ernestsewell said:

BorisFishpaw said:

Why do people always assume there's just one answer anyway?

Part of the reason that number was chosen is exactly because it has multiple meanings.

1: Firstly, it's a house number (for his first house in L.A.)

2: The numbers struck a chord because they add up to 7 (which has always been an important number for Prince)

3: They also reference a Bible verse that he thought was appropriate, Psalms 31:21 "Blessed be Jehovah, For he has rendered wonderful loving-kindness to me in a city under stress".

.

But his house didn't actually have that address in L.A. The house was a rental from Carlos Boozer, a forward with the Utah Jazz. Prince named the house "3121", as anyone would name a house or an estate "The Rose Estate", etc. He didn't physically change the address (although God help the person who lived at 3121 on that street, if it existed).

The address of Boozer's house is 1235 Sierra Alta Way, LA, CA 90069, as noted in these documents (click the PDF and I think it's page 3 or 4) http://www.thesmokinggun....ce-edition

I don't totally buy into the "7" thing, although I do believe it was a happy coincidence for him and he went with that.

That was a later house.

Prince had at least 3 houses in L.A. (one after the other). The exact address of the original house isn't known, but it was genuinely numbered 3121. This was way before 3121 was released or even mentioned, and before most people were aware he had moved to L.A. and this is the source for the whole "3121" thing. He then moved to the house (above) that most people are familiar with, which he renamed 3121, even though that wasn't it's actual number. He then later had another different house (can't remember where, still in the Beverly Hills area) which was also renamed 3121.

BorisFishpaw said:

That was a later house.

Prince had at least 3 houses in L.A. (one after the other). The exact address of the original house isn't known, but it was genuinely numbered 3121. This was way before 3121 was released or even mentioned, and before most people were aware he had moved to L.A. and this is the source for the whole "3121" thing. He then moved to the house (above) that most people are familiar with, which he renamed 3121, even though that wasn't it's actual number. He then later had another different house (can't remember where, still in the Beverly Hills area) which was also renamed 3121.

Makes sense then. Seems like the whole thing would have been even better had he stayed in that first house w/ the actual 3121 number.

But it's all a bit like the chicken or the egg. Which came first? The house, or the Bible reference? Was it all coincidence, or did he get hooked on the number 3121, and look up verses in the Bible that he could later reference, and call the genesis of the whole project?

Now that we have the answer to that, what is the answer to the question of u?

jseven said:

actually.....

3+1+2+1=7

[img:$uid]http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/39.gif[/img:$uid] totally forgot about that ... LoL

So he's saying "y'all should come to my house because it's protected by Jehovah in times of stress" ....sweet!

Edited because I spelled Jehovah wrong.

[Edited 9/9/10 12:01pm]

ernestsewell said:

BorisFishpaw said:

Prince had at least 3 houses in L.A. (one after the other). The exact address of the original house isn't known, but it was genuinely numbered 3121. This was way before 3121 was released or even mentioned, and before most people were aware he had moved to L.A. and this is the source for the whole "3121" thing. He then moved to the house (above) that most people are familiar with, which he renamed 3121, even though that wasn't it's actual number. He then later had another different house (can't remember where, still in the Beverly Hills area) which was also renamed 3121.

Makes sense then. Seems like the whole thing would have been even better had he stayed in that first house w/ the actual 3121 number.

But it's all a bit like the chicken or the egg. Which came first? The house, or the Bible reference? Was it all coincidence, or did he get hooked on the number 3121, and look up verses in the Bible that he could later reference, and call the genesis of the whole project?

I'm pretty certain the house number came first. Prince has always had a thing for 'signs' (just read the "Coincidence or Fate" liner notes in Kamasutra or the wordplay in "One Song"). I'm sure he noticed straight away that the numers added up to 7 and took that as a good sign. I expect he then scanned through the Bible to see if any 31:21's were appropriate, and thought that the Psalms verse was rather apt for his move to L.A. and therefore decided to take on the whole "3121" thing as the name for his next project.

You all forgot to mention that the album was released on 3/21.....

keyboardwizz said:

You all forgot to mention that the album was released on 3/21.....

I think that's the strongest theory so far. I think the album came out 3/21 and later was named 3121 because Prince liked the release date. What was pure coincidence at first became an "era" that way.

FunkyDissCo said:

keyboardwizz said:

You all forgot to mention that the album was released on 3/21.....

I think that's the strongest theory so far. I think the album came out 3/21 and later was named 3121 because Prince liked the release date. What was pure coincidence at first became an "era" that way.

I don't think that was what wizz suggested, though... They just wanted to share additional info on the topic.