Prince has embraced a huge amount of musical styles from funk to classical , rock to jazz etc etc yet he has never really embraced reggae music. Anyone who appreciates ….or better still plays reggae will tell you that this music is more than just the novelty that it’s sometimes portrayed as. I think the closest that Prince has gotten to reggae is 'Bluelight' from the album and that was a pretty lame attempt.

But would it suite him?….I suppose that’s another question……hmmmm

royalbadness said:

cant really c P with the dreads!

royalbadness said:

Ripop is a better attempt!

I don't think it would suite him, see Blue light!

Sander said:

True...but it's still a poor attempt...P needs to sit back with a spliff and get some inspiration from the mighty Black Uhuru

I grew up with Rap. I grew up with Prince. I grew up with Reggae.

I love all three but they don´t blend very well. His attempts at Rap are getting better ( see Days Of Wild, 18&Over, and a few other examples ) but he should stay away from reaggae as far as possible...
The few moments were he´s dabbled in reggae-ish sounds were quite embarrassing ( Blue Light, The Sun Moon and Stars end, Ripopgodazippa) and even though I do understand that there seems to be a market for that kind of pseudo-reggae shit( see Laid Back, Sting, Ini Kamozee, Snow, and countless other fakers) I don´t like to see Prince doing some corny shit like that...

KoolEaze said:

I'm amazed anyone could put Ini Kamoze in the same league as the likes of Snow.Ini Kamoze is an authentic reggae artist who has worked with the likes of Sly & Robbie et al, check some of his music before Here comes the hot stepper...he's certainly no fake.

royalbadness said:

It´s cool that you like him but I don´t. I didn´t want to put him in the same league as Snow, I wanted to list some artists who became famous with a typical "pop", watered down pseudo-reggae song. I also could add Inner Circle to that list. Sure , they madde some great music in the 70´s and 80´s, and yes, they are true reggae musicians but most people who are not familiar with their body of work either associate them with that "Gonna Make You Sweat ( A lalalalong) " song or " Bad Boys" song which became the theme song of that cop show.

I didn´t want to diss his music in general , I was rather trying to illustrate the direction where this kind of music, including Prince´s few attempts, is or was going.

Sly and Robbie also produced a lot of not so great artists in the past, so working with Sly and Robbie doesn´t equal authenticity or credibility but that´s another story. I dig most of their stuff anyway.

KoolEaze said:

Kooleaze...whilst I disagree with some of the things you've mentioned, I do agree that perhaps he should stay away from reggae...besides as prb said, can't imagine him with dreads, he'd look to much like Goofy

Ripopgodazippa is one of his very best songs!!!

Great discussion above!

As far as my contribution:

royalbadness said:

Along with funkjam, I consider ripop to be quite a good song! But as far as reggae goes, it probably is a poor attempt. P sitting down with some green however would be an excellent idea! Just once, and just to get some perspective...
[Edited 5/31/07 9:02am]

I think he does cool reggae.

FunkJam said:

idk.blue light is kinna regge. but not that much. maybe its jus not his style. but i'm sure he could if he wanted to.
[Edited 6/3/07 8:17am]

JOYJOY said:

Ugh... after spending 1/3 of the last 2 years in Hawaii, I have to say I've had enough of reggae and other island-style musics. I really don't want Prince doing much of it.


Although, when I was there a couple of years ago, there was a big hit version of "Blue Light" being done by somebody that was a big hit. Two of the people I was working with were 16 year old girls, and they were always ragging on Prince. Then I heard this song come on and them say "Oh man, that's my cut!" (or some equally stupid thing kids say) and they were astounded when I told them it was a Prince song.
[Edited 6/9/07 9:25am]