Graycap23 said:

Let's see. Prince was not heavily sampled in hip hop because he wouldn't clear the samples so that discussion is off the table. Prince can Funk with the best of them. the difference is while Prince can funk with the best, can they do all the things that Prince can do? I d say no. PFunk focused on Funk, as did JB and a host of others. funk was just one of at least 10 or more different styles that Prince involves himself with on a regular basis. It is almost an apples and oranges comparison.

That's the thing....it's Princey funk and it's badass, just different. When we say he's not a pure funk artist people take it the wrong way and get all offended and shit, There is no rule that Prince must be hard core like JB and Pfunk because it's not a contest to begin with. I love Prince not just for funk but for all the other reasons you listed above too.

None other than Bernie Worrell himself once described Prince as a re-worker, meaning that he can take this or that genre/element/musical influence and re-define it.

I think that Bernie's take on it is about as credible as it gets.

Imho Prince is not a funker. He is a pop musician and *use* the funk, the rock, the jazz, the electronic muzik (et ceterae), to build his pop tunes.

skywalker said:

funksterr said:

Not really knocking Prince but the examples you give feature Morris Day heavily and Erotic City which was an unreeased George Clinton groove that Prince just straight up helped himself to. Probably not the best examples of Prince being funky with completely original ideas of his own.

1. The Time's sound is Prince's Funk no matter who is singing.

2. Erotic City is unreleased George Clinton? I know the legend is that Prince wrote it after seeing George in concert, but have never heard that is is based on any George Clinton groove. Explain this more.

I'm pretty sure I remember a video on YouTube (I think it could've been the video of when Prince inducted Parliament-Funkadelic into the Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame) where he mentions writing Erotic City after hearing George perform Knee Deep live. If that's the case, I can hear the similarities between the two songs. Towards the end of Erotic City (at least the single version, I never got my hands on the extended version, which I regret) he sings out the name of the song in the same exact way the phrase "It wasn't funky, no more" is sung out in Knee Deep. Or something like that.

i could be wrong, but i remember there being a rehearsal bootleg from 1984 where they quote one of the lead lines from Knee Deep while they play Erotic City. It's good stuff.

this is getting ridiculous. to say Erotic City isn't funky because prince 'based' it on a pfunk song is unbelievable! (BTW it's actually more like White Horse by Laid Back.) but the main thing about funk (being funky) is not really the chords or the riffs or the lyrics - it's about the feel, and the groove. funk is actually a very basic form of music (but therein lies the difficulty in re-creating it in a new and interesting way - it's all based on the same formula - but re-inventing it is the key to moving it forward - -james brown took the r&b from the 50s/60s, sly added his own vibe, pfunk took it somewhere else, Cameo, Rick James, Zapp, hip-hop etc etc - prince has always done his own thing with funk - and i suppose his success has proved him right in his use of the musical genre.

PS - seriously what pfunk song sounds anything like Erotic City?

Dandroppedadime said:

Anyone........ANYONE who says the Prince isn't funky isn' worth a musical discussion.

skywalker said:

laurarichardson said:

skywalker said:

1. The Time's sound is Prince's Funk no matter who is singing.

2. Erotic City is unreleased George Clinton? I know the legend is that Prince wrote it after seeing George in concert, but have never heard that is is based on any George Clinton groove. Explain this more.

He cannot explain it because it is B.S. D.M.S.R is not WTf.

HA!

I didn't respond because I didn't think it needed further clarification than what Nivivrus said earlier in the thread. There are quotes out there from members of The Revoultion, George Clinton, and other members of Prince's circle confirming that Prince copied the music of something he heard at George's concert. What it is was exactly is not always the same depending on what book/interview you read. But Prince ended up building up an entire song around something he copied from Clinton that night.

Morris Day is playing drums on D.M.S.R. and a lot of other Prince funk songs,too. So what?

i thought DMSR was drum machines?

Graycap23 said:

Let's see. Prince was not heavily sampled in hip hop because he wouldn't clear the samples so that discussion is off the table. Prince can Funk with the best of them. the difference is while Prince can funk with the best, can they do all the things that Prince can do? I d say no. PFunk focused on Funk, as did JB and a host of others. funk was just one of at least 10 or more different styles that Prince involves himself with on a regular basis. It is almost an apples and oranges comparison.

I don't think prince had a say in clearing samples, it'd more WB, no? He's been sampled numerous times, not as much as James or Clinton but still NUMEROUS times, so I don't think it's that anyway: http://www.whosampled.com...pled/?sp=1

P-funk/George Clinton didn't just 'do funk'; they defined the style - or at least the 1970/80s version of it.

George Clinton and Bootsy Collins also put Zapp's More Bounce To The Ounce together. Troutman milked that, but never really became a funk force in his own right.

Most other 1980s funk acts were copying p-funk to some degree.

Prince did define his own brand of funk; the Minneapolis sound. But he abandoned it in the mid-1980s and never really expanded it.

From 1990 on, when Prince "does funk", he is clearly copying James Brown (Sexy MF), Larry Graham, Curtis Mayfield, p-funk, etc.

[Edited 12/6/14 16:42pm]

[Edited 12/6/14 16:44pm]

2 Nigz United For West Compton

LeGrind

Black Sweat

Sticky Like Glue

clouds

Lovesexy

ballad of dorothy parker

letitgo

glamorous life

nasty girl

who shits are funkier than these???

George Clinton as a master of funk is overrated...Bernie Worrell and Junie Morrison kept PFunk alive

be clear...

George Clinton is a master of funk, just like puffy combs is a master MC...

what instruments did Clinton ever play???what did he compose??

he was the visionary and overseer but his musical prowess is lost on me..

and with all due respect to the GREAT Al McKay...no one plays better funk rhythms and fills and turns on guitar, better than Skipper... very understated and judicious, but great timing and feel...check "Party Up" for proof

what instruments did Clinton ever play???what did he compose??

he was the visionary and overseer but his musical prowess is lost on me..

In the end it doesn't matter. What matters is the musical choices an artist makes.

That has been Prince's problem since the late 1980s; he has all the technique and virtuosity in the world, but it is going nowhere. He is not saying anything.

George Clinton just delivered his first record after getting off crack. At 73 he is redefining and updating p-funk. Some of it works, some doesn't, but it all makes a statement.

When was the last time Prince recorded something as emotional and real as Where Would I Go on the new Funkadelic album?

Or compare with another contemporary/peer like Kate Bush, who disappeared for over a decade and came back with records and a stage show that were completely different from anything she had done before, but deepened and broadened her universe.

Prince is not doing that. There are plenty of guitarists, bassists, keyboardists, drummers that are funkier than Prince. So Prince is the one-man band who can do it all. So what?