The August issue of Playboy has an interview with Cornel West in which he's asked about Prince... here's the text for those of you interested... pretty cool

PLAYBOY: What was it like to record a song with Prince?

WEST: Lord have mercy, that man is a genius of unparalleled vitality, and going into the studio to record something for him was an extraordinary blessing. But I just love hanging out with the man. We were together in Montreux last summer. He did two shows one night, two hours of jazz - Coltrane, Charlie Parker - and then came back with two hours of funk. Unbelievable. Afterward he said "Brother West, do you sleep?" I said, "Well, I try not to." He doesn't sleep at all. He said, "Let's spend some time talking." First thing we did, we went on top of the hotel and watched some of Obama's speeches. Then we had a dialogue for about an hour, then we started talking about music for another hour, and then we talked politics for another hour. We stayed up until 7:30, eight. He packed and jumped on his plane. Stayed up all night. And another time Michael Steele and I were at a Prince concert together.

PLAYBOY: You and the chairman of the Republican National Committee went to a Prince concert?

WEST: Oh yeah. Politics can't stop you from rockin' to a genius man! [laughs]

Very Nice.

I remember at Tavis Smiley benefit concert last year that Prince was a special guest at. Cornel was dancing his ass off on stage he can really dance. I was shocked. Just didn't expect that. Tavis was dancing to. No comment on him...

It's weird how everyone has a completely different report on Prince. One minute hes a self-obsessed womanizing lunatic, the next he's a laid back, educated jazz cat.

I gotta say. I don't love Cornel West. What I know of him, anyway. I do need to sit down and read one of his books to know for sure, but he just seems like such a star-fucker. Why on earth would someone like him be hanging out with Michael Steele? I mean, EW!

I thought the interview overall was interesting... some non-Prince highlights are here: http://www.playboy.com/ar...index.html

Alguy said:

It's weird how everyone has a completely different report on Prince. One minute hes a self-obsessed womanizing lunatic, the next he's a laid back, educated jazz cat.

Hey Prince's a complex guy.

Total compliment. Not suprising though.

*Professor West is one of the most legitimate, capable advance-thinkers of our time.

[Edited 7/24/10 18:10pm]

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

I remember at Tavis Smiley benefit concert last year that Prince was a special guest at. Cornel was dancing his ass off on stage he can really dance. I was shocked. Just didn't expect that. Tavis was dancing to. No comment on him...

I was at that one too. That was too surreal to see Prince, West, Dyson, and Smiley all lines up dancin alike fools. I hope that was video-taped for posterity.

xlr8r said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

I remember at Tavis Smiley benefit concert last year that Prince was a special guest at. Cornel was dancing his ass off on stage he can really dance. I was shocked. Just didn't expect that. Tavis was dancing to. No comment on him...

I was at that one too. That was too surreal to see Prince, West, Dyson, and Smiley all lines up dancin alike fools. I hope that was video-taped for posterity.

It was hilarious & unbelievable. I was looking for Jesse Jackson & Al Sharpton to come up there next...LMAO... Prince brings out all sides of people....

bashraka said:

That's why I di Prince so much: because he full of interesing dichotomies. The man is still shy and awkward when giving press interviews but he can sit in a roundtable with Dyson, West and Smiley and engage in a lenthy roundtable discussion about music, politics, history and current events. Because o his religious tenets he adheres to not participating in the electoral process but is opinionated about Obama and the nation's domestic and foreign affairs. I think Prince has grown not only musically but as a person. The 22 year old of "Dirty Mind" couldn't care less about these kind of things. My only problem is that how come he doesn't speak openly in public like this when he gives interviews to Ebony magazine. That's what I would have liked to have read: an unadulterated and unedited article about Prince's musings on things as he sees them and not the e-mailed answeres that Ebony's staff had to make semi-coherent.

That's probably because he'd be bashed to no end, by fans, who read his personal political views and and comments on historic matters and current events. Not to mention his comments twisted and taken out of context, much like it was in the Ebony issue, by some fans. It would be nice to hear some his in-depth views on such topics though. I bet those conversation with Cornel West, on such issues, was quite interesting to say the least.

[Edited 7/24/10 19:56pm]

why is cornel west doing interviews for playboy ?

isn't he a scholar ?

i guess scholars need tittays too

PicklesMcMillan said:

why is cornel west doing interviews for playboy ?

isn't he a scholar ?

i guess scholars need tittays too

He's far from the only person of his caliber to do this lol

Timmy84 said:

PicklesMcMillan said:

why is cornel west doing interviews for playboy ?

isn't he a scholar ?

i guess scholars need tittays too

He's far from the only person of his caliber to do this lol

i dont read playboy so i wouldnt know

PicklesMcMillan said:

why is cornel west doing interviews for playboy ?

isn't he a scholar ?

i guess scholars need tittays too

Playboy is pretty well known for the quality of its interviews and other articles... despite the running joke about men "only reading it for the articles." Even though it's gone downhill a bit in recent years, that's still why I, as a straight woman, have a subscription.

And besides, Hef seems to be a Prince fan... there are small mentions here and there.

shiloh66 said:

PicklesMcMillan said:

why is cornel west doing interviews for playboy ?

isn't he a scholar ?

i guess scholars need tittays too

Playboy is pretty well known for the quality of its interviews and other articles... despite the running joke about men "only reading it for the articles." Even though it's gone downhill a bit in recent years, that's still why I, as a straight woman, have a subscription.

And besides, Hef seems to be a Prince fan... there are small mentions here and there.

i heard the articles are good

but as a straight woman even i would be distracted by the naked women

so what was the song that they recorded? i remember "dear mr man" having a connection

back to west and dreamer being inspired by a conversation with him. but what song is west

actually ON? or is it something that hasn't been released yet?

IstenSzek said:

so what was the song that they recorded? i remember "dear mr man" having a connection

back to west and dreamer being inspired by a conversation with him. but what song is west

actually ON? or is it something that hasn't been released yet?

I think he's on Dear Mr. Man... but not absolutely positive.

Actually here's some a little bit of info on overdubbing by West... http://www.princevault.co...ar_Mr._Man

[Edited 7/25/10 8:53am]

We were together in Montreux last summer. He did two shows one night, two hours of jazz - Coltrane, Charlie Parker - and then came back with two hours of funk. Unbelievable.

It must have been the sleep deprivaton that caused mr. West to remember the two Montreux shows this way. The two shows had basically the same set up and none of them was a jazz show.

hjd said:

We were together in Montreux last summer. He did two shows one night, two hours of jazz - Coltrane, Charlie Parker - and then came back with two hours of funk. Unbelievable.

It must have been the sleep deprivaton that caused mr. West to remember the two Montreux shows this way. The two shows had basically the same set up and none of them was a jazz show.

Or maybe during their dialogue Prince hypnotised him and convinced him that "the show is 4 UR memories!" and so he stupidly didn't download it afterwards.

hjd said:

We were together in Montreux last summer. He did two shows one night, two hours of jazz - Coltrane, Charlie Parker - and then came back with two hours of funk. Unbelievable.

It must have been the sleep deprivaton that caused mr. West to remember the two Montreux shows this way. The two shows had basically the same set up and none of them was a jazz show.

The compositions Prince played @ Montreux last summer did have a jazzy set up . So its easy 4 a non diehard fan 2 confuse it. Prince redid all his masterpiece songs in a new jazzy format. Maybe Mr. West was so in awe of Prince presence & looked in2 his eyes & couldn't tell the difference....

How te hell do you live without sleeping?

There's articles in Playboy???

Sit around and watch Obama's speeches????WHY THE HELL WOULD U DO THAT PRINCE?????????

IstenSzek said:

so what was the song that they recorded? i remember "dear mr man" having a connection

back to west and dreamer being inspired by a conversation with him. but what song is west

actually ON? or is it something that hasn't been released yet?

Actually "Dreamer" lyrics was inspired by Dick Gregory, as Prince mentioned in the Tavis interview.

Cornel West featured Prince's track "Dear Mr. Man", on his CD, but it was retitled "Mr. Man", on Corne'l West's "Never Forget: A Journey Of Revelations" CD. Cornel West spoke some words over that track.

[Edited 7/25/10 17:52pm]

shiloh66 said:

The August issue of Playboy has an interview with Cornel West in which he's asked about Prince... here's the text for those of you interested... pretty cool

PLAYBOY: What was it like to record a song with Prince?

WEST: Lord have mercy, that man is a genius of unparalleled vitality, and going into the studio to record something for him was an extraordinary blessing.

AFAIK the only thing they did together is when Cornell used one of his songs on a compilation and he spoke over the intro.

But I just love hanging out with the man. We were together in Montreux last summer. He did two shows one night, two hours of jazz - Coltrane, Charlie Parker - and then came back with two hours of funk.

I love Cornell West, but this is some straight up BS.

PicklesMcMillan said:

Timmy84 said:

He's far from the only person of his caliber to do this lol

i dont read playboy so i wouldnt know

2elijah said:

bashraka said:

That's why I di Prince so much: because he full of interesing dichotomies. The man is still shy and awkward when giving press interviews but he can sit in a roundtable with Dyson, West and Smiley and engage in a lenthy roundtable discussion about music, politics, history and current events. Because o his religious tenets he adheres to not participating in the electoral process but is opinionated about Obama and the nation's domestic and foreign affairs. I think Prince has grown not only musically but as a person. The 22 year old of "Dirty Mind" couldn't care less about these kind of things. My only problem is that how come he doesn't speak openly in public like this when he gives interviews to Ebony magazine. That's what I would have liked to have read: an unadulterated and unedited article about Prince's musings on things as he sees them and not the e-mailed answeres that Ebony's staff had to make semi-coherent.

That's probably because he'd be bashed to no end, by fans, who read his personal political views and and comments on historic matters and current events. Not to mention his comments twisted and taken out of context, much like it was in the Ebony issue, by some fans. It would be nice to hear some his in-depth views on such topics though. I bet those conversation with Cornel West, on such issues, was quite interesting to say the least.

[Edited 7/24/10 19:56pm]

True, look at the internet observation and how it was taken out of context and used as an excuse to bash him. Hell, after that comment the boards where lit up with latent aggression; he was called a has been, midget, fag, everything but a child of god. It was if he insulted us personally, as if his opinion on effective distribution (for himself) was a call for war.

dreamshaman32 said:

2elijah said:

That's probably because he'd be bashed to no end, by fans, who read his personal political views and and comments on historic matters and current events. Not to mention his comments twisted and taken out of context, much like it was in the Ebony issue, by some fans. It would be nice to hear some his in-depth views on such topics though. I bet those conversation with Cornel West, on such issues, was quite interesting to say the least.

[Edited 7/24/10 19:56pm]

True, look at the internet observation and how it was taken out of context and used as an excuse to bash him. Hell, after that comment the boards where lit up with latent aggression; he was called a has been, midget, fag, everything but a child of god. It was if he insulted us personally, as if his opinion on effective distribution (for himself) was a call for war.

Prince kept quiet for a long time because he never wanted to get into discussions like that. That's why it's tough for him to say anything because if it's taken at face value, either people will believe him only to jump to their OWN conclusions and not Prince's, or people will attack him just to attack him. He couldn't win either way I guess...but that's why he made the bed so he has to lay in it too, I guess.