benjamino71 said:

Prince is a musillectual. Period

ufoclub said:

I was there when he took us all to Minority Report. Very cool. He told the audience that he thought the movie was "weird", this confounded me, because I thought that it was a pretty straight-forward sci-fi tale. Maybe he thought the visuals were strange. Prince has always been a film freak.

Oh, and I'm familiar with SaTim's excellent boot work.

Not anymore! That's for damn sure!

Only one who knows Prince can intelligently answer this question.

laurarichardson said:

Sorry I am a MARXIST who believes religions are the opiates of the masses, most enlightened intellectuals have moved beyond the constraints of organised religion and now see it mostly as a byword for ignorance and bigotry, I believe in a higher being and the spirit world, but the dogma served up by a 2000 year old book that has done nothing but divide human society since then. Did you know slavery and racism were sanctioned by the Bible, apparently Black men were the progenitors of Ham and therefore devoid of souls. Unfortunately America is one of the worst places on earth for the spreading of this ignorant Bible Belt culture and God's literal word, I fear Christian fundamentalism more than Islamic fundamentalism.

Huggiebear said:

I like and agree with a good deal of Marxist ideology, but your notions about all black men being progenitors of Ham is false because not all black men come from Ham. In the Bible only the line of Ham is cursed. It is others who took this notion and applied it to all black men. (I'm not going to get into a debate about the color of Adam and Eve. Well, yes I will. Check Genesis 2:10 and you will find four rivers that surround the Garden of Eden, showing you that, according to the Bible, the first humans were of color--more than likely Negroid since science tells us that Negroid DNA can produce Caucasians, but Caucasian DNA cannot produce Negroids.) So, the Bible, itself, does not assert that all Black men come from Ham and that all Black men are cursed to be servants. In fact, the man who takes Jesus’ cross is a black man, who is literally named Simon the Black Dude or Simeon “Niger,” which means a man of swarthy skin from Africa. He is worshiped as a saint in the Catholic Church. By the way, I’m not Catholic. No offence to any Catholic members, but I need some more soulful singing with my study and praise. However, I like that Catholics are in and out in about an hour, allowing them to be home in time for the game. And there are many example of blacks/Africans in the Bible who hold powerful positions, accomplish great works, or contribute to the spreading of the message.

Secondly, to all of the people who have asserted that intellectuals could not possibly believe in or embrace religion (with a couple of you trying to hedge your bets by using the tired "I believe in a higher power but not dogma" double-talk), I'm glad that there are people on this site who have already shown you all how flawed your arguments are. Let me give you two more names. Soren Kierkegaard, a noted Danish philosopher and godfather of existentialism, actually planted the seeds that flowered into existentialism by pondering over “what God really wanted” him to do. His writings on that question of God’s purpose for his life become the groundwork for existentialism—ironic, huh? Secondly, though most people who call themselves Newtonians are often atheists, Newton, himself, spent more time trying to use math to unlock the secrets of the Bible than he did developing calculus. In fact, the commonly used date of Jesus’ death is from Newton’s calculations. And finally, I'll add a few other intellectuals who also were Christians: W. E. B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Though King's PhD was in Theology, his writings on morality and human progression show a thorough understanding of everything from Marxism to Sun-Tzu's Art of War Theory.

Finally, being an intellectual is about more than just going to a museum or reading books. The first time the term “les intellectuals” finds its way into human conversation was when the French government was angry with French college professors for interfering with government business by protesting an illegal incarceration. Thus, the term, intellectual, based on its origin, means to use one’s talents to make the world a better place. And since the term “better” is subjective—enslavers always assert that they are making the world better by enslaving people that they perceive as savages—as long as Prince and anyone else’s goal is to master one’s knowledge or talents to make the world better, then, by definition, they are intellectuals—in the original use of the word. Or to put it another way, the owners and employees of AIG used their mental skills to pillage and plunder the American economy, causing them not to be considered intellectuals. Many may not agree with Prince’s ideology, and his empirical process may sometimes be flawed, but as noted physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson asserts in his article “In Defense of the Big Bang,” a theory can have holes in it and still be deemed a successful theory, even if it fails to become a law as long as that theory challenges us to think about something in a new way or creates steps leading the science to more discoveries. Thus, Prince’s embracing of the Chemtrail theory may be flawed, but that and other debatable stances/ideas do not discount or erase his other interesting ideas of music and ideas. Nietzsche, as many other noted philosophers, had an emotional/mental breakdown late in his life, but that does not stop people from studying and praising much of his work?

And finally, the creating of music is an intellectual activity, especially if one is thinking about sounds as phonemes. So, in the Jazz and Blues tradition of impregnating a European structure with African notes and rhythms, the black musician has always been engaged in an intellectual activity of using music to signify on the black expression as an act of “linguistic liberation” to borrow a term from the Black Arts Movement. Thus, Prince, as a musician who continues to mix and match musical forms, and, of course, we can debate how well he still does it, continues to think about how music can express his personal journey as well as the journey of the post-civil rights era African American.
[Edited 7/30/09 17:09pm]

squirrelgrease said:

Based on the fact that he went to see Scanner Darkly and talked about it later, I'd say that "Prince" on stage saying it was weird was just the being-friendly-to-the-mass-mentality "Prince". I've had friends say completely dumb shit in a social situation just to fit in or pander to the surrounding people's group attitude. I really think that sometimes Prince is just pandering to whoever is around him, whether it be in the studio or on the stage.

Of course I could be wrong!

Is the fact that you are a Marxist suppose to be an excuse for writing off other people’s beliefs.
Because it is not an excuse for your ignorant comments. In addition, you have now followed it up with more nonsense.

“Did you know slavery and racism were sanctioned by the Bible, apparently Black men were the progenitors of Ham and therefore devoid of souls.”

The Ham nonsense was made up by racist nut cakes who used Christian religion for their own purpose which, was to excuse slavery. Their motives were greed and power. None of this has anything to do with Christianity and I am tired of people using the behavior of nut case who twist Christianity for their own purpose being used as a reason that Christianity is wrong.

Learn to separate the nuts from the real philosophy and teachings of Jesus Christ.

MLK, Mother Teresa and countless other Christians around the world have done so much to help people with no in enrichment for themselves so to use racist nuts as examples of Christianity is quite ridiculous.

I will not even go into the great success of Marxist ideas (LOL) like that philosophy has been really successful.

Huggiebear said:

He's intelligent enough, but just quite uneducated and it shows sometimes. If he would have been spending the ten last years reading something else than just the bible or other forms of religious literature, I'm pretty sure his world view would be a lot different. He wasn't definitely as full of his pseudo-conservative nonsense in the 80s.

However, let's not forget that he was able to more or less foresee the downfall of the record industry already in the 90s. He was also very open about things that people came to agree only 10-16 years later on about the practises of the record companies practices. I would say that requires intelligence more than anything else.




There's a socialist party in almost every democractic government in the world still to this day.

novabrkr said:

All true, as usual. I'd add, though, his form of intelligence is such that he can grasp complicated concepts and draw personal conclusions so naturally that his psychological (pathological?) arrogance makes him feel that any need to study opposing viewpoints is useless as doubt would effect hsi inspiration - I think it's pretty obvious Prince has a vampric thirst for energy, no matter the course of his inspiration.

I think that Prince is most deffinately bright in many areas. As far as being an intellectual goes I think that most true intellectuals like to hear other people's viewpoints especially when they differ from their own. They like their ideas challenged.

When I read that Prince likes Bill Maher it affected the way I thought about Prince. Maybe he IS someone who can stand to be disagreed with. I think he may genuinely like to debate issues. As far as some of his ideas being out there, I think it's safe to say that quite a few intellectuals have gone out on a limb every once in a while.

As far as P's Christian leanings go, no all intellectuals are atheists. Sorry atheists but it's true.

Lastly I do think that P likes to debate with men but I doubt highly that that is a skill, the ability to debate, that he likes in women.

Intellect
- the ability to learn and reason; the capacity for knowledge and understanding.
- the ability to think abstractly and profoundly.

Antonyms: emotion, ignorance


May this be your guide...carry on

No way.

I mean: look at his political / social lyrics and interviews.

.
[Edited 12/29/09 9:24am]

novabrkr said:

ZING!

Prince only knows music and his religion. An intellectual has to be educated as to the history of ideas, and they have to have some serious critical thinking skills.

He's smart, but he's not a great thinker.

JudasLChrist said:

-----
Would you say that they are successful forms of goverment?

JBK said:

Revolution said:

Yes I agree with that, he is clever.

Anybody who can get fine ass women to strip down and jump in lakes in freezing ass Minnesota is fucking brilliant!!!

Genesia said:

That's hilarious! I had never heard of chemtrails, but looked it up. Did Prince spout some kind of shit about chemtrails?

No.
Actually, I think a lot of Prince's "ideas" are embarrassingly callow and unsophisticated. He's a musical genious and that's all that matters.
But, intellectual? I don't see it. He seems interested in knowledge and ideas, but his conclusions are often risible.

jdcxc said:

Tavis Smiley a "true intellectual"? Have you paid attention to his interviews? He has yet to ask an interesting question. Usually, his queries are along the lines of "So, Anita Baker, what makes you so... great?"

asdfjkl said:

Oh, he does that to everyone? That's kind of a relief... for the Prince interview I swear I thought he was about to bend over and start sucking Prince's dick. He was such fluff-lite ass kisser. I was embarrassed for him.
[Edited 8/2/09 11:02am]

Well certainly if you consider emotion to be an antonym of intellect, then Prince is suspect since he goes about many public actions from an emotional-instinctual standpoint (seemingly). But the fact that he likes to sit around with his friends and discuss religious/economic/artistic details on a philosophical and sometimes mathematical level, and the fact that he is running his brand of product since 1979 and STILL able to wow the world and make a shitload of $$$ to do whatever he wants however he wants... well that takes brains fools!

Try it.

If you want to break down intellect as the ability to organize thoughts into complex patterns that ultimately serve through being constructive and manifesting into a self preserving strategy that works over many years.... He has got anyone on here BEAT. Unless someone like Spielberg or Paul McCartney is posting on here.

I do think that raw creative talent will still get you nowhere unless you intellectually apply it to organize a behavioral pattern that works consistently for you and the world in an EPIC way.

ufoclub said:

co-sign to the first paragraph...
after "try it"... not even tryna understand it
Sry...today is my "wtf day"...my brain is all scrambled

JudasLChrist said:

His intelligence is contradictory. Some of his songs with social commentary in them show great creative and poetic intelligence. Being musically so prolific, he's got the gift of association. But indeed, his sources don't seem to go very deep and sometimes he just goes along with received opinion. "America" springs to mind: as an artist from a black, working class background a lot of his lyrics reflect a criticism or ambivalence towards the powers that be. But as he doesn't feel the same material constraints as ordinary working people do, he could easily fall back, in that song, into an idealized and naive patriotism also.

He's witty, which is a mark of intelligence, and shows he can appreciate the contradictions in a situation. But on the other hand, he rambles on about a kind of religious "truth" which might be fruitful for him, but doesn't do much in the real world of having to pay mortgages, cling to your job, getting your kids a decent and affordable education, and more mundane things like that.

Dirty Mind was his more rebel, philosophically materialist nirvana, a party more for the people than for God (Party Up, sexual themes). The lyrics to The Rainbow Children are, for the most part, the alienated truths of a rich man. There might exist "religious intellectuals", in the sense that they have seriously studied opposite views to look at the world, but I don't think Prince is one of them, unfortunately. Especially recently some of his utterances seem to be at odds with the ordinary tools of debate: reason, facts and experience.

truth within a thought is still an illusion...
Prince is .....

This thread is comical. U are discussing a man's intellectual capcity and most of U have never met the man.....

Prince is an evil genius!

After all who got all y'all haters on the internet 2 cough up 77 dollars?