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Thread started 11/06/02 2:46pm

gubbins4ever

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Did Prince really create RnB?

I've heard it said many times on the palace of cool that is the 'Org that Prince is largely responsible for the existence of RnB as it is today. Indeed a lofty claim methinks!

But why? This has always troubled me since I really can't see how. I can hardly think of any of Prince's 80s material that could be seen as RnB and although he definately did it in the 90s, but his influence was long since diminshed by that stage.

So, help me out and tell me exactly how Prince defined RnB, if indeed he did!
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Reply #1 posted 11/06/02 2:52pm

paisleypark4

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Prince cre8ted R&B...ha ha, not 2 be racist, but u KNOW that had 2 have been said by some white guy in the suburbs!
Straight Jacket Funk Affair
Album plays and love for vinyl records.
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Reply #2 posted 11/06/02 2:55pm

savoirfaire

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Perhaps whoever told you this, really meant to say, that prince HELPED to shape the R&B music into the direction it has headed to now...

whether or not that's a good thing is your decision.
"Knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Better by far to embrace the hard truth than a reassuring faith. If we crave some cosmic purpose, then let us find ourselves a worthy goal" - Carl Sagan
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Reply #3 posted 11/06/02 2:58pm

gubbins4ever

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savoirfaire said:

Perhaps whoever told you this, really meant to say, that prince HELPED to shape the R&B music into the direction it has headed to now...

whether or not that's a good thing is your decision.


But how did he help to shape R&B? It's a lofty claim that he helped shape a music genre, but did he?



Edit this...
[This message was edited Wed Nov 6 15:01:32 PST 2002 by gubbins4ever]
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Reply #4 posted 11/06/02 3:13pm

divo02

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What Prince certainly did was help diversify mainstream music (MTV especially) in the 80's to include black artists...although much of the music on Purple Rain wasn't your typical r&b songs. Certainly some of his later hits could be categorized as such though.
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Reply #5 posted 11/06/02 3:20pm

jnoel

I hope not, RnB sucks, it's the death of the popular afro american music, imo.
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Reply #6 posted 11/06/02 3:40pm

classic77

I know he had a big influence in the 80's. There were a few that imitated the sound he created.
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Reply #7 posted 11/06/02 3:57pm

justanotherass
hole

gime abreak.
sure he had some influence

but come on seriously
he CREATED RNB ??!?

LOL what a turd on toast that is !
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Reply #8 posted 11/06/02 4:45pm

NWF

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jnoel said:

I hope not, RnB sucks, it's the death of the popular afro american music, imo.


HEY NOW!, Just hold on there one gosh darn minute! Yes, the state of R&B may be in terrible shape right now(excluding the Neo-soul artists, now they're serious about their sh**), but you cannot come to the conclusion that all Rhythm & Blues(in the 50+ years of it's existence) Sucks! That's just plain ignorance talking.
NEW WAVE FOREVER: SLAVE TO THE WAVE FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE.
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Reply #9 posted 11/06/02 7:01pm

Supernova

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gubbins4ever said:

I've heard it said many times on the palace of cool that is the 'Org that Prince is largely responsible for the existence of RnB as it is today. Indeed a lofty claim methinks!

But why? This has always troubled me since I really can't see how. I can hardly think of any of Prince's 80s material that could be seen as RnB and although he definately did it in the 90s, but his influence was long since diminshed by that stage.

So, help me out and tell me exactly how Prince defined RnB, if indeed he did!

You're asking 2 different questions. The first one in the subject line I'll take as rhetorical, because...nevermind. biggrin How did he define R&B? I don't think he defines R&B. Taken as a whole, Prince's entire catalog covers way too much ground to say he defines one single genre. You could definitely say he is one of those who has helped expand certain genres, R&B included.

But I have a feeling that you're talking about Prince's influence on the younger generation of performers and musicians today. He's one of the biggest touchstones for the so-called "Neo Soul" contingent, just as people like Sly Stone, PFunk and Jimi were touchstones for Prince. His influence has been apparent for years, it's just that this "Neo Soul" community has brought more interest in R&B than probably any time since its creative and commercial heyday of the late '50s thru '70s.

I personally think that Neo Soulers don't reflect much individuality (when Prince isn't punching the clock there's no doubt he does). But there's definitely talent there.
This post not for the wimp contingent. All whiny wusses avert your eyes.
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Reply #10 posted 11/06/02 7:23pm

blacksatin515

Rant:

R&B sucks? Really. Tell that to Louis Jordan, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, Lavern Baker, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Etta James, Percy Sledge, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown...(the list is emmense, somebody help me)

The people who's social and political statements have influenced not only american culture, but the world. People who devoted their lives to creating and believing in something bigger than themselves. People who suffered through their own history and left their stories in words and music for generations to hear and understand. People who gave us the blueprint for effectively expressing ourselves through a genre of art.

This is more than many of us will even dream of doing with our trifling little lives. This was not created by one man, but a movement. Opinion or not, saying r&b sucks is like saying the renaissance bites monkey ass. Just because a person can't relate to the type of expression that evolved after, doesn't mean the movement shouldn't have happened.

End Rant.
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Reply #11 posted 11/06/02 7:41pm

jtgillia

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The older I get, the more this southern white-boy listens to more and more R and B and lightens up on the rock. R&B in my opinion, speaks more to the soul. More than any other genre, it seems to magnify the essense of musical emotion.

Granted, today's r and b (which the majority, aka the uninformed, confuse with hip hop) doesn't usually accomplish this, but in the purest sense, classic r and b is where it's at.

Now, r and b fused with rock- that really gets my blood boiling! To me, that's an arena that Prince really mastered.
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Reply #12 posted 11/06/02 7:52pm

mistermaxxx

that is Funny.Ray Charles like 50 plus Years back,James Brown&a Ton of other Artists way Before Prince came along.Prince has His Place in Music History but He didn't Create anything except His Brand of POP Music.
mistermaxxx
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Reply #13 posted 11/06/02 8:12pm

SkletonKee

mistermaxxx said:

Prince has His Place in Music History but He didn't Create anything except His Brand of POP Music.



and he doesnt even creat *that* anymore... lol


(and before some damn diehard famatic gets on my case...im only pointing out the fact that prince has moved further and further away from pop..my statement shouldnt be taken negatively..thank you, and goodnight!! wink )
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Reply #14 posted 11/06/02 8:18pm

blacksatin515

R&B fused with rock, fused with funk, fused with jazz. The man's got his finger stuck in every socket. They showed him the blueprint, and he added on some extra rooms! I don't think it's pop though, pop can't handle his house anymore.
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Reply #15 posted 11/07/02 4:21am

toejam

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RnB, Rock, Jazz, Techno, Disco, Classical, Funk ...
THEY DO NOT EXIST: JUST USE YOUR EARS!
Toejam @ Peach & Black Podcast: http://peachandblack.podbean.com
Toejam's band "Cheap Fakes": http://cheapfakes.com.au, http://www.facebook.com/cheapfakes
Toejam the solo artist: http://www.youtube.com/scottbignell
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Reply #16 posted 11/07/02 7:10am

DigitalLisa

I do believe that R & B been around alot longer then prince has... R &B came from rock music and gospel mixed together, if anybody knows any history in music. Rock N rook was created by black people until buddy holiday and Elvis Praisly took over ...
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Reply #17 posted 11/07/02 7:24am

blacksatin515

They don't exist? Is this a protest against labelling? Then by the same arguement, ears don't exist either.
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Reply #18 posted 11/07/02 9:19am

PFunkjazz

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ya think with all those lackluster MINN synth-artists Prince made R&B as sad as it is today? HMMM?


Well he had a hand in it!
test
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Reply #19 posted 11/07/02 9:22am

PlastikLuvAffa
ir

blacksatin515 said:

Rant:

R&B sucks? Really. Tell that to Louis Jordan, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, Lavern Baker, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Etta James, Percy Sledge, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown...(the list is emmense, somebody help me)

The people who's social and political statements have influenced not only american culture, but the world. People who devoted their lives to creating and believing in something bigger than themselves. People who suffered through their own history and left their stories in words and music for generations to hear and understand. People who gave us the blueprint for effectively expressing ourselves through a genre of art.

This is more than many of us will even dream of doing with our trifling little lives. This was not created by one man, but a movement. Opinion or not, saying r&b sucks is like saying the renaissance bites monkey ass. Just because a person can't relate to the type of expression that evolved after, doesn't mean the movement shouldn't have happened.

End Rant.

co-sign. horns
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Reply #20 posted 11/07/02 9:44am

james

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Will people please read the rest of the post, before ranting on about James Brown, etc !!

I think Prince has definately influenced modern R&B (80's-now). There are so many times I hear a song and think, "that sounds just like a Prince song" or "Prince production".
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Reply #21 posted 11/07/02 9:46am

james

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blacksatin515 said:

Rant:

R&B sucks? Really. Tell that to Louis Jordan, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, Lavern Baker, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Etta James, Percy Sledge, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown...(the list is emmense, somebody help me)

The people who's social and political statements have influenced not only american culture, but the world. People who devoted their lives to creating and believing in something bigger than themselves. People who suffered through their own history and left their stories in words and music for generations to hear and understand. People who gave us the blueprint for effectively expressing ourselves through a genre of art.

This is more than many of us will even dream of doing with our trifling little lives. This was not created by one man, but a movement. Opinion or not, saying r&b sucks is like saying the renaissance bites monkey ass. Just because a person can't relate to the type of expression that evolved after, doesn't mean the movement shouldn't have happened.

End Rant.


But most modern R&B does suck, right ? wink
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Reply #22 posted 11/07/02 9:48am

PlastikLuvAffa
ir

james said:

blacksatin515 said:

Rant:

R&B sucks? Really. Tell that to Louis Jordan, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, Lavern Baker, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Etta James, Percy Sledge, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown...(the list is emmense, somebody help me)

The people who's social and political statements have influenced not only american culture, but the world. People who devoted their lives to creating and believing in something bigger than themselves. People who suffered through their own history and left their stories in words and music for generations to hear and understand. People who gave us the blueprint for effectively expressing ourselves through a genre of art.

This is more than many of us will even dream of doing with our trifling little lives. This was not created by one man, but a movement. Opinion or not, saying r&b sucks is like saying the renaissance bites monkey ass. Just because a person can't relate to the type of expression that evolved after, doesn't mean the movement shouldn't have happened.

End Rant.


But most modern R&B does suck, right ? wink

yes. yes, it does.

old-skool = woot!

nu-skool = bored
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Reply #23 posted 11/07/02 10:13am

Neversin

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gubbins4ever said:

I've heard it said many times on the palace of cool that is the 'Org that Prince is largely responsible for the existence of RnB as it is today. Indeed a lofty claim methinks!

But why? This has always troubled me since I really can't see how. I can hardly think of any of Prince's 80s material that could be seen as RnB and although he definately did it in the 90s, but his influence was long since diminshed by that stage.

So, help me out and tell me exactly how Prince defined RnB, if indeed he did!


The so called music that everyone refers to and labels as R&B nowadays has nothing to do with R&B...Listen for example to Chuck Berry for some REAL R&B...

Prince didn't shape this "new R&B" this crap is just some pop blended together with that late '80's/early '90's Swingbeat shit... Blame Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill, Bobby Brown etc. etc. etc. for that crap...

Neversin.
O(+>NIИ<+)O

“Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man's?”

- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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Reply #24 posted 11/07/02 10:25am

Janeau

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R&B was there looong before prince. He might have some influence on how some artist sing in R&b songs these days.
I am waiting on an other thread, this one : Did prince create Jazz? (Just because he made a jazzy cd). A lot of Prince fans (as in fanatics) think that everything what Prince does is new. When u look at the music history u will find out that that is not the case.
free ur mind
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Reply #25 posted 11/07/02 10:29am

4LOVE

He created R&B,a cure for cancer,the first automobile to run on water and the salt vaccine.
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Reply #26 posted 11/07/02 10:32am

BlaqueKnight

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Here's an opinion that some may or may not agree on. Prince DID help BRING DOWN R&B by pushing the "one man band" idea. This, from my observations, led to the "producer era" which has dominated since the late 80s to early 90s. Prior to Prince, I can't recall any other artist who was promoted to the extent that Prince was as a one man band. Some would say Stevie Wonder, but at the time of the Wonder era, R&B hadn't crossed over into mainstream, so no one has actually been PROMOTED with as much diligence as Prince in that way. So, he helped shape and destroy R&B siultaneously. Without one man bands (essentially keyboard players with sequencers and samplers), R&B probably wouldn't have taken a back seat to rap, which has been accepted as the dominant "black" music form (for now). So, Prince fucked it up for so many by selling a dream that promotes the ideas of the individual over the ideas of a group of musicians. After Purple Rain, I saw a change in the attitudes and workings of musicians overall. Of course technology had something to do with it as well, but how its used was at the time closely observed by watching the popular musicians. Remember Eddie Van Halen in '83-'84? I rest my case. Prince DEFINATELY DID NOT CREATE R&B. But let some of you nucking futs on here tell it, Prince created music itself. Some of you actually believe that Prince is the only artist who's ever written good music. To those who do, I pity you, for you know not what you miss.
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Reply #27 posted 11/07/02 11:01am

Janeau

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4LOVE said:

He created R&B,a cure for cancer,the first automobile to run on water and the salt vaccine.


smile
free ur mind
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Reply #28 posted 11/07/02 11:20am

Tibor

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Yes! Look here Prince make best funky soul! Nothing before him! Now we know Justin make funk music for future.
My name is Tibor and I am funky!
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Reply #29 posted 11/07/02 11:26am

PlastikLuvAffa
ir

4LOVE said:

He created R&B,a cure for cancer,the first automobile to run on water and the salt vaccine.

he's currently workin on a cure 4 aids, as well...gawd bless the guy. mr.green
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