man” with the original templates “What’s Going On” and the more politically conscious Curtis and Sly and you see that Prince lacks the sophistication, wit, and verbal prowess and sensativity of his precursors. “America” is a dope track and the lyrics work because it’s pure pop-camp but when Prince goes for more he usually fails miserably. TRC? Please, while the music is, at times, brilliant, the lyrics are alienating, cryptic, and inane. Now cryptic sometimes makes for a good pop record (e.g. “7”) but generally cryptic social commentary is the product of the uniformed and naïve. But really what are we to expect? Prince spends all his time making music and today even the music sounds recycled and uninspired. Prince get out of the house, take a trip with your wife, read the paper. Any maybe you should vote too!

Dansa...can we have the countdown please?

17ways69days said:

Are u nuts?

did i accidentally click on to www.theonion.com?!?

MaquisVixen said:

i know that's right!

paisleypark4 said:

I'm just so fucking sick of this....
17ways....get this. If you think he's a "fool" then get the fuck off the org!

MaquisVixen said:

Hmm. Not a fan of debate? Prince is one of my favorite musicians so I think I’ll stay. Thanks for your hospitality.

17ways69days said:

SUCKA!

"but generally cryptic social commentary is the product of the uniformed and naïve."

Wow, that was kinda harsh, but I do agree with the above statement. This has been my problem with a few artists, but Prince has taken it above and beyond at times. So many of his fans are always searching for the "secret message in the song" because his lyrics are often fused with many double entenders, etc. Occasionaly Prince is clear, most times he is clever, but when it comes to politics & religion and social issues, taking poetic liscense just comes off as a cop out. Anyone seeking political understanding from Prince deserves all the confusion they're going to get. Sometimes with Prince's songs, the message gets clouded by the "puzzle". This generation is much more direct than the 70s kids who comprise a very large portion of Prince's audience. They don't want to hear double talk, they want clear and direct and respect nothing else. That is a small echo of the overall tone of society in general these days. They want Talieb Kweli, Jadakiss, Anthony Hamilton, etc. instead of cleverly masked vagueness. I guess you could say its a sign of the times. I just chalk it up to Prince being Prince. You can get caught up in the fun of it, then let it pass...or you can take Prince way too seriously and end up neurotic. Just take Prince's lyrics with a grain of salt, call it a Princeism and let it pass.

oooohhh...

paisleypark4 said:

MaquisVixen said:

i JUST made this because of this thread !

BlaqueKnight said:

I AGREE! Also Prince could learn a lot from Talib Kweli. And Talib Kweli sure aint anything like the nonsense spewing Jadakiss??? Anyway, while I agree with your point, Prince's political apathy and self-declared religious interest (combined with a lost Prince rapping about niggers and whips???) paints the picture of a silly man – shallow, drifting, and out of touch. Out of touch with me cause I sure can’t see how he knows himself. But the music is nice, real nice.

paisleypark4 said:

I love it.

I used Jadakiss as an example because of his directness. I was specifically thinking of the song "Why". Perhaps Kanye West would have been more appropriate. Still, you get where I was going with that right? The younger genreations have a much lower bullshit tolerance. They want you to say what you mean and say it now. Like I said earlier, people gotta not place such a high degree of importance on his opinions. He's just a man like any other man. He just happens to play music really well. Everybody does something well, right?
[This message was edited Mon Aug 16 14:38:08 2004 by BlaqueKnight]

this doesn't even deserve a response.

DEAR MR. MAN is NOT about politics

Why do I have to explain everything?

The ruse under which he paints a semi-political picture is but a allegory of the more personal message conveyed in his song, albeit bereft of self-explanation and teeming with a mix of superfluous and necessary passages in unlikely combination. But, the code CAN be broken.

Dr Mr. Man is a double negative. Meaning “Mr.” is masculine, and “Man” is masculine, so (Mr. X Man) = Feminine. In other words Mr. Man is simply another way of saying woman.
And “Lend a helping hand” is not a social commentary on governmental intervention in social welfare programs. It’s actually much more personal. What Prince is saying is that “Look, I’m broke!! I need money.”
And when he quotes , “..they meek shall inherit the earth”, he implies that to inherit the earth, you need to breed and have offspring that will accomplish the task for you. This then tells you that “Woman” really means “VAGINA”, which is the thing from which all life originates, and is the only portal to producing offspring to inherit the earth.
So when he says, “Dr. Mr. Man, We tired of y’all” what he’s saying is : “Look, I’m sick and tired of all the vaginas responsible for all the money I’m spending and not helping me father a million children to make more money.”
The message tends to kind of muddled as he veers in many directions, but ultimately the song is a thinly veiled homage to vaginas, wrapped up in a shallow proclamation of political rhetoric—a pastiche of genitalia and politics if you will.


..
.
[This message was edited Mon Aug 16 14:55:25 2004 by AsianBomb777]

heeheeheeeee

someone please explain to me why this thread should be locked?


it makes a valid point (one that all might not agree with) but there seems to be an entire fleshed out explenation of the authors views..


man, i dont visit this forum much but has this become npgmc or something? do these types of threads really get locked up? or are you all just reading the title and not the content?

17ways69days said:

Yeah, he's a fool in a big ol' purple dunce hat, sat in the back yard sticking berries up his nose.

But YOU just can't get enough of him!

sosgemini said:

I hate it when unpopular views or statements rendor a "lock" . IT's stupid.
I thought the .org was our alternative to NPMUSIC CLUB's self agrandizing rhetoric.

sosgemini said:

People have gotten to the point that if you point out any of Prince's flaws they take it personally. Some people on this site need to wander over to the NPGMC if they only want the positive.

What's wrong with being a little bit shallow at times. Everyone doesn't have to write "deep songs about social issues." Anyway, sometimes social issues come out in his song whether he does it on purpose or not.

note: I can't stand talib kweli. Honestly, I can't stand any type of rap music.

Well, back to my point: Maybe Prince's "deep songs" come off sounding trite (as you say) b/c he might only be doing those type of songs because he thinks poeple want to hear that and he doesn't want people to say things like "why does he only write those nasty songs" blah blah blah; so, those particular songs have no heart and may come off sounding trite. His songs are good even if they have a message or not.

I skip "Dear Mr. Man" anyhow.

i meant to say: i skip DEAR MR. MAN because it sounds too "i hate the man" for me.

The problem is, Prince isn't as smart as he thinks he is. He should stop trying to deliver retarded messages.

Why would you post something like that on an online fan community FOR Prince? Usually true fans accentuate the positives and do not focus on the negatives.

Oh, wait, Prince doesn't have negatives.

BlaqueKnight said:

I think there is no better example of this than TRC. Much of his social commentary was obscured by unfortunate cryptic references to such topics as the Holocaust.

That being said, I can think of a few tracks that Prince has dealt with social issues in a fairly direct manner, such as Pop Life, America, Dance On, Sign O' The Times and Money Don't Matter 2Night. He'll never be Stevie or Marvin or Gil Scott-Heron or Chuck D but he's had some pretty good tracks along those lines over the years.