I wrote this one on my blog about a few weeks ago. Hopefully you guys receive this as well as some of the people I emailed about it. I got some interesting responses. I came up with this after seeing the video for "Gold" and seeing the word "Slave" on his face struck me a certain way and this is what I came up with.


Writing “Slave” on your face says a lot about who you are. How you feel, and what pressures you’re under. People wonder about your sanity, what’s going through your mind and your reasons for showing off such a word.
Whenever I see a video of any kind where Prince speaks or performs with that on his face, so much goes through my head. It makes me wonder so many things about him. When I saw him sing “Gold” with “Slave” written on his face, I saw things completely differently than I had. The song speaks of hope, to me, but I couldn’t focus on the song. I couldn’t look away from the fact “Slave” was there. It tells me that he’s a prisoner in his own body. It’s not just because of the feud. It had to have been something with himself, within himself.

“Solo” kept coming to mind, so I listened to it with the words in front of me. He sounds like he’s in so much pain and is at such a loss with himself. Whoever he’s speaking of, when they leave, it feels and sounds like he’s wished death upon himself. At the time, he was writing so much music and wanted to record and release it as soon as he could. Like he said in one interview, he was trying to reach a certain destination within himself and only more songs would get him there. But the whole idea possessed him and he became obsessed with writing. Then in the song, he claims he’s so lost that nobody can find him, not even him. It became all he was and he couldn’t even recognize himself anymore. That’s what “Slave” ultimately means. It wasn’t just a shot at his label for preventing him from recording and releasing music. Some of his songs have taken shots at WB for him, but to me, “Slave” resembles the struggle within himself.

Naturally, I listened to “Letitgo” to hear what the last words “Prince” has to speak before he falls into a death of non-existence.
Part of “Slave” could have just been a protest for WB’s refusal to release The Gold Experience when he wanted to, but whenever I see it on his face, it tells me that he’s trapped within himself with no way out but through music itself. Perhaps, he just had to find the right song to free himself from that possession and obsession.
Although I know how this struggle/story turns out, I feel terrible for the things he had to have gone through within himself. I just want to stay with him to make sure that everything does turn out all right. So I want to hear “The Gold Experience” to see if I can figure something else about him and his inner struggle.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

i Disagree vehemently! i believe that he is saying that there are certain things that Music contracts or other Misc. relationships held him too that were wrong to do so in the manner they were doing it. i believe u r wrong in ur statement Regina Carma

The Most beautiful poem I have written with Prince's condition on my mind....
Is sweet and plain, but I believe it is my best work....

A Caged Bird,
A Free Tear.

"Masochist" wouldn't fit...

regardless, something about seeing him with "slave" on his face just gave me that vibe. It's one of those moments I had. I see something and thoughts come flooding thru my mind.

I'm still gonna stick by my guns, though, until I see something different the next time I see a video of him from those years.

Tame said:

I once wrote a poem about my first true love.
An' it went a liddle sumptin' like dis.....


"I once new a girl named Virginia.
I called her Virgin for short.
But not for long."*

*Now I know that its expected for most poems to rhyme,
but Prince has inspired me that one need not be a slave to such rules of restricted emotional/creative expression.

man, that was probably one of my deepest conclusions about Prince... excuse me, (at the time)...

And even with that, u guys are starting 2 get 2 deep 4 me.

If I had one question from that whole spiel, I'd ask myself "what made him start to get really prolific with his work" and "how did he find that balance in the end"

sorry, thats 2 ?'s

oeIllustrator said:

I think that's cute and a poem does not have to rhyme...that's a prose poem.
[Edited 9/9/07 7:15am]

I wrote this a little while back, before I ever thought up these thoughts about what "Slave" says when I see it on his face. Actually, I wrote this about a month after I came here... which is unusual, cuz I haven't heard any of his music from that time to really draw in on that. But I think I wrote this after seeing "Love 4 One Another" on HQ

His ebony eyes show
The window to his soul
A soul so full of fire
Ruled by inextinguishable flames
That mirrored his inner desire

Inspiration burned brightly
Refused to flicker out
His passion’s light aglow
Leaving no room for doubt

Once the fire lost control
The flame, it burned too hot
He was blinded to his actions
Found himself unable to stop

A slave to his heart’s poetry
He fought with many a lance
He slowly learned to harness it
Giving his life a second chance

Once he was reunited
With his body, soul and mind
His inspiration soon returned to him
But as a spark of a different kind

Call me insensitive but there is something wrong with a person that stands to earn a $100,000,000 for providing a product the admittedly loves, NAY lives, to make slavery. He signed the contracts. He agreed to the terms over and over. He was not a salve to anything other than his own greed.

WellInever said:

Well, u guys know me by now. I usually try not to think badly of his decisions no matter what they are. (Although I've given him plenty of grief over the 3121 album)...

Sure, this might be my twisted way of backing him up, but the initial entry came about cuz I saw something in him and it led me to ask many questions cuz I thought I saw something different come across. I still believe that right now.

But I'm a little busy in a different era to put up much of an argument right now.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

[Edited 9/9/07 10:08am]