this is Muzik magazines article on Prince and how he helped lay the foundations of dance music.
As written by MARK HOOPER.

U SEXY MF


Slave,'squiggle',the purple pixie,TAFKAP,his royal perviness...or just plain old Prince Rogers Nelson.

The most influential man in music at the start of 2003 isn't Neptunes or even Simon Cowell.Its Prince,the artist formerly known as or the Purple One.Prince's chart bothering days may be behind him,but his influence on the cutting-edge of music has never been greater.
Prince's legacy can still be seen every time a musical saviour turns up to rid us of factory produced shit-pop.
Despite ostensibly having little to do with house or hip-hop,his influence is stamped all over such new messiahs;Felix Da Housecat,Playgroup,Outkast,Basement Jaxx,The Neptunes,Gonzales,Missy Elliot,and Neptunes- all have admitted the debt they owe to the mini Minneapolian.In recent years,DJ's have noticed that 'Controversy',from 1981,is at house tempo and still sounds fantastic today,while bootlegs of his work appear weekly.
In 2002,avant-dance types fromPeaches to Blue States queued up to pay tribute on Rex Records' 'If I Was Prince'compilation.
"When i was a teenager,he was way ahead of everyone else"Simon Ratcliffe of Basement Jaxx anounced upon release of their purple-tinged album 'Rooty'."Like him,we're fusing black and white music,trying to create a funky,sexy,fantasy world."
Prince has always been a trail-blazer.He unleashed the politicised,funking furious,sexual overdrive of 'Sign O' The Times' upon the MOR musical wasteland of 1987.It was the sound of a genius at the top of his game,mixing avant-garde wordplay with everything from James Brown soul and Bruce Springsteen rock to Beatles psychedelia.There were songs about schoolgirls with starfish in their packed lunches;songs where he fantasised about being his girlfriend's girlfriend to the point where his vocals morphed into a woman's.The title track despaired at the spread of AIDS,crack and gun violence,yet went Top Ten.
Today,16 years after that seminal album,you could be excused for thinking that the same Prince isn't there anymore,buried as he is under squiggles and company wrangles,surrounded by sycophants in Paisley Park,busy testing the loyalty of his fans(thats us) with internet-only albums and bootleg collections at £50 a pop.But that isnt the point.Why does he need to better himself when no-one else has?
Yes,he was way ahead of everyone else when Basement Jaxx were teenagers:he still is.Like George Best and Peter Cook,Prince acheived so much in his youth,it's ridiculous to complain about what he is doing in his forties.
To find Prince's true musical peers,you really do have to look up in the clouds.He was that good.Never mind that he ripped them off wholesale - talent borrows,genius steals.It's no coincedence that Prince gave hip hop a wide berth;it was as if the idea of sampling his heroes' riffs was an insult to someone who'd dedicated their life to perfecting them.
Prince was the real thing.He was once called 'The devils answer to Michael Jackson,' a man who equated sex with spirituality,who announced his arrival in leopard-skin bikini briefs,suspenders and a mac.He was also pop in it's purest form.He stood for fun,danger and perfectionism.
If you really want to put things in perspective,consider that Jacko comparison again,and tell us today who the real King Of Pop is.


well thats about it i hope i dont get the org into trouble for passing it on

But it's a bit eerie...it almost sounds like an epitaph, seriously.

LaVisHh said:

it does...creep out.

"The devil's answer to Michael Jackson"...what the heck does that mean??

PsychedelicMama said:

it means exactly what it sez...

PsychedelicMama said:

It means Prince is The Anti-Michael.


.

LaVisHh said:

yes, but a bit overdue i think
[This message was edited Fri Jan 17 14:29:29 PST 2003 by AaronUnlimited]

AaronUnlimited said:

I think I need to that ass, Aaron.

LaVisHh said:

I hear you. Speaking of overdue epitaphs I've checked Aaron's profile and I've never seen anything so cadaverous-looking in my entire life.

.

I enjoyed this article, bought the mag... makes a change someone saying the kind of things he did. And I found it quite amusing too.

giotto said:[quote]

PsychedelicMama said:

It means Prince is The Anti-Michael.

No, it doesn't. Ever heard the expression "the devil has all the best tunes"?

muirdo said:

Thanks for this. Saves me getting the mag. Very bland article. I don't think the writer realises that Prince is currently making music that's even bolder and more innovative than the stuff he made in his commercial heyday.

i agree nas, but i think we are forgetting that this magazine is aimed at a certain group of people who probably haven't ever really heard Prince's music.
In that case forgive the writer if he seems to be writing in past-tense ,i believe he is writing from his heart which for me makes this a fine bit of reading.
If anything it may make these people want to go and listen to Sign O' the times.
thats jus my humble opinion!

another someone blowing smoke up prince's ass..

Prince should die.

Don't play me, I'm the wrong color and I play guitar, my only competition is from the past. Quote from The Truth Cd.

His only competition is still from the past, If he never sells 500,00 records ever again, he still will be the best that there is. PERIOD. And all you (another one stuck up Princes Ass) Jealous wish you could be Prince wanna be's can stick your Head up your own Ass, and all you will get is Stuff on your face. (Not real Music)