I am sorry i have to use this blatant issues again: Prince is halve black, a quarter white, and a quarter asian....But to me he did sound at his best when he just ignored this superficial aspects, and focussed on what he really is: an openminded, creative musician.....

Riverpoet31 said:

Not to be racist (which i aint at all), but what about if all those black people had put some effort into listening to Around the World in a day and heard that Prince was just developing as an artist....

Listen to Around a world in the day, Parade, Sign of the Times and (maybe) Lovesexy, to hear what i mean: A musician expressing himselve freely, creatively, and not caring about skin-colour, race or ethnicity....

Prince is halve black, a quarter white, and a quarter asian.

npgmaverick said:

There are so many "touchy" subjects re. Prince (his ethnicity, his sexuality, his attitude towards different races, his behaviour towards women, how he handled the WB thing, the list goes on and on) that have the potential to be interesting, even educational debates. Problem is, a good chunk of the fanbase (at least here on the Org) decides they have to take the issue personally, and any differing view is treated as a personal insult. There's too much childishness on the Org to have a proper discussion on a lot of topics without it falling apart into a flame-fest.

Not to be racist (which i aint at all), but what about if all those black people had put some effort into listening to Around the World in a day and heard that Prince was just developing as an artist....

Riverpoet31 said:

I sincerely hope you are not directing that to anyone on this thread.




Some of his "whitest" albums to date. That proves my point exactly.

Not to be racist (which i aint at all), but what about if all those black people had put some effort into listening to Around the World in a day and heard that Prince was just developing as an artist....

As i stated in an earlier post, Around the world in a day wasnt such a 'watershed' as many seem to consider it, it is Prince (and the revolution)building further on the minneapolis sound and bringing new influences into it (psychedelic pop, world music, gospel, bluesrock).

To call that 'alienating his black audience' tells that youre not understanding what happened, Prince is a musician in the first place, and (at least at that time) didnt think off himselve as a 'black' or 'white' musician, Prince referred to Around the World in a day as his 'fuck you'-record, it was the record he wanted to make at that moment in time.

Maybe later in his career Prince made some 'mistakes' by purposely labelling himselve as a 'black' artist (bringing on rappers on Diamonds and Pearls and the Symbol album, calling himselve 'a slave', talking about racial issues on 'The Rainbow Children'), but to me these moves in general did sound detached, not connecting to what he really is on both a musical and personal level.

I am sorry i have to use this blatant issues again: Prince is halve black, a quarter white, and a quarter asian....But to me he did sound at his best when he just ignored this superficial aspects, and focussed on what he really is: an openminded, creative musician.....

Listen to Around a world in the day, Parade, Sign of the Times and (maybe) Lovesexy, to hear what i mean: A musician expressing himselve freely, creatively, and not caring about skin-colour, race or ethnicity....

PurpleKnight said:

You know as well as I do that his band hasn't been as mixed as it used to be. But it also seems he shows more love for the black members of his audience. He probably feels more comfortable around black folks than white folks.

PurpleKnight said:

A lot has changed over the years. He's not the guy he used to be.

Riverpoet31 said:

I drink my coffee black. Cream and sugar takes away from the coffee taste.
[Edited 4/25/05 22:11pm]

EvilWhiteMale said:

I guess P went into a change after Warner said in some many words to him fuck you. So perhaps, he started to do an about face. Of course with Prince, you really can't predict what the hell he's going to do next since he's a damn Gemini. Anything goes except swear words in old songs .

I'm not calling anybody out but, I've occasionally noticed that when Prince sings a song about sex in general it's ok but when he as a black male speaks on his expirience as a black male then it's like "How could he do that???".It's like it's ok to sing about having sex with his sister but not ok to speak on racial injustice. Personally, I like how Prince not only writes about what everybody can relate to but his own personal journey in life as well. Unfortunately not everybody feels the same.

For me, Prince never deliberately made the decision to make more white or more black sounding music.... I think it has a lot to do with the kind of musicians surounding him (and the influences they bring into his music), his urges to experiment during one period or keep it more sobre during the other...

Let me start with this thing that many Peeps seem to see wrong: the following up of Purple Rain with Around The World in a day.....some see it as a move that alienated his black fans...others (like me) see it as a development to grow further as an artist.

I mean from Dirty Mind unto Purple Rain he created his trademark funkrock (Minneapolis) sound, a became a big star with it.... But Around the World in a day is not so much a 'watershed'-record as some think it was....
When you listen to the basic-arrangements, the skeletons of the songs on Around...you hear Prince still using his trademark linn-beat, funky pop / rock rhythem tracks. On top of that he uses melodies and arrangments that are more white (beatlesque) sounding maybe or influenced by new styles (psychedelic pop, worldmusic), but i see that as a natural development: Prince had allready created a basic-sound, but on this record he tries out new melody-lines and arrangements because he wants to grow creatively...
I think Wendy and Lisa played a big part in this, by putting his attention at new styles of music he never tried before, and Prince for me, in the first place, is a creative artist who wants to grow artistically, so, in my opinion he experimentated with this influences because it is in his 'blood' to experiment....

On Parade he broaded his horizons even further with semi-classical influences, different European musicalstyles and folk. NOT with the purpose to alianate himselve from a black audience, but as a way to keep music interesting to him, to experiment with new sounds and arrangements....

Sign of the Times (especially the concerttour and the records that followed it: The Black Album and Lovesexy) brought new influences to his music: namely Jazz and Jazz-rock, and as an creative artist, he tried this kind of music, tried to combine his with his trademark funk/rock sound, just showing a natural artistic development.....

So, to my opninion: i think you see to much in Princes music when it comes to labelling himselve as either black or white, i think the first goal Prince had was: making music that was interesting for him, experiment with new sounds, I mean he allready achieved great commercial succes with Purple Rain, it gave him the freedom to be who he really is: a curious, openminded musician, willing to experiment and try out new things...

MsLegs said:

I woulnd't mind so much if he had at least one good album every 5 years. But that's not even happening.

Is the comment that Prince is half black, half white, quarter asian, funny as hell? Yes, probably the most ridiculous comment I've seen in ages.

Hotlegs: can you explain to me why you are thinking that?

You 'want' him to be a black person?