ButterscotchPimp said:

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"I said he's not a funk artist and shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as George, James and Sly as far as "funk" goes."

We all get what you are saying we just don't agree. P is a funk artist and he deserves to be mention in the same breath as George, James and Sly.

He is the only guy trying to do "funk" now and selling out large venues, which means people are interested in hearing what he is doing. In my opinion he deserves a medal for keeping "funk" as a musical genre around.

ButterscotchPimp said:

Whaaaat?

MyLawd said:

Eh. I don't agree with Prince's definition of funk.
And i really don't like "newfunk". That's like "neo-soul". It's either funk or it's soul or it's not. Prince's music is Prince's music and while some of it might be "funky" it's not "funk".

I'm watching the DVD, "Prince: The Glory Years" that just came in the mail. The writer Paul Gambaccini just said that Prince had "the funk like the 70s funksters like George Clinton and Funkadelic and the people from James Brown's group." He was talking about how he combined that with the falsetto and other elements to create his music.
He also made a point of saying that although he has had a career that has spanned 30 years, he has not always made great music, but he has made some great songs.

Soulstar77A said:

See, i disagree!! I love those songs, i mean that's what i grew up on! I just don't think they're "funk". "funky", yes. "funk", no. I know that George respects Prince, especially for helping him during a difficult time in his career, but that's a personal thing not a "Prince continued the funk" thing. Again, my opinion.

Gimmesomehorns said:

And i'm glad that Prince opened your mind and enabled you to seek out the funk. That's awesome.

How can a song be "funky" but not be "funk"?

You're babbling.

laurarichardson said:

Before Rick James had died, I remember reading in an article that when asked about Prince, Rick had given Prince props, a first, and that he said that with the Musicology Tour at the time, I believe he said that Prince was still keeping the funk alive. I wish I knew where to find the article but he said something along that line.

pplrain said:

I don't get what you're confused about?

laurarichardson said:

Yes, we definately disagree as i maintain Prince has done NOTHING to "keep funk alive". Not the genre.

But we can have different opinions, i just wanted to understand the mindset and i get it now. It was pretty much what i thought. The music-heads get what i'm saying and the fams once again take any criticism of Prince even if it's constructive as a personal attack and want to crucify the messenger.

Ah, i love the Org.

ButterscotchPimp said:

No. See now here you are putting words in my post that I never even hinted at, yet again. Wrong headed assumptions. Then you start with the kool-aid kids mess.

What I responsed to was Gray's comment about funk being "damn near dead" as a popluar urban (read: black) genre of music by the time Prince came along. I DID NOT say Prince SAVED anything. As a matter of fact I didn't even give an opinion on the whole "Prince is the originator of funk" mess. Which is clearly not true. Nor is the dude the the standard bearer in terms of funk in my opinion. Does he play funk ... yes. Are some of his songs are funk based ... yes. Are all of them ... hell no.

Please stop projecting the thoughts YOU think I'm having. You'll be wrong every time, I guarantee it.

chocolate1 said:

I'm not surprised that someone on a Prince dvd would say something like that as again there seems to be some confusion about the difference between "funky music" and "funk music".

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone on a funk documentary mentioning Prince, i'd wager.

MattyJam said:

Quite easily, actually. As we've clearly now gotten to a point where there's a difference i think, you can say you don't agree with me but that does make what i'm saying "babble".

purplecam said:

Although Rick certainly got a lot closer to the funk than Prince did/does, i wouldn't hold Rick up as a "bearer of the funk" either. That's just me.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

Okay, but you get how i'd arrive at that conclusion right?
I mean the implication is CLEARLY by providing dates that the listed funk artists last charted, is that Prince arrived on the scene and "carried the baton" or "kept the genre" going. And i maintain where Prince's early stuff is by far my favorite, it's probably his LEAST "funky" period. You certainly couldn't say that anything off of the first three albums was. Well, with MAYBE the exception being "I'm Yours". That gets awfully fucking close in my mind.

I went back and looked at my comments on this thread and I realized that I never spoke of who I see Prince is as an artist. I think he's just a musician. Do I think he's a funk artist? No. He's not one set thing, he's just an artist who can do everything and do it well. He's never had a full out "Funk" album before and I'd love to hear one. His albums have been a little bit of everything with Funk mixed in but not full out funk. Part of why I love Prince is because he's not just Funk, but he's Pop, he's Rock, he's R&B, he's Jazz, hell when he wants to be he's Hip-Hop too. The man is that talented and putting him into one category is limiting everything that is Prince. He's a musician who just so happens to be funky. He's may not be James Brown funky, George Clinton funky or Sly Stone funky but he's Prince funky and that works for me.

Gimmesomehorns said:

Without Prince's music inspiring me to start looking for funk artists my idea of one would propably be the red hot chili peppers which seems to be the case with 90% of people who live here in Finland. btw, just bought a copy Zapp's first album last week.

purplecam said:

i agree with this. prince not being a true funk artist, or according to some people, he's laughed in funk circles. i don't see why that is such a bad thing. i thought the reason most of us, not to speak for anyone, find Prince interesting is because he is more than just one genre.

i think why the argument carried on so long because of the confusion of Prince being deemed not funky. but if it can be agreed that he is not a true funk artist, which i agree, then so what? i think we all appreciate his influences, but Prince not being holed up in one category, has always been a good thing, in terms of why I like him in particular.

ButterscotchPimp said:

Ok. But no I don't see how you made that leap in logic without me having posted anything saying that. And I provided the dates to back up what Gray was saying with respect to the pure funk genre of poplular black music being on the decline by the time Prince came along. I never said he saved anything.

Didn't we have a similar "row" when a guitar magazine left Prince off the list of "Greatest Guitarists of All-Time"?
People started flippin' that Prince was/wasn't a rock musician.

Prince music is Prince music. Plain & Simple.

ButterscotchPimp said:

You started this thread as 'The MYTH of Prince's FUNK.'

Now you are saying he does have funk in OK "some" of his music... Oh wait! It is just one song. So now you are contradicting yourself.

I like his style... he explores many genres of music.. No one said he was the "king" of funk...

Btw I don't like funk.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

What does this have to do with hits and chart success? Brown was never about that. He never even had a #1 hit on the pop chart. He was successful on the R&B chart only.

I argued that Brown has released some great albums in the mid- to late 1970s, and it would be hard to argue against that. As I posted before: Hell was released right after Payback. I don't think you'd argue against tracks like Papa don't take no mess, would you? That album was followed by Reality, which had Funky President.
Then came Sex Machine Today, Mutha Nature, Get up offa that thing, Bodyheat, Jam 1980s and more ...

pplrain said:

Yes, and i explained what the "myth" was. Not that Prince isn't "funky" but the myth in some of the minds of Prince fans that he's a "funk artist" or "bearer of the funk". I never said he wasn't funky, and i've admitted that he's gotten close on a few occasions the most being "Hide The Bone". But i haven't contradicted myself at all.

And you don't like funk, but are a Prince fan. Understood.

MattyJam said:

Put it like this, on the old AOL Prince board there was once a long assed thread about people who thought that "Raspberry Beret" was "funky" and a funk song.
And a handful of people who would roll our eyes and and say "that ain't funk".

ButterscotchPimp said:

I didn't say I hate it...

pplrain said:

okay.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

"Raspberry Beret"? "funky"?

Ok..my .02 for what it's worth...

Prince is a musical alchemist. He dips his toes in lots of genres. Sometimes he creates very original unique music because of it, and sometimes the music he creates are watered down versions of the genre. Jazz, funk, rock, rap, metal, classical....he's done them all. It's almost like he has musical ADD. He's knows enough about each one to dabble, but he really shines when he ignores his ego and just creates something original without trying to prove that he can play "X" style of music as good or better than someone else.

So....what does that have to do with the original question? My opinion....he's not the standard bearer of funk, nor does he belong in the pantheon of great funk artists, but that in no way diminishes his musical ability or his musical respect from his fans and peers. He's found ways to incorporate elements of funk into his music and make it his own, and at times it has been both incredible and not entirely funky both at the same time.

ButterscotchPimp said:

At the time of posting my original comment, i hadn't read the whole thread which was ummm 2 pages at the time in order 4 me 2 know already how it was gonna lead out...and i haven't been proved otherwise after 5 pages now. so yet in still, my original post STILL STANDS in saying that u haven't proven a damn thing in how prince is more funkier without the revolution in terms of his music and the musicians he has employed since then.

ButterscotchPimp said:

r u getting so twisted in ur own words that u can't remember what u say? okay let me help u out..u look at ur initial comment that started this thread and u went ahead and talked about another thread in ur original comment. so u brung it on ya self ya just got hit by the bop gun 4 being so unfunky!!!