First, I am a Prince fan and I probably always will be. And I still prefer listening to a moderate Prince album above any contemporary music. But in my humble opinion the last great Prince album was released 10 years ago (Emancipation). After that he started to go downhill. He seems to have lost the magic somewhere in time. I've always wondered why someone so talented like Prince lost his genius.
What do u think?

I don't think he's lost it.

Surely, you either are or you're not? (a genius)

Musically, I would say he is EXTREMELY gifted, very focussed on music, and obviously practice makes perfect, which he does.
And although many albums of late, not all, sound thrown together with no real album theme, you can pick out many gems with-in each album.

I think TRC brought back a lot of faith, particularly in a lot of his hard-core fans, and I love ONA also. Like I say though, MANY fantastic songs, Just down to personal taste, at the end of the day.

He aint lost nothing, maybe bored of turning out albums? who knows? Is he affected by 'writers block' at all? I would be interested, as I know this can happen from time to time, especially when the pressure is on. (3121, anyone? )

You can not loose genius! You've either got it or you don't. In Prince's case, he's got it...just might not be using it much at the moment!

Christaro said:

Honestly, Emancipation isn't much different quality than Musicology or 3121. Whether that is good or bad is up to the individual fan, but to suggest that Prince has dropped off since Emancipation is off target, imo. It seems that some fans will always claim that Prince's best years are behind him.

In 1985 people claimed he dropped off with Around the World in a Day. In 1988 people said he lost it when he shelved The Black Album to release an overproduced Lovesexy. In 1990/91 people said he lost it when he added rap to his mix. In 1996 fans bemoaned Kirky J and his "plastic" sounding production on Emancipation, and so on and so on.....then in retrospect those albums are inevitably hailed by certain fans as being "genius".

my personal opinion is from 1981 roughly (dirty mind) til around 91 (diamonds and Pearls almost )--- he was a genius ... not everything was PERFECT ... but ... like Clapton said "you either love him or hate him- but u cant ignore him" ...

since then- i think he lost "originality " altho with the Musicology tour and "3121" ... i still find him the most entertaining ...

SnidelyWhiplash said:

See I just don't understand how or why you would divide his career and say Prince "stopped being a genius". It seems as if you are saying he was a genius on Diamonds and Pearls, but was not the work of a genius. To me, those two albums are cut from the same cloth. Furthermore, I think Come and The Gold Experience and that whole NPG from that "slave" era was more genius and inspired than Prince and the NPG of 1990.

i guess i am not that HARSH - as far as saying he stopped being a genius ...

i do say he is the MOST TALENTED entertainer of my generation ... but that is debatable ... hell- Springsteen , M Jackson, J Brown , Miles Davis, the Beatles ... etc ... there was alot of talent ...

No way!

I hate when people are so hard on the guy because his music "isn't as good as it used to be"... in terms of originality or w/e...

There are plenty of tracks on 3121 to prove otherwise.

The Word
The Dance
3121

And Musicology

Musicology
Reflection

Those tracks scream "genius" to me, especially in the cases where he proves all of the "vox" and plays all the instruments. He knows how to construct a song just right, adding all of the instruments in the right places to get a certain sound.

Yeah, I'm a newbie, what would I know, right? I learned yesterday that I can be quite the critic when it comes to his recent material, but I still listen to it and enjoy it.
I just want to forget how hard I was on him yesterday.

My mind won't change, though. I refuse to think any less of Prince because I always saw him as extraordinary, incredible & exceptional... always will.

Take of the "e" and the "x",and there u have Prince-genius! Genius never left

ex genius

emancipation was trash.....in my opinion..when Rap took over..Prince fell off the top of the mountain..and he's still just trying to stay relevant with each new release !

prettymansson said:

relevant to whom?

The new material is impeccably performed, arranged and produced but it lacks that madness and profanity that ennervated his earlier works, but I do enjoy the later work because as he has gotten older, he seems to have found his center and seems to enjoy himself more, and the jazz influence in his work has become more apparent.

He's the same person, but his focus changes. Lately he's been more focused on making his star shine brighter, and it's worked, despite not having any real hits.

Christaro said:

I don't think he has lost it.
..he's probably using it sparingly

ex?

Christaro said:

Emancipation ? last great album? really ? I've said this before but that album left me feeling like I'd lost an old friend . Prince is still a genius, TRC had flashes of genius and I love The War which I thought had the feel of the 80s aftershows (Camden )

genius? probably not
musical genius? certainly!
from the time he was a teenager through today

skywalker said:

Interesting and true in my personal opinion. I was one of those who thought Prince lost it with ATWIAD and stopped buying Prince in 1985. The whole name change and not believing CONtracts just added to my disinterest in Prince.
Then Musicology and the whole media splash brought me back to Prince music.
I have had lots of fun checking out old stuff from the late 80's and 90's. I now realize that Prince never lost it... he may have lost ME, but never "it", it being a genius.
My point is, Prince may move to a direction that you may not want to follow, that doesn't make it a wrong move, just wrong FOR YOU.
Stick around... Prince changes so much, you may find yourself his music genuis once again... who knows maybe the next new CD.

A talent like he has, makes it all subjective as to what your opinion is on this question you have proposed. He can't unlearn playing his instruments. He can't unlearn knowing how to write, produce, mix etc etc - I think, it comes down to whether what he is currently putting out is your bag or not, really.

I don't particularly dig Musicology & 3121. But Prince is still a genius.

therapyisback said:

definitely, you don't unlearn technique.

Also, so many geniuses made their greatest contributions in their 20's Picasso, the Beatles, Newton (may have been in his teens even), Einstein. They're geniuses, not ex-geniuses.

Especially anyone (like Prince) who was able to grab us on more than one occasion, so we know it's not just a fluke.

NDRU said:

Well said.

I really don't like when I see threads about Prince "losing his edge" or "not being as good as he used to be". I doubt Prince would like the idea of it either.

No wait... he doesn't care what other people think of him, he does what he pleases. And if he did, he might just surprise us with an album that blows everybody away.

Christaro said:

Albert Einstein came up with his famous theories and breakthroughs in his 20s...most every scientist, artist, etc does their best work when they are young. Yes, Prince is an "ex-genius" and like the rest of them, he lost it slowly as he got older. I suspect you must be under 35 y/o but as you get older, you will understand.
[Edited 4/26/07 17:00pm]

FunkiestOne said:

We had different answers for almost exactly the same reasons. Just goes to show there is no clear definition of what makes a genius, and we could argue forever about it.

I say, if you think someone's a genius, call them one, and if you don't, don't.

skywalker said:

Yup, that is exactly true... Some fans just have a really hard time when Prince moves past a certain boundary (and the boundary is different for each listener). Some time later, the previously derided album gets picked up as an old classic, etc... look at LoveSexy. That album was universally ignored by just about everyone and now a huge amount of people think it's just amazing. Sometimes, I think more people have voiced support for it here on the org than it actually even sold back in '88. I already seeing the same thing happening with Rave. A lot of people were crapping on it when released and now we have lovefests and threads devoted to it.



I especially don't understand it considering I think D&P is one of his more shallow and purposely commercial works whereas probably has more going for it in the space of 75 minutes than almost any other album he ever released.

I'm an ol'skool chicken grease Prince fan, (40 yrs old),,and I havent really dug anything Prince has done since SOTT..but I cant knock him...'cuz I aint doing the same things that I was doing when I was 23 either...

SnidelyWhiplash said:

how come ur using past tense when talking about other artist