Has this been discussed? If it has, I can't find it.

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http://www.rakuten.com/prod/i-would-die-4-u/234207811.html?listingId=334065658&s_kwcid=

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I happened across this book last week and read it in a day. It's really short and not all that great but not too bad overall.

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For starters, the theme of the book is supposedly "Why Prince Became an Icon". It's the book's subtitle. As much as the writer tries though, he never really gets to the root of that question. He meanders and gets side-tracked over and over again into concepts of theology, race, trends in pop culture and political history that, for the most part, have little to do with how/why Prince became an icon. At least for me and in my opinion.

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I found several factual errors in the book as well which suggest to me that the author didn't do his homework on Prince. That, or he had a shitty editor. For instance, he consistently gets which songs are in which albums mixed up, citing Controvery's "Am I Straight or Gay" lyrics and then claiming "later in the album, during 'Uptown', he coyly answers 'no, R U?" those are 2 different albums. He also says that "A Place in Heaven" was on the Black Album, that Prince "never appeared on Soul Train" and lists The Talking Heads amongst bands that are all white and all male (Tina Weymouth was the bass player for Talking Heads).

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He fucks up lyric quotations too which is lazy and easily checkable. He says that Prince "repeatedly chants 'Eye No there is a Heaven, Eye No there is a hell" in "Eye No" (no he doesn't) , misquotes "But when I woke up this mornin' Could of sworn it was judgment day" in "1999" as "This morning when I woke up coulda sworn it was judgement day"

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Nitpicks aside, The most interesting thing in this book to me was reading about Prince's family and his relationship (or lack thereof) with them and how it shaped him. I never really knew he had siblings for one thing, half or otherwise. Odd that you never hear from them, he's never asked about them or speaks about them at all. When the writer's not pontificating about history and social trends, the book's quite a decent read.

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Anyone else read this book? If there's already a thread on it and it's old news, please gas this thread and re-link it to the correct one.

Yes, it's been discussed before. Just type in I would die 4 u book in the google box located in the upper right of your screen and click search. Threads pop up on the topic.

luv4u said:

Yes, it's been discussed before. Just type in I would die 4 u book in the google box located in the upper right of your screen and click search. Threads pop up on the topic.

Ah, shit. When I searched, I only found threads on the song. My bad. Lock this if u want.

herb4 said:

luv4u said:

Yes, it's been discussed before. Just type in I would die 4 u book in the google box located in the upper right of your screen and click search. Threads pop up on the topic.

Ah, shit. When I searched, I only found threads on the song. My bad. Lock this if u want.

No, no. All those other threads are self locked or locked and redirected so feel free to discuss again.

Between reading almost every Prince biography, and owning The Vault, there isn't much that a new book really has to offer to the dedicated Prince fans. I think Toure' knew that, as this wasn't much of a biography as he took a more psychological and intellectual approach. The title does say "Why Prince Became An Icon", so that is a dead giveaway that this is no ordinary bio, but Toure' could have easily answered this question with a simple timeline of Prince's career.

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I enjoyed the book to a certain degree. I really like learning about the different generations and how Prince's persona almost defined Gen X. Since I was born in 1994, I am always so eager to hear from those who were old enough to experience Prince when he was at the peak of his popularity. I liked the different stories he gathered from "close friends, past girlfriends, associated employee's". However, whether or not they are reliable and are believable, is ultimately left up to the reader. Also I felt Toure' didn't spend enough time actually talking about Prince, barely covering any of his post 80's material.

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Then the book took a turn for the worse....the last part titled "I'm Your Messiah". In short, Toure' explains that Prince has made himself a Jesus like figure in his music. I don't completely agree with this. While there are moments like the ending of Graffiti Bridge (Still Would Stand All Time performance) where Prince is very Jesusyy (<--not a word). I've always felt he has acknowledged Jesus as a seperate being, and for lack of a better phrase, gives him "credit". For example, while Toure' used the I Would Die 4 U lyrics "I'm your Messiah and you're the reason why". He failed to mention that Prince changed those lyrics when performing that song live to "He's your Messiah." Toure' ends the book explaining that Prince's entire career was to tell us about God, luring us in with sexuality and controversy, only to tell us what he really feels. This concept is almost believeable, however spirituality has reigned over Prince's music almost his entire career, I'd say he lured his fans with his overt sexual behaviors because he knew he had to be different, and that was his way to make it.

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All in all, Toure' did what he set out to do and kinda sorta almost answered the proposed question of why Prince became an icon.

[Edited 3/6/14 15:27pm]

TheKid94 said:

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All in all, Toure' did what he set out to do and kinda sorta almost answered the proposed question of why Prince became an icon.

[Edited 3/6/14 15:27pm]

Good post, but this last part...I think that's where the book failed to prove it's thesis. 'Sorta Almost' is a good way to put it. The writer was all over the place and seems to be throwing darts at a multi-layered three dimensional board peppered with targets like Malcom X, Public Enemy, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Reagan, MTV, the 60's, disco and all sorts of shit that never wove itself into a coherent narrative.

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I have my own thoughts on "how and why Prince became an icon" but I feel like this writer barely even touched on them. Aside from pointing out the obvious (pushing sexual boundaries, the visual allure of MTV, melding musical styles, crossing over) he never seemed to coherently weave the things he dedicated entire chapters to in ways that really explained Prince's appeal. It was already enough of a light and breeezy read, short and full of gossip, but I still skimmed over so much of it that it felt like a magazine article.

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Toure's a pretty good writer and spins a decent narrative. Some of the shit he touched on, especially about Prince's family, left me yearning for more but you're right. The whole messiah/Jesus thing was ridiculous and, to me anyway, had (has) nothing to do with the author's point. If anything, Prince's fascination with religion/God hurt him more than helped him, icon wise.

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The thing that made him an icon, in the end (or in the beginning), is that he was simply that great at playing music to the point where even if you didn't like him (or his music) there was no denying his talent or his dedication to his art.

gonna read this one soon