You complain about Prince complaining about WB yet you spend a considerable amount of your time complaining about Prince. So really, which one of you has the other in the palm of their hands coming back for more? Something you ought to think about.

Secondly, it was obvious his focus in the conversation with the Ebony interviewer was about black musicians/artists in particular, who he apparently feels that some are often or have been screwed over by the music industry. There was no crime in his focus on that particular group, and nowhere during the conversation did he say other artists, outside that group have not been affected by that. It's no surprise that since the WB situation, that he has attempted to make other artists aware of educating themselves about the industry before signing on the dotted line..

It seems he's learned his lessons about the music industry and ownership along the way, and just trying to reach out to other artists about it. Prince is already an established, successful artist with a 30-plus year music career, who managed to cross racial lines with his music, which is why he still has a large following today, including you Bart, who spends a considerable amount of your life complaining and insulting Prince, regarding his music/business practices.

BartVanHemelen said:

Oh please, Prince renewed his contract several times. And back in 1993, Metallica and REM were also renegociating their contracts with WEA-labels; both bands managed to look beyond the $ and instead focused on getting control of their back catalogue.

BTW: The Rolling Stones learned big time from getting screwed by their manager, and have been owning their rights ever since. That's why they've managed to repeatedly license their back catalogue to new companies. How many re-issues have there been of their records now? Gues what? They make millions EACH TIME.

2elijah said:

Nothing wrong with self-promotion, by cutting out the middleman, and owning full rights and getting paid for what you create. It may be a bit harder because you don't have the backing of some wealthy exec who would spend money to promote you and get your music and name out there faster, but with the internet and having access to reaching millions of possible consumers, self-promotion isn't such a bad thing for many musicians/artists.

[Edited 6/11/10 19:23pm]

It's not rocket science, and yet here's Prince bitching about radio not playing his songs, and meanwhile screwing his fans via DRM-protected WMAs and failed websites.

[Edited 6/12/10 8:15am]

2elijah said:

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

He said Ike Turner was one of his influences referencing Ike's music, he didn't liken himself to Ike's personality or Ike's life's troubles. I think some fans are taking some of what he said out of context.

He also did not say anything about black poverty, Where'd you get that? He specifically stated that Blacks are still a very "beautiful and industrious people" and used "Black Wall Street" and the "Harlem Renaissance" as examples of a time when black wealth and ownership thrived. He basically stated that the long term "white monopoly of ownership of black music " needs to be done away with, obviously believing that there should be more "diversity in ownership", bordering on equal opportunity and freedom of ownership for musicians/artists.

[Edited 6/12/10 7:05am]

If only he lived by his own words.

Spinlight said:

2elijah said:

He said Ike Turner was one of his influences referencing Ike's music, he didn't liken himself to Ike's personality or Ike's life's troubles. I think some fans are taking some of what he said out of context.

He also did not say anything about black poverty, Where'd you get that? He specifically stated that Blacks are still a very "beautiful and industrious people" and used "Black Wall Street" and the "Harlem Renaissance" as examples of a time when black wealth and ownership thrived. He basically stated that the long term "white monopoly of ownership of black music " needs to be done away with, obviously believing that there should be more "diversity in ownership", bordering on equal opportunity and freedom of ownership for musicians/artists.

[Edited 6/12/10 7:05am]

If only he lived by his own words.

Really? Kind of makes one wonder, because whether he lives by his word or not that still would not be enough for fans who have this idea that they could tell him how he should "think and be."..and so the demand to "mold" Prince into some fans' fantasies or satisfaction continues... Just sayin'.

[Edited 6/12/10 8:14am]

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

This is valid.

nosajd said:

Alamine said:

Lack of education is what is killing these black artist, and you are right it is a poor excuse for artist these days to not be more educated about the industry. The execs are not cheating anyone out of profits, they are very upfront in what they want in these contracts as they are legally binding and are written by very highly educated people, and signed by less educated people.

Stop pointing the finger at the record execs, black artist need to get educated before signing, and stop coming back 20 years begging for handouts like it's govt welfare.

How dumb was Mc Hammer? How dumb was George Clinton? How dumb was Little Richard?

[Edited 6/11/10 19:34pm]

[Edited 6/11/10 19:36pm]

You are full of urself Alamine! Just goes to show you don't know spoohgasit about the record industry. And for one it's not just black artists it's all artists. You are ridiculous! The Beatles got fucked out of their rights, so did the lead singer from Garbage. Pearl Jam left the biz & they're touring & sitting fat & happy. Ani Difranco defied the record industry & she tours & helps new artists all the time. This not as much to do with race as much as it's about the record business & like 2elijah said, snakes. The industry is not upfront if you think this is true u r a fool. Besides, it's all about owning your masters. If you don't own that you are a slave, that's what he's been talking about since he wrote that shit on his face.

Well said and musicians/artists have a right to "own" what they create, their originals, their masters. It's their art, their creativity. It's one thing to share it with others, but musicians deserve to own their masters, not some greedy record label exec(s) whose main interest is to make money off the musician, while not holding the same value and passion of the work, as the creator/originator of it.

Just because record labels may "open the door for artist(s) and give them a platform to "present r and promote their art", doesn't give them the right to be the sole owner of a musician/ artists work.

It's not the record labels' creativity, time and feelings that went into the artist's creative work(s), it's what comes from the musicians/artist's soul and expression that makes it a masterpiece to them. The record exec should be "one of hire" that the musician/artist could fire anytime, if they feel they are not living up to the agreement where it concerns "promotion" of their work, but not giving "total control" over their work to record label execs. At the same time, if the musician/artist agreed to create more works within a specified time of the agreement, but doesn't, then both the label and artist could take it to court. There's something called "fairness", which is not always practiced by record company execs, because they have their foot so deep in some of their clients' (musician/artists) asses, so busy trying to milk as much out of them as possible, to get rich off the artists' creative works, while not giving a damn about what the value of that work means to the artist. .So this nonsense that the musician/artist should have "educated" themselves before signing contracts, is no excuse or gives record labels a pass to take advantage of musicians/artists.

It's like telling the artist of a painting, who loans a museum one of their masterpieces to present/display to the public, that they now own that artists' creation, because they gave them a platform, for their work to be displayed.

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

I haven't read the interview (and might not), but I really agree with your assessment of Prince and the arc of his career.

so did the interviewer bother to ask anything remotely interesting? anything about new music? or music at all? anything about his European tour? anything about his hip? anything about the endless stream of lawsuits and debt that have been in the news the last 6 months? anything about lotusflow3r.com and his relationship with fans?

anything at all? or just the same old bullshit about the current girlfriend and the current religion?

for the first time in awhile, there are actually a fair amount of interesting questions that could be put to Prince. for the first time in awhile, there are actually a fair amount of interesting answers that I'd be intersted in reading from Prince.

sounds like they totally blew it. unless any one of the topics I mentioned above is addressed, I know I won't be buying yet another fluff piece where he's allowed to ramble on ad nauseum about his religion and his pseudo-intellectual conspiracy theories and all the other usual unintersting nonsense.

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

Fantastic post. This should be included in the quotes on the front page.

[Edited 6/12/10 9:28am]

Spinlight said:

2elijah said:

He said Ike Turner was one of his influences referencing Ike's music, he didn't liken himself to Ike's personality or Ike's life's troubles. I think some fans are taking some of what he said out of context.

He also did not say anything about black poverty, Where'd you get that? He specifically stated that Blacks are still a very "beautiful and industrious people" and used "Black Wall Street" and the "Harlem Renaissance" as examples of a time when black wealth and ownership thrived. He basically stated that the long term "white monopoly of ownership of black music " needs to be done away with, obviously believing that there should be more "diversity in ownership", bordering on equal opportunity and freedom of ownership for musicians/artists.

[Edited 6/12/10 7:05am]

If only he lived by his own words.

Spinlight I have followed Prince's career for over 20 years. I love and respect the man however I must agree with you. Prince needs to focus on getting his own house in order instead of telling people how to clean up their house. He seems excited to finally be learning Black history in America, religion, independence, and love but I don't feel he's graduated to the place where he should tell people what they should believe and do it their lives. If Prince doesn't want people to tell him how he should live his life and what he should believe, why does he think people want him to do the same? I doubt Prince is a saint. I think like the rest of us he has more growing up to do. I like to think his intentions are good but he's jaded by his loving society.

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

Prince ought to hire you, if he's really serious about not surrounding himself with "yes" men.

I finally picked it up today-will read it later @ work The pics look nice I know there's alotta hatred for them But me likey

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

Damn!

That's how I like the truth...straight up with no chaser!

Prince has always been late to the "black history" boat, becasue for 20 years he wanted no parts of it.

Now, that he has gotten older and is trying to make up for 20 years of self hate.

His checks from Purple Rain are >>> then his checks from Lflwer, 3121 combined.

Well, I couldn't wait to read it So I am now and so far I can say that I wish Prince was more open, direct with his answers and I am amazed again at the influence of Larry over him It's great when a person finds God and endeavors to know the truth, but sometimes one can be influenced too much by people Just saying Anyway, I'm grateful that Prince did the interview with Ebony and I hope the next time he will be more direct with his interview.

Oh Yeah...Loving the cover-would like to frame it

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

oooooh went in on that ass !

Spinlight said:

Prince can liken himself to Ike Turner all he wants. Ike Turner was, amongst many things, a talented man whose troubles surmounted his creativity and his business savvy - thus ruining not only his music career, but his marriages. Do we, as fans with a bit of insight into Prince, consider him of the same troubled calibre? Maybe. He's spiritually conflicted, to say the least, but whether or not his spiritual eccentricities owe to his malformed vision of slavery and CONtracts is - i guess - interpreted by the reader. Thus, some people will excuse him for his outlandish claims and take them as gospel because... Why? He's black and has been repeatedly shunned from the music industry either by the companies themselves or the music buying public (who just doesn't want his current music)?

Prince was given multiple opportunities to rule the music industry with an iron fist and every single time he was given this opportunity, he squandered it in greed, naivete, and professional onanism. He could not bear the burden of really contributing to artists under his control because his ego and his deranged sense of entitlement is extremely off-putting. Humility is something decades-lost on Prince. It is because of this arrogance that has many people have succumbed to the Bizarro World Midas Touch (aka, when he touches their career, it dies). It is also because of this that he has suffered so much in the music industry.

Exec after exec has come forward, producers, engineers, agents, bandmembers, dancers, and other people attached to his entourage at one time or another have all said the same thing. Prince is a genius when it comes to crafting songs, but he is willfully negligent when it comes to his own career and the interests of those he employs, much less his posterity or his dreadfully loyal fanbase.

Stop giving him excuses to rely on. His assertion that Yes Men are toxic is laughable at best. In fact, he has surrounded himself with nothing but Yes Men for the better part of 20 years now and it has slowly eroded his legacy. He will, eventually (if not already) dissipate into the annals of rock history as a genius-gone-wrong who had the world in his hands for a good 10 years and proceeded to pluck the petals away one by one until there was nothing left but his own distorted kingdom of sand.

You can praise him for his humble status at the moment all you want. He isn't humble, though. His spirituality is vanity. His studies of history and henceforth his retelling of it is ironic and hollow. For someone who recites black history like a copy editor at News of the World, he certainly raked in the cash hand over fist while those White Men Who Enslaved Him bent over backwards to accommodate his greedy demands and outlandish threats.

All the while, in his house he lays dreaming of being a paragon of black enterprise as his back catalog rots in antiquity. A fresh, rejuvenated SOTT? Never. A deluxe edition of LoveSexy? Not on his watch. Without his superfluous and insipid remixes and remakes of his torch songs, Prince will have nothing to do with those albums... That is, unless he can entice you to go to his concerts (which become more and more vaudeville as the years go by), by saying this is the last time he will perform them. Or he will hum, plink on the piano, or strum a few bars of a song that is entirely incongruous with his current "religion" just so the hair on your arms stand up in anticipation before chugging into a full version of "Pass the Peas" or "The Christ".... Barf.

Thanks for the interview with Ebony, P. No, really. We needed another dissertation on black poverty and how black people are/were/will be/can be/should be/would be from the mouth of someone who can give away a half assed album for free with a newspaper and still make 2 million dollars while the US government forecloses on the houses of artists like T-Boz (you know, your favorite band, right?) and others.

Physician, heal thyself.

Fucking hell, can we have this framed?!

Onthereal said:

Spinlight said:

If only he lived by his own words.

Spinlight I have followed Prince's career for over 20 years. I love and respect the man however I must agree with you. Prince needs to focus on getting his own house in order instead of telling people how to clean up their house. He seems excited to finally be learning Black history in America, religion, independence, and love but I don't feel he's graduated to the place where he should tell people what they should believe and do it their lives. If Prince doesn't want people to tell him how he should live his life and what he should believe, why does he think people want him to do the same? I doubt Prince is a saint. I think like the rest of us he has more growing up to do. I like to think his intentions are good but he's jaded by his loving society.

I mean I'm sure Prince is no more perfect than the next human being, but what I don't get about what some people are saying here is, by saying he doesn't have the right to tell others to get their house in order or give advice, when don't you think some of you guys are doing exactly what you're saying he shouldn't do? So when someone becomes "enlightened" so-to-speak at a specific time in their lives about their culture, oh let's say, for example, like how Malcolm X did, when he was living a life of violence, partying with all kinds of women, getting in fights, doing drugs, ending up in jail, and when he became "enlightened", and went out and started preaching to folks who were living their lives like he previously did, before he went to jail, then was it too late for him to be "accepted" by those he was trying to reach as well? How much does one have to prove to those within their race or ethnic group about how "enlightened" and "informed" they are before being accepted and embraced by members of their own group, once they become....."enlightened?"

Secondly, how black does one have to be to prove how "enlightened" they are about their culture, when the majority of the black race don't even display an enormous amount of unity and respect for those within their own culture, as well as many not being knowledgeable about the various ethnic groups that exists within the black culture as a whole or embracing and respecting those variations? Really...please feel free to "enlighten " me.

[Edited 6/12/10 13:27pm]

Having now had an opportunity to read the article in its entirety,

I find the only newly relevant question at this juncture to be: When do

we get to hear Stand Up and B Strong ?

You betta set that baby loose

Surely an anthem that purportedly offers such unified empowerment

is definitely timely and deserves not to be sitting idly on the sidelines

of contemplation, but should indeed, in these troubling times, be echoing

strongly off our tongue tips as it provides renewed courage to our

disheartened souls

2elijah said:

Onthereal said:

Spinlight I have followed Prince's career for over 20 years. I love and respect the man however I must agree with you. Prince needs to focus on getting his own house in order instead of telling people how to clean up their house. He seems excited to finally be learning Black history in America, religion, independence, and love but I don't feel he's graduated to the place where he should tell people what they should believe and do it their lives. If Prince doesn't want people to tell him how he should live his life and what he should believe, why does he think people want him to do the same? I doubt Prince is a saint. I think like the rest of us he has more growing up to do. I like to think his intentions are good but he's jaded by his loving society.

I mean I'm sure Prince is no more perfect than the next human being, but what I don't get about what some people are saying here is, by saying he doesn't have the right to tell others to get their house in order or give advice, when don't you think some of you guys are doing exactly what you're saying he shouldn't do? So when someone becomes "enlightened" so-to-speak at a specific time in their lives about their culture, oh let's say, for example, like how Malcolm X did, when he was living a life of violence, partying with all kinds of women, getting in fights, doing drugs, ending up in jail, and when he became "enlightened", and went out and started preaching to folks who were living their lives like he previously did, before he went to jail, then was it too late for him to be "accepted" by those he was trying to reach as well? How much does one have to prove to those within their race or ethnic group about how "enlightened" and "informed" they are before being accepted and embraced by members of their own group, once they become....."enlightened?"

Secondly, how black does one have to be to prove how "enlightened" they are about their culture, when the majority of the black race don't even display an enormous amount of unity and respect for those within their own culture, as well as many not being knowledgeable about the various ethnic groups that exists within the black culture as a whole or embracing and respecting those variations? Really...please feel free to "enlighten " me.

[Edited 6/12/10 13:27pm]

Come on dude you are comparing this:

Prince 20 years of self hate, now he wants to play super negro catch up and cop pleas for himself, like he just found out blacks come in diff hues. LOL dumb ass where you been for 20 + years.

[Edited 6/12/10 14:15pm]

I think alot about people opinion about this man and how he seems to be so strong. Oh come on we all can't be perfect. You want the best for Prince and he seems to reward you with a song and magazine

you fans can be so demanding and sweet at the same time. I hope you like this song it seems to fit this thread. God Bless You All.... Prince is strong and we no it.....

[Edited 6/12/10 14:22pm]

Alamine said:

2elijah said:

I mean I'm sure Prince is no more perfect than the next human being, but what I don't get about what some people are saying here is, by saying he doesn't have the right to tell others to get their house in order or give advice, when don't you think some of you guys are doing exactly what you're saying he shouldn't do? So when someone becomes "enlightened" so-to-speak at a specific time in their lives about their culture, oh let's say, for example, like how Malcolm X did, when he was living a life of violence, partying with all kinds of women, getting in fights, doing drugs, ending up in jail, and when he became "enlightened", and went out and started preaching to folks who were living their lives like he previously did, before he went to jail, then was it too late for him to be "accepted" by those he was trying to reach as well? How much does one have to prove to those within their race or ethnic group about how "enlightened" and "informed" they are before being accepted and embraced by members of their own group, once they become....."enlightened?"

Secondly, how black does one have to be to prove how "enlightened" they are about their culture, when the majority of the black race don't even display an enormous amount of unity and respect for those within their own culture, as well as many not being knowledgeable about the various ethnic groups that exists within the black culture as a whole or embracing and respecting those variations? Really...please feel free to "enlighten " me.

[Edited 6/12/10 13:27pm]

Come on dude you are comparing this:

Prince 20 years of self hate, now he wants to play super negro catch up and cop pleas for himself, like he just found out blacks come in diff hues. LOL dumb ass where you been for 20 + years.

[Edited 6/12/10 14:15pm]

I'm not a dude, thankyou, I'm very much a female.

Quite frankly, Alamine you seem to come across as someone angry at the man, because you've made more than one comment about him holding some form of self-hatred for over 20 years like e he didn't earn enough "black points" to satisfy your opinion of him. So now that you feel he waited too long to "catch up", according to your statement, is that a reason to punish him for it?

I had no idea there was some sort of requirement or test black people had to pass. That's the problem with many blacks, they think all blacks are suppose to "act" a particular way to earn their "black pass". I'll be damned if some black person will tell me how black I'm suppose to be, as though I'm suppose to earn "black points" to earn their respect. I'd rather they respect and embrace me for the human being than I am, than some BS that I have to pass a "black test" to be accepted.

Isn't it time to acknowledge that black people come from all cultures, and have their own individual personalities? Am I suppose to like the same damn things another black person likes, because we're both black? GTFOH... There's no "special" test one is suppose to pass to embrace their race or culture.

Now I'm not talking about "Uncle Toms" who may hold some sort of self-hatred and not interested in the progress or have concerns about those within their race group, as a whole, and will do things to undermine the progress of their people based on that individual's own self-interest, but don't you think, as a whole, it's time many blacks stop telling their own people how black they're suppose to be and just let them "be?"

Don't get me wrong, I have major respect for the late Malcolm X, and I don't hold what he did before hia "enlightenment, " against him. We all have our own individual paths to follow in this life, that "no one" can walk for us before we reach that state of "enlightenment", and he had his own path to follow, but let's not forget that before Brother Malcolm became enlightened, he slept with white women, held a temporary form of self-hatred and permed his hair, yet it's okay that he gets a pass, and has been forgiven for it, and embraced by black folks. Believe me, I'm not trying to change your opinion, just trying to make sense out of it.

Oh and about those white men that orger "Spinlight" claimed bent over backwards to accommodate Prince's demands and requests earlier in his career, let's not pretend they actually had his best interest at heart, because at the same time they were accommodating his demands, they were thinking of the dollar signs "chh-chiiinging" that were dancing in the back of their minds, knowing how much money they were going to make off his music in the end. I'm also sure, many of those same, white mens' ancestors gained plenty of wealth off the backs of many blacks, including some of Prince's ancestors, so greed works both ways doesn't it? So let's just call it "even." Just sayin'.

[Edited 6/13/10 8:24am]

I thought Prince was just sharing his thoughts about some topics that are important to him. Thinking out loud, if you will.

Fair enough, since he brought it up, we could put his life on trial and present all of his shortcomings as evidence, but to what end? I doubt he's going to have an epiphany and see the error of his ways.

He said some things I agree with and some that I don't, just like always. The only real beef I have with the article is not seeing any mention of new projects in the works.

That said, I've seen some good points raised here that make this thread more interesting than the article itself.

2elijah said:

Alamine said:

Prince 20 years of self hate, now he wants to play super negro catch up and cop pleas for himself, like he just found out blacks come in diff hues. LOL dumb ass where you been for 20 + years.

He probably should have left that topic alone, especially since the interviewer didn't even ask him about it, lol. I can bet several Black people reading this article who have watched him over the past 30 years are going to have similar sentiments as you. I would feel that way too if I didn't know he was just playing word games again to avoid answering a question.

babynoz said:

I thought Prince was just sharing his thoughts about some topics that are important to him. Thinking out loud, if you will.

well in that case, there's no point in the pretense of calling it an interview. he may as well have just written an op-ed piece. or a manifesto, if you will...

[Edited 6/12/10 16:02pm]

regarding the gusto with which he loves to expound on politics, chemtrails, conspiracy theories, race, Jehovah, etc....

there is no zealot like a convert.

errant said:

babynoz said:

I thought Prince was just sharing his thoughts about some topics that are important to him. Thinking out loud, if you will.

well in that case, there's no point in the pretense of calling it an interview. he may as well have just written an op-ed piece. or a manifesto, if you will...

[Edited 6/12/10 16:02pm]

It wouldn't be the first manifesto he's written, that's for sure.

Not that it's in itself a litmus test, but at what arguably was the height of his domestic popularity, Prince contributed enough to warrant a special shout-out (in "Purple Rain" font and all) at the end of the King Holiday tribute video.

Maybe some specifics about this alleged self-hate will clear up our confusion...

Onthereal said:

2elijah said:

I mean I'm sure Prince is no more perfect than the next human being, but what I don't get about what some people are saying here is, by saying he doesn't have the right to tell others to get their house in order or give advice, when don't you think some of you guys are doing exactly what you're saying he shouldn't do? So when someone becomes "enlightened" so-to-speak at a specific time in their lives about their culture, oh let's say, for example, like how Malcolm X did, when he was living a life of violence, partying with all kinds of women, getting in fights, doing drugs, ending up in jail, and when he became "enlightened", and went out and started preaching to folks who were living their lives like he previously did, before he went to jail, then was it too late for him to be "accepted" by those he was trying to reach as well? How much does one have to prove to those within their race or ethnic group about how "enlightened" and "informed" they are before being accepted and embraced by members of their own group, once they become....."enlightened?"

Secondly, how black does one have to be to prove how "enlightened" they are about their culture, when the majority of the black race don't even display an enormous amount of unity and respect for those within their own culture, as well as many not being knowledgeable about the various ethnic groups that exists within the black culture as a whole or embracing and respecting those variations? Really...please feel free to "enlighten " me.

[Edited 6/12/10 13:27pm]

Prince is 52 and a member of an organization founded in 1876 by some Bible students. This speaks volumes to me about how "enlightened" he is. I'm not out here trying to tell people what they should believe is truth. I think people who do this aren't certain of it themselves so they need to try to convert people but Prince doesn't act fully converted to the JW organization. I wish Prince would have a discussion about the world, religion, love, and the Truth with me. I think he's confused and hiding some things. I'll always love and respect him as an artist and human being.

At the end of the day he has to walk that path for himself though. For example, someone like me might view his spiritual understanding as provincial or even quaint, but taking into consideration the people and events that shaped him, I can sort of understand why he is where he is.

If I sat down to have a discussion with Prince we'd be there for weeks.

The article did mention that he is still studying and searching, which sounded good to me 'cuz I love the brotha too.