I know Prince was heavily influenced by James Brown's musical style and stage performance style...

But who originated the antic of calling out "Break it Down"? Prince was the first person I heard doing it.

I realize that musical "breaks" date back decades in jazz music, and lots of pop/funk have instrumental breaks which early rap DJs used to rap over....

But Prince is the first person I heard in a pop setting to scream out "Break it down" to instruct the band to strip it down to drums, and either rhythm guitar or bass.

And he definitely influenced the rest of pop music. First Janet (via Jimmy Jam) did in Control, and then it seemed like everyone was screaming "break it down" in every song, even when they werent' actually going into a break! (Hammer, lots of rap artists...). Which is annoying cuz it shows they dont' know much about the music they are "playing".

GaryMF said:

I don't have an answer except: I'm sure the phrase predates both Prince and JB by a long shot.

FunkMistress said:

True, except Prince seems to be the first one to incorporate it into Pop music in the form of stage antics, and even part of the recording.