I was talking to a friend of mine that is in radio..and he was saying that he thinks that Prince doesnt appeal to the youth of today as much, because his lyrics and music arrangements are too intricate.....now he is a fan of Prince so he wasnt hating or anything..he was giving his view. He said that he still till this day dont know what "Purple Rain" , "Illusion Coma Pimp and Circumstance"and "Raspberry Beret" means....can you beleive that he was SHOCKED when I told him that "Little Red Corvette" is NOT about a car but do you think he has a point..do you think that Prince would have to "dumb down" his music and make it more pedestrian in order to appeal to the youth? Now, I dont think Prince should even concern himself with appealing to the youth..forget them..LOL...but this is just a question..he was also saying how Prince is such a diverse artist..he appreciated and appluaded that but said that youth wants consistency...they want to hear a CD of ALL r&b or ALL rap not all different genres on 1 CD...and he was like Prince needs to be more consistent with albums....keeping the same sound....like he was saying how Prince shoulda followed "Purple Rain" up with a similarly sounding album and that in order for Prince not to be forgotten about again, he need to make another CD sounding like "Musicology." I told him that he is DELIRIOUS!

It's not about "dumbing" down...but let's face it, no 12 yr old knows who he is. Ron Isely is forever appearing, or was don't know what he'll do with this stroke situation, on R Kelly and Hip Hop records. I mean, let's be real here. Life is about evolution. I love that man's music, but make room for the young bucks. Plus, P has a snobbery about music that isn;t exactly warm and welcoming to a lot of today's artists. HELLO!! He is definitely starting to act like his elders did back in the day.

I know I'll get hozed for this; people are so emotionally attached to a pop culture icon, but it's a new day and age. Time for new faces, talent, music. Plus, I remember Gene Simmons tlaking about doing old KISS records, vs. other artists complaints about doing them over and over. He said, the audience is the boss, they pay his bills. If they came to hear the classics, i give it to them. I have abeautifully big house because of them. I love that!! I really think P is very self involved. Being an ass about his old stuff....well, that's what a lot of people want!

But as i digress, do you see any megastar from back in the day dominating the Pop/R&B/Hip Hop charts? Besides, why do we worry about it.....the man is sooooo paid, off of our green backs

um, I have nieces and nephews who are under the age of 13 and they love prince!
my cousin whose a nanny, loves prince and plays him sometimes around the kids she work with, and she tells me all the time how they love the song 1+1+1=3 and Dolphin, plus some new stuff from Musicology.

You don't have to read into the lyrics to like a song or its artist!
I knew what prince was singing about when I listened to his lyrics in Little Red Corvette!

The song was good, and fun, it had nice funky beat, but when I was a bit older, I realized it was about sex, safe sex!

anyways...Prince can appeal to anyone if they hear his music and if radio wasn't so stuck on hip hop and samples, then prince would appeal to the kids of today, as he did back in the 80's.

My brother who loves g-unit and ememiem, and he's 17, went to his first concert ever and it was prince this summer...and he was so amazed at the performance given by prince, he stood up the entire time and loves musicology!

he has a 2004 mustang gt , he got for his graduation this year and i hear him pulling up bumping ICPC, and Call My Name!

COME ON GET REAL!
LOL
PRINCE APPEALS TO ALL...IF GIVEN A LISTEN!

that's not the point. of course we all enjoy it, and he's a substantial enough artist to have young bucks respect and enjoy him. but let's be real here, entertainment does not always revolve around him. Besides, it's his obscurity...in a sense that makes you stand out to others. He's going to continue to do it his way and we will continue to enjoy it.

BRE Magazine did a feature story on him (trade publication...for ... oh my.....my virgin ears...radio...folks love to hate radio here) and it was excellent, a story completely about his business saavy that the industry ignored for 20 years and now execs ask HIM for advice.

Respect is given when respect is due. It may not be as loud as you like (jeeez!! i mean he is still getting Pay yay yayed from us) but it's unique. I like being that unique individual that likes his stuff.

KatSkrizzle said:

KatSkrizzle..I HIGHLY disagree....life is about evolution but at the same time, I beleive that artists MUST maintain artist integrity....while Prince has not always made the BEST albums or career choices imo, in the last 10-12 years, Prince can still look back and say that he is in control of his career, especially now. Ron Isley cant say the same. His "Mr. Biggs" character is a persona that was created for him by R Kelly....that is not who Ron Isley is as an artist..Its like he's a "charachter" in a never ending play.
Also, I dont beleive that Prince is snobbish towards a lot of todays artists but if he isnt "feeling" them why would he work with them.....after all, he DOES have that descretion. As for Gene Simmons comments... if that works for Kiss then thats good for them..personally I'm GLAD that Prince is as u put it, "self involved". He does want HE wants..END OF STORY...why not challenge the audience instead of always giving them what they want? How can they grow musically if they always getting the same ole same ole?

I cant understand the statements you made..on one hand you said that life is about evolution, then you complain about Prince not doing the classics..how can he evlolve if you STILL want him doing "1999" in concert?

I just think that youth of today dont understand an "artist/musician" like Prince because they are not used to someone like him. They arent used to and cant appreciate musicainship..think about it..who since Prince came out in 1978 has been on his level..prior to Prince there were quite a few dynamic artists/musicians out...Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Stevie,Carlos Santana, Hendrix, etc.....who is the "MUSICIAN" of the new millenium?? Alicia Keys???
[Edited 9/11/04 16:41pm]
[Edited 9/11/04 16:45pm]

I guess I'm torn between business and creativity. It is how my brain works. Making a soft sell, so to speak would be combining the classics with the new...isnt that what he does in his shows now?

Is this why I cannot fully understand artists? Product is great, but I gotta get paid.

And as far as Alicia, she's great, but no I would not call her the best. Good musicianship will always fall through the cracks...I mean, during P's heyday, it was synth and fabricated pop...right?

I mean, there is KEM, Anthony Hamilton, Angie Stone, Jill Scott, Kindrid, India Arie. Say what you want, but the good stuff will always shine.

Love Alive, you seem quite upset about this...hmmm. Like I said, the art is wonderful and it is what makes life unique. But I am always torn in half with the monetary side....I'm buying dude's materials, and he is oooblie oaciously paid from it. It's all about being aware and playing by the rules....to me anyway.

KatSkrizzle said:

LOL no Im not upset..LOLLLLL!!
but it does irritate me that a lot of young people dont respect and understand musicians.....but as for the monetary thing..this is how I feel about it...look at all the rappers...shoot...artists in general making $$ but being a puppet to what the industry dictates...if I was an artist and 60 yrs old..I would rather look back at my career and say "I made that music because that is truly the experssion I was feeling at that time." Not because the label dictated it or because "I wanted a hit" but because that was ME...what I wanted to do and What I was feeling at that time

KATSKRIZZLE u said:But I am always torn in half with the monetary side....I'm buying dude's materials, and he is oooblie oaciously paid from it. It's all about being aware and playing by the rules....to me anyway.[/quote]


To me, when $$ is taking out of context, thats when you become a puppet in the industry because you will do ANYTHING to make a "hit"....sacrifice creativity simply to have a "HIT". I dont agree with that...I would rather fail with an EXCELLENT album than have a hit with a sorry album that its not representative of me BUT is what is commercial for the time
[Edited 9/11/04 18:59pm]

LoveAlive said:

Disown your friend.

Beyonce
appealed
to
them


thats
about
it.

co-sign on everything you said.

I'd just like to add ... and I'll preface my statements with I know there are a number of teenagers and 20-somethings that frequent this site who dig Prince. My comments are not directed to you.

But, kids today are not very imaginative. If it's not spelled out in big bold letters then they just don't get it and therefore don't like it. I blame a lot of this mentality on bad rappers and bad lyricsts. Listen to the garbage that gets the most airplay. Damn near everything is based on some jive assed street slang or made up words.

At least price was trying to be clever when he would do this early in his career. A lot of today's so-called artists aren't even trying to do that.

I'm going to contradict myself here and point to another thread on this very site about Prince's Most Irresponsible Lyric and I have to say that I was disturbed by the number of people who were misinterpreting the lyrics to "Sister", I wanna Melt with U" and another song tha escapes me right now.

.
[Edited 9/12/04 7:17am]

.
[Edited 9/12/04 7:16am]

weird... must have hit the button twice

I'm happy to say that I got into Prince VERY young. I was 5 when I became a fan and it was the music that always got me. I must have been different cause I could see that Prince was different from everyone else and his music didn't sound like anyone else's and I wasn't even in Kindergaten yet. I'm grateful to MTV and the radio for playing him all the time, but if I were 5 today, oh God. The radio and the labels want us to hear what they think will work for us so as a result real music will hardly ever get a chance to shine like it still was 20 years ago. Plus, with rap and hip-hop, there isn't anyway to be imaginative with lyrics. With that dominating the airwaves, it's no wonder why more kids don't know who Prince is and that's a damn shame in my book

Ifsixwuz9 said:

There are a few disturbing things in that thread. I just don't have the energy....

Whoa, Whoa, WHOA!!!! I am thirteen years old and I love Prince. You all need to keep in mind that twelve years old isn't the same thing as it was twenty years ago. I knew that "Little Red Corvette" was not about a car at age nine. I HATE HOW SO MANY PEOPLE ON THIS SITE ARE SO DISCRIMINATORY WHEN IT COMES TO AGE! (I am not saying anything about the people in this particular thread, necessarily.) I would just like to say, I have been a Prince fan for a while now, and have gotten many of my friends interested in him, also.

NPD313 said:

I don't mind if he appeals to the youth as long as he never waters his music down to appeal to their tastes.

vainandy said:

EXACTLY!

BlaqueKnight said:

plus
he
has
no
club
hi-energy
dance
music

Prince needs to make good music again if he wants to appeal to anyone besides the fams.

EvilWhiteMale said:

And some of us aren't even turned on by the new stuff or making an effort anymore.
I'm still stuck in the 80's and some 90's material.

LoveAlive said:

No, and I hope he never does. He'll never appeal to everyone. And he shouldn't try. There will always be youth (ahem... ) who can appreciate his music. Those who don't are missing out.

Well i am 12 years old & will b 13 in October & I know who Prince is I am a huge fan