Question for you...

In 1990, Prince did Tokyo. He sang Partyman, but then went into a portion of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately". I just watched that portion of the Tokyodome show recently.

After Partyman, and during "What Have You Done for Me Lately", Prince sang "Who wrote that?" a number of times.

I know Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced Janet Jackson, but I was wondering if this was Prince paying homage to them, or if perhaps Prince wrote a similar song and was implying that he gave them the idea for that song.

Any insight? Just curious. We know how "boastful" the little one can be, so I was just trying to put 1 and 1 together here.

Thanks!!

Just a guess, but I think he was giving "Props and Pounds" to the Minneapolis Sound, which is just giving props to himself. Both Partyman and What Have You Done have the processed drums (one of the deining elements of the Minneapolis Sound) and the piano lick on Partyman sounds very similar to that on What Have You Done.

The first two janet albums had that minneapolis sound that prince established. That's what he meant imho, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis copied his sound.

it's a playful jab at his once fellow bandmate/friends/colleagues. He's just playing of the fact that Rosie Gaines sings someone else's song... but we know he thinks it's cool. Great song by them and Janet Jackson too!

I could be naive but I think it was just Prince being silly and not particularly snide or mean spirited. Seems like a shout-out to Jam and Lewis though certainly more of a private joke between him, the band and the hardcore fans since it probably wasn't common knowledge to most of the audience who wrote the song.

I asked Matt Fink himself about that years ago, and his response was "Prince didn't write that song", which is true. We agreed it was more of a shout to J&T than anything else.

ernestsewell said:

I asked Matt Fink himself about that years ago, and his response was "Prince didn't write that song", which is true. We agreed it was more of a shout to J&T than anything else.

I know for a fact that Prince hated them in the early 90s cuz I went to glam slam alot back in the day and he dissed them all the time, infact prince took shots at janet more than jam & lewis. And omg can I say this now he dead? Prince dont like MJ noooooooooooooooo! cuz i heard our little Prince say that Michael dont even enter his vocabulary with a funky look on his face. like matt fink knows anything lmao.

THETHING66 said:

ernestsewell said:

I asked Matt Fink himself about that years ago, and his response was "Prince didn't write that song", which is true. We agreed it was more of a shout to J&T than anything else.

I know for a fact that Prince hated them in the early 90s cuz I went to glam slam alot back in the day and he dissed them all the time, infact prince took shots at janet more than jam & lewis. And omg can I say this now he dead? Prince dont like MJ noooooooooooooooo! cuz i heard our little Prince say that Michael dont even enter his vocabulary with a funky look on his face. like matt fink knows anything lmao.

Matt knows Prince, and has for a long time, and was on the Nude Tour.

YOU don't know "for a fact" that Prince hated anyone, wrote or didn't write something. Your conjecture is bullshit. Prince didn't write "What Have You Done For me Lately?" You trying to butt that and prove that he DID? You'd be wrong, again.

ernestsewell said:

THETHING66 said:

I know for a fact that Prince hated them in the early 90s cuz I went to glam slam alot back in the day and he dissed them all the time, infact prince took shots at janet more than jam & lewis. And omg can I say this now he dead? Prince dont like MJ noooooooooooooooo! cuz i heard our little Prince say that Michael dont even enter his vocabulary with a funky look on his face. like matt fink knows anything lmao.

Matt knows Prince, and has for a long time, and was on the Nude Tour.

YOU don't know "for a fact" that Prince hated anyone, wrote or didn't write something. Your conjecture is bullshit. Prince didn't write "What Have You Done For me Lately?" You trying to butt that and prove that he DID? You'd be wrong, again.

No infact i dont think he write that weak ass song, im just saying that he dont like them, unlike u i went to glam slam alot and heard this my self not from dr fink. Like Prince tells that stiff anything haha look at u getting upset lmao.

THETHING66 said:

ernestsewell said:

I asked Matt Fink himself about that years ago, and his response was "Prince didn't write that song", which is true. We agreed it was more of a shout to J&T than anything else.

I know for a fact that Prince hated them in the early 90s cuz I went to glam slam alot back in the day and he dissed them all the time, infact prince took shots at janet more than jam & lewis. And omg can I say this now he dead? Prince dont like MJ noooooooooooooooo! cuz i heard our little Prince say that Michael dont even enter his vocabulary with a funky look on his face. like matt fink knows anything lmao.

I went to Glam Slam all the time too, but I can assure anyone that Prince was not walking around talking about Jam, Lewis, or Janet. In fact, when Janet was in Minneapolis recording Janet in late 92/early 93, her and Tina Landon came to Glam Slam often to hang out. I saw Janet and Prince talking on more than one occasion.

The early 90s Prince supposedly hated Jam/Lewis? They were in Graffiti Bridge which was released in 90 and The Time had reformed and was touring. I don't think Prince ever HATED them. He's never dissed them in public from what I recall, and I've never heard a bad word said by any of them... in fact, they gave Prince a lot of props when The Time reformed for Pandemonium.

I think that Prince was commenting on the song having the Minneapolis sound (which it does-big time) and how similar it sounds to a lot of Prince's work in the early/mid 80s. I don't think it was done with any disrespect at all.

THETHING66 said:

ernestsewell said:

Matt knows Prince, and has for a long time, and was on the Nude Tour.

YOU don't know "for a fact" that Prince hated anyone, wrote or didn't write something. Your conjecture is bullshit. Prince didn't write "What Have You Done For me Lately?" You trying to butt that and prove that he DID? You'd be wrong, again.

No infact i dont think he write that weak ass song, im just saying that he dont like them, unlike u i went to glam slam alot and heard this my self not from dr fink. Like Prince tells that stiff anything haha look at u getting upset lmao.

If you could type in English next time, it'd be great, mmkay?

Second, I'm so NOT upset. I laugh at fools like you pontificating on what they think they know. I'm calling you out on your shit, which is just that - shit.

No way Prince hated Jam/Lewis. As Madhouseman noted, they were in GB, and worked with him on the Pandemonium album. So that assumption is bullshit on your part too.

madhouseman said:

The early 90s Prince supposedly hated Jam/Lewis? They were in Graffiti Bridge which was released in 90 and The Time had reformed and was touring. I don't think Prince ever HATED them. He's never dissed them in public from what I recall, and I've never heard a bad word said by any of them... in fact, they gave Prince a lot of props when The Time reformed for Pandemonium.

I think that Prince was commenting on the song having the Minneapolis sound (which it does-big time) and how similar it sounds to a lot of Prince's work in the early/mid 80s. I don't think it was done with any disrespect at all.

THETHING66 said:

Prince dont like MJ noooooooooooooooo! cuz i heard our little Prince say that Michael dont even enter his vocabulary with a funky look on his face.

LOL We were just discussing this in class today! I remember that story of Prince supposedly sending MJ dead roses while MJ was in the hospital!! Too funny, my mom used to joke about that all the time!

I'm not sure Prince didn't like him that much. I think it was more of them being the 2 greatest musicians and it's hard to share your spotlight. MJ was supposedly obsessed with Purple Rain and working with Prince. I think Prince recognized MJ's abilities and didn't want to go head to head. They both are SO great!!

I think Prince's shout out during 'What Have You Done for Me Lately' was more of a poke at Jam and Lewis because they based their whole production career off Prince's Minneapolis sound (admittedly they took what Prince was doing and RAN with it, improving and coming up with some funky jams).

But Jam and Lewis put together their Funk UNDER Prince. They were copping his sound. At least that's what I always got from it

ernestsewell said:

THETHING66 said:

No infact i dont think he write that weak ass song, im just saying that he dont like them, unlike u i went to glam slam alot and heard this my self not from dr fink. Like Prince tells that stiff anything haha look at u getting upset lmao.

If you could type in English next time, it'd be great, mmkay?

Second, I'm so NOT upset. I laugh at fools like you pontificating on what they think they know. I'm calling you out on your shit, which is just that - shit.

No way Prince hated Jam/Lewis. As Madhouseman noted, they were in GB, and worked with him on the Pandemonium album. So that assumption is bullshit on your part too.

ACT I
San FranciscoPrince and I talk about the Staple Singers and Mavis Staples, whose new album he is just completing.

He leads the way to his dressing room--a blur of hair products and Evian water, with off-white mats on the floor and paintings stuck on the walls--and plays some of the Mavis album, singing along with her roof-raising voice. "Jimmy Jam is going to hear this and throw all those computers away," he says. "This is what we need now--these old kind of soul songs to just chill people out. The computers are as cold as the people are.... Thats what P said about Jimmy jam when i went to see him back in 93, said that jam and lewis have no soul and are cold just like the computers thay use. What dose GB, have to do with it? jam and lewis said that film was garbage. Thay are with Morris, What dose that have to do with prince? Morris and prince dont even get on half the time so what makes you think that prince would like the people he sacked just for being late? Your a fool boy lol

[Edited 9/18/10 6:52am]

[Edited 9/18/10 6:55am]

[Flame snip - luv4u]

[Edited 9/18/10 10:30am]

Prince publicly scolded Lenny Kravitz for his Again song for stealing parts from "wherever u go, whatever you do." Which ironically Prince has done himself with songs like Tick Tick Bank and Dreamer.

Perhaps there was a part in Janet Jackson's song that was part of an unreleased song that Prince wrote long ago? Seems a lot of bands in Minneapolis "borrowed" parts from other bands. Maybe Prince was just calling the Time on this?

I don't think Prince would go that far out of his way to praise someone. If he did it would be some woman.

None of us can really speculate why he did it. Nor can anyonne else including the band that was performing with him. But based on my knowledge of Prince at this time, I would lean more towards what I stated here.

On the Gold tour ("Ultimate Live Experince") in England March 18 1995 Prince said about Janet Jackson, due to play there soon after, "Janet better get a guitar soon cuz shaking her booty wont be enough." Again in London Prince said "Janet, all that hip-shakin' ain't gonna cut it."

THETHING66 said:

On the Gold tour ("Ultimate Live Experince") in England March 18 1995 Prince said about Janet Jackson, due to play there soon after, "Janet better get a guitar soon cuz shaking her booty wont be enough." Again in London Prince said "Janet, all that hip-shakin' ain't gonna cut it."

Again in London...when? This year?

Let the "hip" jokes re-commence!

muskiediver said:

Prince publicly scolded Lenny Kravitz for his Again song for stealing parts from "wherever u go, whatever you do." Which ironically Prince has done himself with songs like Tick Tick Bank and Dreamer.

Perhaps there was a part in Janet Jackson's song that was part of an unreleased song that Prince wrote long ago? Seems a lot of bands in Minneapolis "borrowed" parts from other bands. Maybe Prince was just calling the Time on this?

I don't think Prince would go that far out of his way to praise someone. If he did it would be some woman.

None of us can really speculate why he did it. Nor can anyonne else including the band that was performing with him. But based on my knowledge of Prince at this time, I would lean more towards what I stated here.

Wow. I never heard that. Funny because I always liked Again and I hated Wherever You Go Whatever You Do mainly because of those lame, lazy lyrics. Actually, the kind of lyrics I'd usually expect from Lenny!

THETHING66 said Prince dont like MJ noooooooooooooooo! cuz i heard our little Prince say that Michael dont even enter his with a funky look on his face. like matt fink knows anything lmao.

I've heard about this prince comment before, Well i dont think Prince enters Mj's vocabulary more. Michael sold over 100 million on one album and Prince sold 100 million in over 30 years lol.

I dont believe Prince ever said anything about Jam,Lewis, Janet or Michael because he hated them. He may have criticized Jam/Lewis but he is still friends with them. He recently said in an interview that Lewis persuaded him to start using ProTools in the recording studio. They are atleast respected peers. Jam/Lewis had nothing but good things to say about Prince and Purple Rain in the anniversary DVD bonuses as well.

If you recall he also defended Michael Jackson in that interview where he announced he was going back to using the name Prince. He also is playing a little MJ now and obviously not as a jab at him.

this has been discussed about 100 times already.....

Wildboy said:

I think Prince's shout out during 'What Have You Done for Me Lately' was more of a poke at Jam and Lewis because they based their whole production career off Prince's Minneapolis sound (admittedly they took what Prince was doing and RAN with it, improving and coming up with some funky jams).

But Jam and Lewis put together their Funk UNDER Prince. They were copping his sound. At least that's what I always got from it

Spot on! Where Prince decided to go artsy fartsy with ATWIAD, Parade, SOTT and Lovesxy, Jam and Lewis just carried through through the life-cycle of the Minneapolis Sound as such. Can't blame them, they are probably the only people from the early Prince age to have made it both artistically and financially.

muskiediver said:

Prince publicly scolded Lenny Kravitz for his Again song for stealing parts from "wherever u go, whatever you do." Which ironically Prince has done himself with songs like Tick Tick Bank and Dreamer.

Perhaps there was a part in Janet Jackson's song that was part of an unreleased song that Prince wrote long ago? Seems a lot of bands in Minneapolis "borrowed" parts from other bands. Maybe Prince was just calling the Time on this?

I don't think Prince would go that far out of his way to praise someone. If he did it would be some woman.

None of us can really speculate why he did it. Nor can anyonne else including the band that was performing with him. But based on my knowledge of Prince at this time, I would lean more towards what I stated here.

Which song did Prince borrow from for "Tick Tick Bang?"

emilio319 said:

Which song did Prince borrow from for "Tick Tick Bang?"

It samples Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Miss Lover'.

NouveauDance said:

emilio319 said:

Which song did Prince borrow from for "Tick Tick Bang?"

It samples Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Miss Lover'.

Oh yeah, that's right... Forgot about that... Thx!