I love it...U go for the easier target and skip the more nuanced posts....

I think most open-minded folks will admit that Prince turned out to be the more influential figure in music....And his stage show eventually eclipsed Rick's....Yes, I am a bigger Prince fan than I am a Rick fan (Who I dig)...But folks who don't just live in Prince Land also know the huge impact that artists like James had on R&B music and on Prince..

It's okay...I get it...It's easy to dismiss James as a bitter man who was obsessed with hating Prince.....His beef with Prince was over-the-top at times...But does that mean you have to dismiss the man's impact like he was some one-hit wonder?....

I suggest you read up on James beyond some Rolling Stone piece about how he was stoned out of his mind on stage...Here is an interview I did with Rick James a few months before he passed away....As a Prince fan, it was quite an interesting experience...He even gave props to Prince towards the end of the piece, which was truly surprising...Enjoy...

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What’s My Name?

Today, Rick James is part of a famous catchphrase. But in the late 70s and early 80s the infamous R&B star spent $7000 a week on cocaine , had $30 million in the bank and ruled the funk landscape. Ain’t that a bitch?



Story by K. Murphy

Rick James asks a question that is as absurd as it is strikingly ironic. The brash funk rebel, who plowed his way through the late ’70s and early ’80s with a legendary fuck-you arrogance and a $7,000-a-week cocaine habit, is asking if he can light up a joint. “I can spark up in here…can’t I?” he politely inquires after arriving two hours late for a photo shoot in the bustling residential section of Los Angeles’ Echo Park. On this breezy evening, James, 56, is wearing a black velour sweat suit and matching velvet slippers, his hair in curly, shoulder-length braids. It’s a conservative look for a man whose flowing, glittered, corn-rowed and beaded hair was once the trademark for his wild counter-culture image.

“I could have brought Monte Carlo as much as I’ve snorted,” he bluntly recalls of his drug-addled past. “I’ve smoked half of Paris and most of Russia. And I’ve shot up Puerto Rico and drank up Mexico. I [went through] five yachts, three planes, 17 cars, four mansions, any bitch that I wanted, and had $30 million in the bank. People were disgusted with the way I lived. Let’s talk real. I was a dumb motherfucker.”

Nowhere was Rick James’ once-subversive aura so blatant than on 1981’s triple-platinum Street Songs, a landmark Motown release that featured the seedy top-20 crossover hit “Super Freak,” a leering groove that nine years later would give MC Hammer a No. 1 mega-pop hit “U Can’t Touch This.” James’ sneering bassline and lurid lyrics (Never mind the “very kinky girl” line, check this oft-skipped couplet: “Three’s not a crowd for her, she says / Room 714 I’ll be waiting.”) fueled the year’s biggest decadent party anthem. And as legend has it, no one could party harder than Rick James.

(line break)

Like most of his peers wasted by years of drug debauchery in the ’80s, James was tossed into the fallen-rock-star scrap heap, even when he tried for a comeback in ’97 with the release of the respectable Urban Rhapsody. But a funny thing happened on the way to Rick becoming the answer to a music trivia question. Irreverent comedian Dave Chappelle unveiled a riotous skit on his highly rated Chappelle’s Show, parodying cast member Charlie Murphy’s (Eddie’s brother) hilarious run-ins with James. The episode featured Chapelle as a young—and obviously coked-out—Rick James in his glory, pimp-slapping a shell-shocked Murphy as he fired-off the memorable one-liner, “I’m Rick James, bitch!”

A good-natured James even popped up to offer laugh-out-loud flashbacks of the funk star getting beat down by the Murphy brothers after indignantly soiling a white couch with his platform muddy boots. Soon, the most omnipresent catch phrase since “Show Me The Money!” could be heard everywhere from college campuses and neighborhood barbershops to work offices, Internet chat rooms and even ESPN.

So what does Rick make of his reentry to pop culture?

“It has ruined my life,” James jokes. He is now draped in a fuchsia-on-black flower-print shirt and rhinestone-studded velvet slacks, an outfit more becoming of a funk icon. His walk is notably a half a step slower due to a mild stroke he suffered in 1998, but the rock star swagger is still there (“I hope KING is going to have more than one picture of me in this motherfucker!” he snaps).

James then cracks a sly smirk and muses, “I love Dave and I think he’s doing cutting-edge comedy. And Charlie Murphy is a very dear friend. So it was fun watching them spoof on me and me spoof on him. Of course some of it was a little exaggerated. I don’t want all you haters to get too caught up about Charlie kicking my ass because it didn’t happen.”

As a collection of James’ own hits blast from a medium-sized boom box, it’s clear that the funk master has enough material to fill up three more episodes. When asked about his thoughts on funnyman Chris Rock lampooning him on his recent high-profile comedy tour, he fires back, “Chris Rock bores me to tears. He needs to find somebody else to fuck with or I’ll give him a bitch slap.” He also scoffs at hip-hop’s current obsession with the pimp game, claiming, “I’ve written songs about pimps and pimping ain’t no glorification. A hoe would never be able to afford to support me.” And he applauds the business savvy of hip-hop moguls like Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, even if “they don’t know a G flat from a E minor.”

Yes, the Chappelle factor has played out well for James. T-shirts immortalizing “I’m Rick James, bitch!” are a hot item on the web. And a club reunion tour with former protégé and blue-eyed soul legend Teena Marie has been doing strong business across the country. “It’s just wonderful to be doing this again with him after all these years,” praises Marie. “I’ve stayed on the road for the last 20 years, but Rick had stopped touring for a long time. So to see him out there doing his thing and us doing our thing together…it’s like we’re tied, we’re connected.” James’ Grammy-winning music is even finding its way onto television commercials, most recently a car ad for Chevy, which used his light-hearted workout jam “Give It To Me Baby.”

Line Break

Nelson George, author of Post-Soul Nation, a history of black popular culture in the ‘80s, covered the bombastic performer as a music editor at Billboard magazine. George sees Chappelle’s Show as simply capturing the outlaw spirit of Rick James for a hip-hop generation raised on Tupac. “The mythology of Rick was similar to the larger-than-life, rock & roll, drugs and orgy O.G.,” George says. “You could walk into a Los Angeles club, go to the VIP room and Rick would be sitting there with three or four white girls with breast implants. He had the tightest group of musicians backing him up, the Stone City Band, the best funk and the best drugs—he was king of L.A.”

Rick James can back up the lofty stories. He recalls headlining the Street Songs tour with Teena Marie and a young upstart named Prince. In 1981, Rick was packing in 50,000-plus at mammoth venues like Michigan’s Pontiac Silverdome and the New Jersey Meadowlands, commanding as high as $500,000 a show. The lavish tour, which featured such stage props as a 20-foot smoking joint, explosive pyrotechnics, marijuana flags and street lampposts, was a hedonistic affair that broke all R&B touring records. And in the middle of it all was James, a vastly underrated bassist, songwriter and producer who kept the groove moving onstage and off.

“The whole set up early on was Rick James & The Stone City Band,” he recalls. “And who was the Stone City Band? They were just about the baddest motherfucking funkers on the planet who could play jazz, rock, Latin… anything. Prince use to open up for us and wear his little ass high heels and shit. George Clinton and Parliament would always try to put their foot up our ass, but it never worked. [The Stone City Band] funked a hole in their chests.”

Continuing on his exploits with the Stone City Band, James says, “[In the studio] we always kept an ounce or two [of cocaine] on the mixing boards. The band kept three or four bottles of Jack, a bag full of Quaaludes. We didn’t know about the Betty Ford Clinic or any of that shit. We thought that’s how the rock & roll boys did it, so that’s how we should do it.”

Of course, like most people who have over-the-top tales of sex, drugs and rock & roll, Rick James ignored the warning signs of excess and addiction. But what separates James’ bad boy meltdown from the likes of Bobby Brown and Ol’ Dirty Bastard is just how spectacular his crash was.

In 1991, James and a female companion were arrested and charged with two instances of violently abusing women who refused to take part in group sex. One of the women, Frances Alley, told an unsettling story of James holding her captive at Sunset Strip’s St. James Hotel, where he allegedly burnt her leg and knee area with a crack pipe during a marathon drug binge. There were also allegations that he poured alcohol on her burns, slapped her across the face with a gun, and burnt her groin and torso area with a hot knife. “He made me take my clothes off and sit in the chair," Alley testified during the trial. “He started smoking crack…every time he took a hit, he held part of the crack pipe to my knees." After spending eight months at California Rehabilitation Center, Rick James was sentenced to five years, four months in prison. “I didn’t go visit him while he was in prison,” Teena Marie somberly admits. “I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to see him like that.” James, who says he “can’t explain the love,” for his longtime friend Teena Marie, was eventually released from jail in 1996.

Line Break

At a table in a stylish West Hollywood neo-Asian restaurant, James is reliving the darkest period of his life. As patrons gawk and whisper, the singer takes a stoic turn. According to him, his jail stint was essential in helping him kick 35 years of hardcore drug addiction. Yet, James is still bitter about his experience with going through what he saw as an unbalanced legal system.

“The world knows I’m a addict, a junkie,” he says in a matter-of-fact tone. “But transportation to sell?! I never sold cocaine. [The courts] had possession of cocaine as a charge, but I never had cocaine on me. They’d been wanting me in jail for a long time. I told [the court] that I punched that girl in the eye for kicking my old lady in the stomach. But all the burning and bullshit…this was a crack bitch who had a pimp. She spent too much time with Rick James and came home with no money.”

As always, James is being remarkably candid. Born James Johnson Jr. in racially divided Buffalo, New York, Rick was raised by a “strong” mother who worked as a maid and ran numbers for the Italian mob. At 15, the musically inclined James (he already played drums, guitar, and piano) joined the Navy, but soon went AWOL at the start of the Vietnam War. He escaped to Canada and formed a rock band. When a 1968 deal with Motown fizzled, he stayed on as a staff songwriter, commuting from London and North America for the next seven years.

With his smoked-out funk & rock sound perfected, James re-signed with Motown where, from 1978 to 1984, five of his albums went platinum or better. James also oversaw and produced platinum albums for Teena Marie and sexy R&B chick outfit The Mary Jane Girls. At his prime, he was getting a million dollars per release, an unheard of amount for an unfiltered R&B artist who was virtually ignored by MTV. The joke around the music industry was that Rick James was keeping the lights on at struggling Motown. He was also becoming a monster, and that is no joke.

“I got lost in the ‘Rick James’ character,” he testifies. “I would go to a restaurant, lay cocaine out on the table in front of everybody and snort it. Or take a chick, put some tables together and have my security stand in front of us while I did my business. My life was becoming insane and I suffered.”

When James’ mother died of cancer in 1991, he claims he was so strung out on dope that he almost didn’t make her funeral. He completely dropped out of the music industry. Today, James says he surrounds himself with “good people and a support group” in his daily struggle to stay clean. He maintains that savvy business deals and his much-sampled song catalogue—which has been mined by everyone from Mary J. Blige and Will Smith to Redman and Ol’ Dirty Bastard—has allowed him to live a comfortable life. Consider this: His “Super Freak” sample on MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” single helped propel Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em to more than 10 million copies. “The deal with Hammer was somewhere around 80/20,” says Rick, “and I got the 80.”

James’ round, aged face lights up when he discusses his unlikely role as a family man raising an 11-year-old son. There’s an upcoming album project in which he is eyeing a collaboration with OutKast’s Andre 3000 “to show the youngsters that there’s a way to keep the integrity of black music.” James has even found respect for his one-time nemesis from Minneapolis ("I have to admit Prince is keeping the funk alive...you have to give it up to him.") He’s also currently finishing up an autobiography entitled, what else, Memoirs of A Super Freak. “It’s about music, love, hate, addiction, insanity and God,” James says.

Of the latter subject, the former funk renegade speaks of his study of Islam (James was introduced to the Muslim religion during his prison time) like a man discussing his dysfunctional marriage. “I will never lose belief in Allah,” he adds steadfastly. “Even when I may curse him out or have arguments. I’ll be mad than a motherfucker. But that’s just me and him.”

Rick James will tell anyone that he has cheated death many times throughout his wild and remarkable journey. With his demons made public, there is little to hide. “I plan on moving out of L.A.,” he says shaking his head, with a telling smile. “Somewhere I can be at peace.” As if on cue, a too-bold redhead approaches the table and pines, “I’m your biggest fan…can you say ‘I’m Rick James, bitch?’ ” Rick turns his head and quips, “Somewhere like Tahiti.”
[Edited 6/6/09 9:31am]

(LOL @ Prince Frankenfurter, lol. That's an excellent analogy!)

Yes, I believe I was at the same show you were at for his Controversy Tour: The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. But no... Prince blew me away on the Controversy tour! As awesome as the first tour was, I always thought in the back of my mind "This guy is crazy talented, the only thing he's missing is some stage props". (...because Rick and George Clinton were killing you with Space Ships and 12-foot smoking joints & shit, lol) At the Controversy Tour... HE GAVE YOU STAGE PROPS! lol. His entire act was much more polished by Controversy, and he had clearly gotten a lot better - even freakier, but in a different way: More cosmic & surreal.

Although he was still relatively unknown by the mass media, I knew from the Controversy Tour that this guy wasn't going to stop until he took over the music business. In fact, my friend that I went to the show with and I joked after the concert; "Is there anything this guy CAN'T do?" I asked my friend "I wonder if he could do movies?", and we looked at each other at the same time and said "...well, we KNOW he can ACT!", lol.

So no man, you caught live at a good time in his career, your imagination can fill in the parts that came before, lol. Just think: An X-Rated Black version of Tim Curry from the Rocky Horror Picture Show... on ACID!

Cool..You were working production on the tour where P opened for Rick in 80? Like I stated earlier, I always felt P took some things from Rick early in the game. From 78-81 easily, Rick was the man. When Rick came out with his debut in 78, Rick ALREADY had his shit together. He hit the ground running. He already had his sound, image and stage show together. I saw Rick live in concert on his Street Songs tour out here in So Cal in 81 and that show was bangin'. That was at Rick's peak. During his Street Songs period, Rick was the hottest act around, no question. I also saw P in early 82 on the Controversy tour and P was also killin'. As a performer and live musician, I was more impressed with Prince at the Controversy show than I was with Rick on the Street Songs tour. Rick's overall show was bangin and he certainly had a command over his audience at that stage. P during Controversy was NO where NEAR the superstar status Rick had in 81. That goes without saying. And it showed in the two concerts that I attended. Rick's stage show was bigger and he was a bonafide STAR. P on the Controversy tour, was up and coming. He had turned the corner and he was on his way. But again, at this stage in 81 and in P's case, early 82, I would pick Prince to be the better live vocalist, and definately the better live musician. As far as stage pressence and command over their audience, at that stage, Rick had that hands down. Now when P got around to his 1999 album and tour, THAT'S when he left Rick behind. Understand, I'm a life long fan of Rick's. Rick was off the hook. But still Rick couldn't fuck with P's album 1999 and he couldn't fuck with P as a live performer on the 1999 tour. P simply kept progressing and at that stage during the 1999 album, it was the student that had mastered the teacher.
[Edited 6/5/09 15:17pm]

...while cold blooded was a hottest record in the country for 3 months in 82.

Cool..You were working production on the tour where P opened for Rick in 80? Like I stated earlier, I always felt P took some things from Rick early in the game. From 78-81 easily, Rick was the man. When Rick came out with his debut in 78, Rick ALREADY had his shit together. He hit the ground running. He already had his sound, image and stage show together. I saw Rick live in concert on his Street Songs tour out here in So Cal in 81 and that show was bangin'. That was at Rick's peak. During his Street Songs period, Rick was the hottest act around, no question. I also saw P in early 82 on the Controversy tour and P was also killin'. As a performer and live musician, I was more impressed with Prince at the Controversy show than I was with Rick on the Street Songs tour. Rick's overall show was bangin and he certainly had a command over his audience at that stage. P during Controversy was NO where NEAR the superstar status Rick had in 81. That goes without saying. And it showed in the two concerts that I attended. Rick's stage show was bigger and he was a bonafide STAR. P on the Controversy tour, was up and coming. He had turned the corner and he was on his way. But again, at this stage in 81 and in P's case, early 82, I would pick Prince to be the better live vocalist, and definately the better live musician. As far as stage pressence and command over their audience, at that stage, Rick had that hands down. Now when P got around to his 1999 album and tour, THAT'S when he left Rick behind. Understand, I'm a life long fan of Rick's. Rick was off the hook. But still Rick couldn't fuck with P's album 1999 and he couldn't fuck with P as a live performer on the 1999 tour. P simply kept progressing and at that stage during the 1999 album, it was the student that had mastered the teacher.
[Edited 6/5/09 15:17pm]

Isn't that the "Throwin' Down"-album though ? ... "Cold Blooded" was released in 1983

hi bg i have to repectfully disagree with your assement with ricks career,rick had some very good reveiws on the fire it up tour for his stage shows his vocalsand for his albums.one thing i want to make clear toall of you about this tour,warner bros paid the promoters and critics big money to big up prince even when certain nights he didnt deliver.as for the remarks about 1999 and leaving rick behind in the dust... lets be clear the street song album sold over 7 millin copies bythe time that tour ended which by the way gross 11o million dollars in tickets sales breaking elvis preseley record of sold out shows in his home town.the fire it up lp sold 2.9 million records then in 1980.so you see kiddies rick was already huge by the time 1999 came out and as a matter of fact 1999 was a complete bomb for 9 months until mtv came along while cold blooded was a hottest record in the country for 3 months in 82.

U don't have to try to convince me about Rick being hot. I stated that Rick was the shit. I know all about him breaking records on the Street Songs tour. I stated that when I went to see him in 81, he was "The Man" and the hottest artist around. I know he was STILL killin' whe he released Throwin' Down and Cold Blooded because I bought those as soon as they came out. I was giving my opinion about when P released the 1999 album, (which wasn't a bomb for 9 months or for any time) and when he went out on that tour, personally I feel P had eclipsed Rick. Although I really like the Throwin Down album, I think that Rick had fell into a rut musically. Basically repeating a formula that he had already explored on Street Songs. P on the other hand, was forging NEW ground on the 1999 album and that album was far and beyond anything Rick had ever fucked with. Rick could not compete with P once he released that album. It was TOO much versatility in his songwriting, Rick certainly couldn't hang with P as a multi-instrumentalist. P's musicianship was way beyond Rick's. Now Rick as a vocalist on those early 80 albums, as well as before, were all very cool. Rick had a bomb ass voice. Great vocals. He sung with serious energy and feel. Rick sounded like he MEANT that shit. But as a songwriter and producer and as a musician, I think it was on P's 1999 album that he broke away from where Rick was. Again, all this is just MY personal opinion. Rick was GREAT. He had it all. A bonafide black rock star. And was truly a crossover act WITHOUT MTV. And he laid out the blueprint for what P was able to do. He made it possible for P to go the route that he did. But once P hit his stride on the 1999 album AND tour, he took it somewhere else. A place that Rick couldn't get to. It's like Julius Erving. EVERYBODY wanted to be Dr. J. Magic IDOLIZED Julius. So did Michael. BUT when Magic came onto the scene, he TOOK what he dug from Julius and took it somewhere else. And then Jordan did the same thing. Doesn't mean Dr. J wasn't The Man. Cuz he was. But could he fuck with Magic when Magic hit his stride? To me, not even close. Just an example of "passing the torch" so to speak. P's talent seemed limitless when he released the 1999 album. While Rick was already repeating a formula that HAD already worked for him. But like I stated before, Rick had his whole thing together by his debut album. The Fire It Up album to me, is definately one of my fave albums. If for no other reason than the title track alone. To this day, "Mary Jane" and "You and I" from his debut are fucking classics. They will forever be classics. I don't even have to mention his masterpiece Street Songs. The whole album is brilliant. I LOVE Rick, man. It's no doubt about that. He was just as crucial and important, in his own way, as P-Funk was. Like I stated, he was a SUPERSTAR before MTV and no, he didn't NEED MTV to break ground for him. As far a s P's album "bombing"...Of cousre from the rotation of his LRC video, the sell of the album moved more units BUT P already had a strong fan base by the time he hit with the 1999 album. And a lot to do with that was due to The Time. Most folks knew P was the cat behind them and people who dug The Time, 90% easily dug Prince. The Time's second album had already been out for awhile before the 1999 album. And Vanity 6's was out before The Time's second album. So all of that transfered onto the 1999 album. It did pretty well intially. And MTV playing the 1999 video didn't hurt. And certainly the LRC video. Again, I have always and will always champion Rick. I was simply giving MY opinion that by the time of P's own masterpiece which is the 1999 album, P had taken it way beyond Rick.
[Edited 6/7/09 2:48am]

U don't have to try to convince me about Rick being hot. I stated that Rick was the shit. I know all about him breaking records on the Street Songs tour. I stated that when I went to see him in 81, he was "The Man" and the hottest artist around. I know he was STILL killin' whe he released Throwin' Down and Cold Blooded because I bought those as soon as they came out. I was giving my opinion about when P released the 1999 album, (which wasn't a bomb for 9 months or for any time) and when he went out on that tour, personally I feel P had eclipsed Rick. Although I really like the Throwin Down album, I think that Rick had fell into a rut musically. Basically repeating a formula that he had already explored on Street Songs. P on the other hand, was forging NEW ground on the 1999 album and that album was far and beyond anything Rick had ever fucked with. Rick could not compete with P once he released that album. It was TOO much versatility in his songwriting, Rick certainly couldn't hang with P as a multi-instrumentalist. P's musicianship was way beyond Rick's. Now Rick as a vocalist on those early 80 albums, as well as before, were all very cool. Rick had a bomb ass voice. Great vocals. He sung with serious energy and feel. Rick sounded like he MEANT that shit. But as a songwriter and producer and as a musician, I think it was on P's 1999 album that he broke away from where Rick was. Again, all this is just MY personal opinion. Rick was GREAT. He had it all. A bonafide black rock star. And was truly a crossover act WITHOUT MTV. And he laid out the blueprint for what P was able to do. He made it possible for P to go the route that he did. But once P hit his stride on the 1999 album AND tour, he took it somewhere else. A place that Rick couldn't get to. It's like Julius Erving. EVERYBODY wanted to be Dr. J. Magic IDOLIZED Julius. So did Michael. BUT when Magic came onto the scene, he TOOK what he dug from Julius and took it somewhere else. And then Jordan did the same thing. Doesn't mean Dr. J wasn't The Man. Cuz he was. But could he fuck with Magic when Magic hit his stride? To me, not even close. Just an example of "passing the torch" so to speak. P's talent seemed limitless when he released the 1999 album. While Rick was already repeating a formula that HAD already worked for him. But like I stated before, Rick had his whole thing together by his debut album. The Fire It Up album to me, is definately one of my fave albums. If for no other reason than the title track alone. To this day, "Mary Jane" and "You and I" from his debut are fucking classics. They will forever be classics. I don't even have to mention his masterpiece Street Songs. The whole album is brilliant. I LOVE Rick, man. It's no doubt about that. He was just as crucial and important, in his own way, as P-Funk was. Like I stated, he was a SUPERSTAR before MTV and no, he didn't NEED MTV to break ground for him. As far a s P's album "bombing"...Of cousre from the rotation of his LRC video, the sell of the album moved more units BUT P already had a strong fan base by the time he hit with the 1999 album. And a lot to do with that was due to The Time. Most folks knew P was the cat behind them and people who dug The Time, 90% easily dug Prince. The Time's second album had already been out for awhile before the 1999 album. And Vanity 6's was out before The Time's second album. So all of that transfered onto the 1999 album. It did pretty well intially. And MTV playing the 1999 video didn't hurt. And certainly the LRC video. Again, I have always and will always champion Rick. I was simply giving MY opinion that by the time of P's own masterpiece which is the 1999 album, P had taken it way beyond Rick.
[Edited 6/7/09 2:48am]

bg rick james is one of the most versatile artist the biz has ever seen just ask neil young and etta james and adam ant.i can tell you that rick was not threatin by 1999 cuz the throwing down album and the cold blooded album did quite well without mtv so the hell with them.if you known about rick musicial background you would not talk that talk about prince being more talented then rick. can prince produce the tempts?hell no.what was prince doing before he got sign to a label playing the y and learning how to stay in key.what was rick doing before he got sign to a label working for motown behind the scence as a hot prodocer.when rick presented his demo to motown they wanted to sign him on the spot. when prince presented his demo to record labels they were all hemming and hawwing.keep this in mind when all of you respone with your post the radio station had no interest in playing his music unless they got something out of it

bg rick james is one of the most versatile artist the biz has ever seen just ask neil young and etta james and adam ant.i can tell you that rick was not threatin by 1999 cuz the throwing down album and the cold blooded album did quite well without mtv so the hell with them.if you known about rick musicial background you would not talk that talk about prince being more talented then rick. can prince produce the tempts?hell no.what was prince doing before he got sign to a label playing the y and learning how to stay in key.what was rick doing before he got sign to a label working for motown behind the scence as a hot prodocer.when rick presented his demo to motown they wanted to sign him on the spot. when prince presented his demo to record labels they were all hemming and hawwing.keep this in mind when all of you respone with your post the radio station had no interest in playing his music unless they got something out of it

Dawg, I DO know all about Rick's musical background. Not just me but MOST folks on here who are grown, know all about Rick's musical background. Rick playing with Neil Young, Etta James. If I were u, I wouldn't drop anything about Adam Ant. Hell, Andre Cymone produced Adam Ant and why? Because Adam was stalking P to produce him and P didn't want to. So he searched out Andre. I know he did The Temptations and was killing it. That was an honor. To me, when u get to mentioning shit like what Rick was doing BEFORE he got signed and how bad Motown wanted him is no more valid than when P had 3 major labels wanting to sign him and Warner's actually let a 19 year old produce. All of that right there to me has no weight. I don't give a shit about what they were doing BEFORE and who had more offers. That's grasping for straws player. Seriously, it's NOT that deep. Especially in P's case cuz to me, his debut was wack. Truth be told, Prince should have let Rick produce his debut cuz it would have fared better. My point is, P wasn't ready to produce at that stage. Although he did get his shit together pronto by his second album though. See, here's the difference player. I dig and respect both artists. Have all my life. Me giving my thought about ALL of it is ALL subjective. You have wasted all of your time and energy trying to prove shit to me about Rick. Because u haven't told me anything that I haven't already known. Me knowing all of this still doesn't change my opinion on anything. I don't have no problem with u thinking that P is wack. It's not about that to me. I was just giving u props that u got to work with a legend, who is Rick James. And cuz I said that P left Rick behind with his 1999 album, you straight lost your cool. Why? What does MY thought on it have to do with yours? Why is MY thought that important to u? To me, we were just giving it up on 2 bad ass bruthas. You don't think 1999 was on what Rick was doing. I so happen to think the opposite. So what? U think Rick was on P during that time or for ALL TIME, then cool player. Truly makes me no difference. More power to u. It doesn't upset me to where I have to defend P or anybody else. The cold blooded part (no pun intended) about all my posts is that I've been praising Rick to high heaven..Why? Cuz I dug and dig the shit out of the man. He's a straight legend to me. But you chose to over look ALL of that and instead wanted to trip because I gave my thought that P's 1999 album was when he turned the corner on Rick. So what? That's just MY belief. Doesn't change the fact that I still love Rick. Doesn't take away all of the things I acknowledged that Rick had done. Hell player, I was mentioning shit about Rick that YOU weren't even talking about! You don't like Prince, that's fine. No black off of me. You believe what u believe and so do I. That's what's beautiful. Cuz at the end of the day, the moon is STILL going to rise and the sun is STILL going to set.... regardless.
[Edited 6/7/09 17:34pm]