http://www.africana.com/c...prince.asp


For Myself and Others: Past, Present and Prince

Just when it seemed like middle-age might send Prince into the same obscure career period that's plagued Michael Jackson, Prince finds his mojo.


By Bomani Jones

2004 has seen Prince return to prominence. What's interesting is that he's emerged from contemporary irrelevance by reveling in the past.
As the Musicology tour winds down, Prince's profile is higher than it has been in at least a decade. The Musicology album is platinum, its sales buoyed by an interesting SoundScan hustle. Released on the heels of his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction and his obvious role as Andre 3000's muse, Musicology is easily his best offering in nearly a decade. And just like that, a star has been resurrected.

Coincidentally, it's happening the same year that Purple Rain's 20th anniversary is being celebrated with a re-release of the film on DVD, complete with a host of extra features and re-mastered sound. With the right sound system, First Avenue can be reborn and 1984 seems more like yesterday than yesteryear.

At last, Prince has grown comfortable with middle age.

After turning 35, most artists move into a tricky period where they yearn to remain contemporary but are poster people of the past. Michael Jackson hit that point in the mid-'90s (though he still doesn't realize that). Stevie Wonder was there in the mid-'80s. Wonder and Jackson — both of whom are legends, even to those who are fans of neither — approached middle age differently. Stevie toned down his act and became too enthralled with easy listening and then-new computer-based sounds. The results for Jackson have bordered on catastrophic, marked by two substandard, over-hyped LPs and extreme personal drama.

Prince hit middle age in 1993. More accurately, middle age hit him. He was six years removed from his masterpiece — Sign O The Times — nearly a decade removed from the height of his stardom — Purple Rain — and 13 years removed from his edgiest work (the vulgarly brilliant Dirty Mind). He was lost in a pop landscape that began to embrace hip hop, the then-burgeoning genre to which he had been quite resistant.

What he did next is hard to describe. For ten years, Prince frustrated, confused, teased, dismissed, and groveled to fans. He also managed to embarrass himself by foolishly appearing in public with "slave" scrawled across his face, a move that was on the wrong side of the thin line between hyperbole and silly exaggeration. He frustrated them with the bizarre releases he used to appease his contract with Warner Bros. (Chaos and Disorder, anyone?). He teased them with albums that lacked the incontrovertible brilliance to which they'd grown accustomed, but were still satisfying (The Gold Experience, Emancipation). He dismissed them with bizarre professional actions like the mid-'90s refusal to play his hits and filing a lawsuit against a fanzine that served no one but his fans. In 2000, he groveled to them by releasing Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, a somewhat enjoyable disc that holds the dubious distinction of being Prince's first album whose intention seemed to be sounding like everyone else.

Rave sounded like Prince was trying to come back to his fans. But they weren't where he left them, so he tried to go where they relocated.

Bad idea. Really bad idea. Not quite as bad as showing up at your ex-girlfriend's new apartment, but the end result was the same — a lukewarm reception and hurt feelings.

Neither fleeing from nor running toward the world, Prince has finally invited the world to where he is now. And that's great, because where he is has proven to be interesting, fun and comprehensible. Musicology, the album, is soulful, funky, and definitely middle-aged. Its title track hopes to bring back "the feeling music gave you back in the day," nostalgically mentioning Earth, Wind, and Fire, even though he balked at the suggestion that Verdine or Maurice White produce his debut album. It's not quite a trip in a time machine, but there's no place on Musicology for cameos by Eve, Gwen Stefani, or any of the others Clive Davis dug up to make Rave seem hip. And unlike The Rainbow Children, this record shows that he's having fun with his new life as a Jehovah's Witness, being clever about his new faith instead of bludgeoning listeners with overbearing self-righteousness.

Musicology, the tour, holds the same quality. The new album surfaces here and there, but most of the two-hour set are his hits and dusties (hits being standards like "Kiss," dusties being underrated gems like "Let's Work"). That he's playing them at all is a bit of a feat considering how temperamental Prince has been about his past. Stories about his fans' displeasure with his refusal to play hits during the Emancipation tour were common, including some in which he left the stage because fans were not connecting with his then-new music.

But now that he seems to have gotten used to middle age, Prince can revel in the glow of his legacy. He can allow adoring fans to party like it's 1984. He can also allow himself to smile and watch his fans party as such. It's surreal to watch Prince sit on a stool and strum "Little Red Corvette" on a purple acoustic guitar, effectively turning a crowd of 15,000 into the most risqué campfire sing-along ever (lines like "she had a pocket full of horses" with s'mores? Not quite). He teases fans for not knowing songs as well as he thought they should, but it's nothing contemptuous. He seems relaxed, the crowds are energized, and few have seen Prince relaxed in the last ten years.

This demeanor could be nothing but helpful to his music. So often, he seemed hell-bent on staying at the vanguard of pop, making music so impenetrable that even his most hardcore fans had a hard time defending some of his releases. When Rave desperately begged to be given attention by the mainstream, he went too far. He invited fans to come back, but he tried to let everyone in, making entry so much less enjoyable. Twenty years ago, Prince was able to make weird records — Purple Rain is bizarre, sales be damned — that connected with listeners having to try to work. Rave felt like he was giving flowers to his fans after staying out too late the night before, and most saw right through it.

But what we see now is something different, something that's hard to find. We see a man comfortable with his past. Maybe being inducted into the HOF — the gold watch at the end of the pop rainbow — gave him a chance to reflect. Perhaps his sweetheart record deal allowed him the freedom and peace of mind to relax (easy to chill when you're getting almost all of the profits). Either way, Musicology gives listeners a chance to view Prince in new and old lights. The tour allows reminds fans how ridiculously talented he is, and the LP lets them get used to his new role as elder statesman, more of a cool, seasoned uncle than one that still tries to party with his nephews.

Supposedly, the Musicology tour is the last time Prince will play from his catalog, but probably untrue (he's pulled this one before). But should that be the case, there's a chance there will still be something worth listening to in concert five years from now. Few would have thought that possible two years ago.

The height of his stardom will always be the end of Purple Rain, where unforgettably he rips through the title track. To approach that is impossible, but the place he's heading toward is still satisfying. For the first time, Prince is satisfied, too. Satisfied to embrace the past, comfortable with being grown, but with an eye on tomorrow.


First published: August 26, 2004

About the Author

Bomani Jones has written for outlets including ESPN.com, the Black Sports Network, and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and he blogs at www.bomanijones.com. Send him any questions, comments, praise, and/or hate mail bomani@bomanijones.com.

Musicology is easily his best offering in nearly a decade.


There's some other things I disagree with, but otherwise a very good article. Props.
[This message was edited Fri Aug 27 16:25:22 2004 by Snap]

"He also managed to embarrass himself by foolishly appearing in public with "slave" scrawled across his face, a move that was on the wrong side of the thin line between hyperbole and silly exaggeration."

He may have embarasses his fans and alot of other people, but I don't think he was embarassed t all. He knew what he was doing the whole time and now everyone else is figuring it out too.

As usual, Prince was so far ahead of everyone else it them awhile to catch up.

harmony i miss u...

A bit too strong, but quite a good article.

But i'm gonna send him some hatemail anyway! Let's work!

Rave felt like he was giving flowers to his fans after staying out too late the night before, and most saw right through it.

Would somebody please tell me what the HELL this is supposed to mean? I always loved flowers no matter what time of day I got them, and I also think rave is a good album!

Musicology is easily his best offering in nearly a decade. And just like that, a star has been resurrected.

And just what does the writer mean by this? What about The Gold Experience, or The Rainbow Children, two of his best albums release during this "decade of downfall" that so many people seem to see. I don't get it. When a person is free, that means he can make the music of his heart. Musicology is good, but it doesn't come close to thise other albums. but I guess the news reporter mafia will be content with dredging up Purple Rain time and time again, and wondering if he has it in him again.

They can go on living in the past, but not this purple fan.

I get the feeling that a lot of reviewers wait until the die is cast with an album and tour before committing to a view. It seems we are getting a lot of positive reviews of Musicology months and months after it came out.

It's a no-brainer to say NOW that the tour and album is a success and find reasons for it. It was a lot harder to PREDICT that the tour and album would be this well received.

It's easy to say his past albums were poor after seeing how popular or not they were, it's a lot harder to defend an album which did poorly but was actually full of great, unrecognised moments.

THE ARTIST has been down for a long time. Though he was never out of mind ... now is his time to shine out once again!!

EROTICCITYNPG said:

I have to stop right here! I am so sick and tired of people cracking on P for this move.
I don't think he look foolish now nor did I think that back when he did it.
It got my attention, made me wonder what the hell is going on, and piqued my curiosity to find out. I learned a lot about how music artists are screwed out. Made all those bankruptcies of the 90's make sense. It took courage and did NOT make him look foolish!
so to all those lazy writers that are too lazy to find something more interesting to write about so they rehash the same ole tired chit,

EROTICCITYNPG said:

I am no music critic but quite frankly I am just hearing these 2 cd's for the first time in the last month, and the music still sounds fresh, I mean I feel like the music was just released, not dated at all. And it is GOOD. I am kicking myself for not checking them out in the 90's when they were release. Letme guess what the writer listens to, Justin Timberlake.

(is there an emoticon for "get the fock outta here???)

Ok, I feel better now, I just emailed the author. Told him what I thought.

[i] I think this was a good summary of where Prince has been

and where he is now in his life. I can truly see that he has found that inner peace that
we all need. I have always defended and stood up 4 my brotha, though I at times in the
past I was like " what is he doing" (refering 2 some of his releases after being freed from
warner brothers),but I was still there buying his records. I am always uplifted by anything he
does,he brings that inspiration that I long for and I wish I had his drive, from every show I've
been 2. I will continue 2 support Prince in all he does in the future....My kids even dig him.....
like they had a choice.....
[b][Edited 8/30/04 8:46am]

poetbear68 said:

Kisses to you poetbear68!! my sentiments exactly!!


I am sick of this "DOWNFALL" imagery. Is it because most western writers have to invoke parables from the Bible to make their point about something? The only "Downfall" they are talking about is a SALES DOWNFALL. Whether an artist is doing good or bad is based on that.

I mean the man has been supporting himself quite well for the average American from his music since he was 19. No Rolling Stones type tours every single year? No collaboration with every new rapper?

"Purple Rain" is over. I do NOT want to go back. They don't know what they missed with "Dig U Better Dead," Come and The Gold Experience.


As usual IGNORANCE IS THE STATUS QUO.

poetbear68 said:

me either? I never heard Rave but I know he looked silly and stupid with those pickininny braids. When I saw it I thought he was making fun of hip-hop?

metalorange said:

LMAO.

prodigalfan said:

LMAO.

Prince did look silly but he's always looked weird and silly. The man has a sense of humor, he's weird and he's got keen marketling skills.

And anyway what he was talking about was real. You are right this is a tired writing of old rehash because the writers should talk more about why he did that and how much that goes on.

He had to make his statement because he needed to learn to be independent. He feels better having more control over his creation and income. Artists should learn to think that way.

prodigalfan said:

LMAO.

Prince did look silly but he's always looked weird and silly. The man has a sense of humor, he's weird and he's got keen marketling skills.

And anyway what he was talking about was real. You are right this is a tired writing of old rehash because the writers should talk more about why he did that and how much that goes on.

He had to make his statement because he needed to learn to be independent. He feels better having more control over his creation and income. Artists should learn to think that way.