It seems that a lot of people have a strongly conflicting vision of Prince's mind, especially the strength of his will when it comes to those he works with. Much has been documented on how strong willed Prince has been in dealing with others in the past, and much of it has been said directly by those involved with him.

What confuses me is why people point the fingers of blame at others (Larry Graham, Kirky J, hell, even Tony M) when Prince makes a musical move that seems to be a "mis-step". Doesn't this imply that Prince can't make up his own mind about what he wants from his music and even more, from his life?

Prince's JW conversion has been blamed on Larry, as if he brainwashed Prince into changing his religious views. The digital coldness of albums like Emancipation and New Power Soul have been blamed on the contributions of Kirky J, as if Prince just suddenly decided not to have complete control on the final sound of his music. Tony M's contributions to Diamonds and Pearls have been blamed on Tony, when Prince wrote and produced the album.

Which do you think is true, has Prince been brainwashed by those surrounding him, or is it just that Prince's music and life changes depending on what life experiences he's having?

DUNNO!

NightGod said:

P is making the decisions on every one of those albums/changes you mentioned. People here have a selective memory about Prince's control over every aspect of his life. When they don't like something (Tony M., Emancipation/NPS, Kirk J., Larry G.), Prince conveniently wasn't in control in those cases. Therefore guys like Kirk and Larry go through character assassinations by default.

I think Prince makes up his own mind in what he wants, it was just his time to commit himself to God and that is the way he chose to do it.
[Edited 8/17/07 10:08am]

It would all be speculation.....who knows

first off, "strong-willed" is a term parents use when afraid to face the facts about their own precious darlings
Prince ain't strong-willed -- he's stubborn, controlling, prideful, a whole bit selfish and a megalomaniac

deconstructive criticism aside, when Prince gets what he believes to be a cool creative idea, he ain't afraid to flesh it out and maybe even take it to extremes -- if it backfires, he quickly runs for cover back into the studio and comes right back out with something else -- the blame game is something fans like to play
[Edited 8/17/07 10:27am]

maybe over influenced....