I mean, on the real, would you even consider the area he grew up in a hood? I'm only asking because some people said he did. (go figure)

BTW, that house in Purple Rain looked pretty trashy.

Anyone?

NastradumasKid said:

well it wasn't Beverly Hills...he wasn't "privileged," so to speak. He was in the lower income, predominately black, area of town. It looks lower-middle class to me. But I consider low class to be the hills of Arkansas. It seems a bunch of them had instruments and there clothes weren't falling apart, so they couldn't have been that bad off... but who knows what the people who weren't in the music scene up to.

take all of that with a grain of salt tho, cuz almost ANYone considers where they grew up to be their "hood"

BobGeorge909 said:

Ok, well, I know he wasn't privileged or anything, but him seemed to live in a somewhat decent neighborhood, you don't have to wear clothes falling apart to live in the hood.

BobGeorge909 said:

Yeah, I know what you mean. Especially coming from a few white people.

Keep in mind that Prince has been a millionaire since the age of 18.

RodeoSchro said:

Then what about before then?

To help the person who started this thread out. "'Hood" to me is defined as a ghetto enclave, where the community is underserved of quality housing (housing projects) too many businesses that sell bad products (cheap/poisonous liquor, rotten food like meat, dairy products) and institutions (public school system should say it all), high rates of crime and low responsiveness from emergeny medical services. Talk to Tavis Smiley and Chuck D if you still unclear.

bashraka said:

All I asked is did Prince really in the hood, not an explanation of what the term is. Lord. But thank you anyway, as if I don't already know that.

bashraka said:

Reminds me of the hood near us, full of rotting state houses, shops selling RTDs and cheap ass boose, butchers with povi masima and lamb flaps (Low quality cuts of meat bought by the poor). Loan shark shops everywhere, dodgy gambling parlours, tinnie houses (Our version of crack houses selling dope and other drugs (Not crack though) p), ethnic foodstores, dairies selling cheap unpasteurised milk and $1 loaves of bad bread (And even smokes for $1 each). Full of school dropouts, beneficiaries and criminals and mostly Pacific and Maori people, a thriving rap scene, gangs heaps of tagging (Grafitti) and fish and chip, KFC, McDonalds etc and their imitators (Lots of fried chicken joints), only one hospital and unsafe at night. Wheres this hood, not Compton or Watts but Manukau city in South Auckland, New Zealand.

And I think Prince's housing in PR was more solid working class like Mt Wellington or Mt Roskill rather than these ghetto ass suburbs.

NastradumasKid said:

[Edited 3/29/10 21:23pm]

NastradumasKid said:

No.

I've seen footage of Andre's home, where Prince lived for a long time as a child, and that house/neighborhood looked beautiful, lol. That wasn't a "hood" in my opinion, but instead a nice-looking suburb.

Huggiebear said:

Sheesh all that in that area???!!! Wow! Kind of reminds me of QueenBridge, NY.
Yeah, I guess compare to other houses, the house in PR was okay, but IDK, it still look kind of shoddy, like lower-middle house.

WaterInYourBath said:

Yeah, that's what I thought, But still even Prince's family was poor. And wasn't Andre's family poor also?

NastradumasKid said:

Well, "poor" is kinda relative. His "poor" may be considered "rich" to really destitute people. Plus, I remember reading in one of Per Nilsen's books that Prince's father worked at an electronics store or factory, and that his family was middle class. Andre's mother may have had a harder time since she had more children to care for. From what I've seen/read, I wouldn't call any of them "poor," but that's just my opinion.

WaterInYourBath said:

Oh okay I understand. Thanks for clearing that up.
[Edited 3/29/10 22:03pm]

i doubt he grew up a millionare

PurpleDiamond2009 said:

He didn't become a millionaire until the 1999 era, right? I don't think he started making that kind of money until he crossed over via MTV. I'm not sure though.

WaterInYourBath said:

That's about right.

North Minny is much scarier now than it was then, but back then it was working class mostly african american-alot of the same street ethics from rougher hoods ran through North Minny. People had lawns and houses due to white flight like most so called nice hoods. Now it's crazy, i moved here in 90 and back then at least you could go over there to play ball or holla at a hoodrat but i wouldnt drive through now-maybe i'm getting old. The Chicago Gangs and the Tre Tre Crips (dont quote me on the name i dont know what these damn chillun talking about) are holding shit down and it is much more sketchy in 10" as opposed to 90". I heard in 70" it was still chill, activism, park jams (where kids like prince honed their chops) and folks had jobs, folks werent rich but they werent under the constant threat of danger. These kids nowadays are bangin at funerals, for kids that got hit by a stray bullet!!, bringing beef to that venue is some ignant shit.
[Edited 3/30/10 3:20am]

WaterInYourBath said:

His dad worked for Honeywell as a plastics molder.

I suspect that most of Prince's "poorness" stemmed from the fact that he ran away from home at 12.
[Edited 3/30/10 4:45am]

dreamshaman32 said:

That sounds EXTREMELY similar to the hoods in Cali, like where my Dad grew up in LA, near Adams Blvd and the 10 frwy(inerstate). He said back when he was a kid it was freakin' awesome. NOW!.....shiiiiit...I'd pay $100 jus for the right to drive AROUND the area. I sure as hell ain't goin' THROUGH it. And to think....he grew up on "Smiley Dr." Literally, the street was named "Smiley Dr." When I was 4 or 5, I didn't believe him 'til he showed me the street sign one time when we went to go visit my Grammaw. My crazy ass Aunt is renting an apartment next-door to the house she grew up in. Needless to say, I don't be visitin' her. That hood ain't even as bad as they get either. It still cracks me up that my pops' lived off of Adams Blvd and our last name is Adams. The "Smiley Dr." thing is still unbelievable.




edit: I think a Photo of that street-sign with all the plight around it would make for a great Photo.


edit 2: This now reminds me of when my Grandpa ended up in jail over night for shooting back at someone who had shot at him. My Dad said they let him out after a quick investigation showed bullet holes in his house. This was in the early 80's or late 70's cuz my dad said I wasn't in school yet.
[Edited 3/30/10 5:05am]

RodeoSchro said:

Well that's just not true.

Prince was born in '58 - turned 18 in '76, and didn't even have a record deal until '77 and didn't release his first album till '78, which sold moderately. But he had spent his entire budget for 3 albums on the first one, so the self-titled '79 album was made for next to nothing and 'Dirty Mind' for even less than that. Neither of those sold particularly well either.

After three albums, Prince still wouldn't have made a great deal of money.

'Controversy' sold fairly well and then of course '1999' sold very well because of the title track and 'Little Red Corvette' getting lots of play on MTV. It would have been at this point that Prince became a millionaire - at 24 years old. That's quite a ways away from the 18 that you claimed, lol.

Militant said:

A WHOLE 6 years!







...please note the sarcasm that is dripping off of the sentence...

BobGeorge909 said:

6 years is a long time - at the age that Prince became a millionaire, that would have been 1/4 of his entire life at that point!

Militant said:

I suppose....but todays he's fifty-summin. I do realize that he wouldn't have become a million until well after 18....either way, he was financially independent soon after he signed his deal around the age of 20. 20 is very close to the "I'm an adult now" age of 18...it's very easy and fairly appropriate for people to round down....especially for someone who is fifty-summin now and settling lawsuits that are in the millions.

Militant said:

-----
I remember P being mentioned in Ebony as a millionaire back in 81. Let’s be honest you could earn a million easy from concert receipts and royalties. Keep in mind he was making money off the Time songs as well as his own and he was known for being cheap.

RodeoSchro said:

He wasn't, really.


His first album didn't sell and chart that well, especially not when compared to its production costs and all that. Furthermore, he didn't give concerts yet, because he didn't have a proper band and because the one's he played with were not yet tight and perfect enough for a tour.

Dave1992 said:

-----
Owen said the first contract was in the six figures so he was close to being a millionaire