Was this guy supposed to be the new Tony M? Or a new protege? Did they ever perform together?


For as prominently as he's featured on 2 albums, I'm guessing he was going to be Prince's "next big thing" Thankfully, it never got very far, I guess. Though he's less annoying than Tony M yelling all of his verses at us.


Anyone have the story on this guy? Why he was even on those songs or why nothing came of it?

Maybe he's with DVS

Raze said:

yeah, i'd like to know that too. and while we're on it who the hell was

"young soldier of time" on the letitgo maxi single.

that's one of the few guest raps on any prince tune that i think decent

Srap D. was ( or still is ) a Minneapolis based rapper who used to make music with DJ Michael Mac and sometimes Steppa Ranks in the mid 90s. He is quite a nice guy who used to hang around on West Broadway/North Minnneapolis, and he told me that he did his raps on Prince´s albums without any censorship or influence by Prince himself, which means he wouldn´t let Prince tell him what to rap about and therefore feel free while writing and recording.
He may not be the best option for Prince´s music but he´s at least better than Tony M when it comes to rapping ( not that Tony M is a bad person, he´s might also be quite nice...he´s just not a good rapper).

Sure, Prince could´ve chosen more talented TwinCities rappers to collaborate with ( like those Atmosphere dudes...but they´re not really my cup of tea ) or he could ´ve collaborated with some "in" rappers who were the flavor of the moment back then but I think it´s cool that at least he gave some unknown local rappers a little bit of a chance to appear on a record, in this case an album or two by the legendary Prince....sure, we laugh about it or criticize him for using them at all and we accuse of him of trendchasing and being too stingy to pay for some decent and well known rappers but that is all rather subjective and some of you need to put things in the right perspective instead of ridiculing and humiliating people you don´t personally know on a regular basis.

Just forget about all that and just try to look at it from a different perspective...he gave some unknown, local rappers a chance to shine ...whether that was a good idea and whether the end result was good or bad is another topic.
As far as I can tell, Scrap and Steppa and their crew and a lot of other folks from their circle are quite nice people, and I enjoyed my time with them.
Do they fit into Prince´s universe ? No.
But that´s up to Prince...I guess he does things just because he knows he CAN if he feels like it..at least that´s what they told me .

He always reminded me of some other famous rapper, but not in a good way. Don't really remember who, though.

KoolEaze said:

ok seriously this is a good take on the subject..

KoolEaze said:

Thanks for the info! I really don't mind him on the songs. It's unfortunate (for him - Scrap D) that he got to be on such duds. Or maybe he made them duds. Dunno.


Anyway, thanks again.

Raze said:

You´re welcome. You are , of course, entitled to have your own opinion and it´s perfectly OK if you don´t like him on Prince´s songs. His own songs sound different. Then again, you may not like those as well...or maybe you would...what I´m trying to say is : A lot of those folks who get dissed here are often really nice people when you see them outside of the Prince circle, and while they may not be the best option to be on Prince´s songs, it´s often quite sad to see them get humiliated and called strange names here on the org.
TC Ellis for instance does a lot of community work, and Tony M was a very friendly person during his time in the NPG.

Did I like their contributions ? Hell naw If I could , I´d erase ALL of Tony M´s contributions on Diamonds and Pearls or the Symbol album, and I´m not too fond of Scrap´s rapping on Emancipation ( though I do think that Da Da Da has its moments).

...but they´re genuinely nice people, and Prince chose to use some local folks instead of some hot rapper of the moment, maybe because he wanted to put the Minnesota HipHop scene on the map. Prince also used to donate money to the Rawkus HipHop events in NYC back in the day without making a big fuss about it, and real HipHop heads know that the Rawkus people were really dedicated and true to the game..a lot of established MCs won their first respect there before becoming big stars.

Anyway, I´m getting off topic..