endiadj said:

this thread. geez. people acting like they know this or that as fact. both sides unwilling to budge on "their" facts. geez.

Hear, hear.

All these "experts"... Personally, it doesn't make a difference to me whether he was 100% black or mixed race or half Italian or whatever... However, unless any of you know his complete family tree, how can you "experts" be so sure you are correct?

I would think the best source would be Prince himself and (so far) the only thing I've heard him say is what he says in the audio interview when he was 20 and mentions one or both of his parents being half-Italian.

If he was making that up (which is of course entirely possible) can someone please post a link to an interview where Prince clearly states that he was lying and what his true lineage is?

I don't see how anyone can say he's 100% anything though and I think it's pretty ridiculous to see people here that claim to know that for a fact... And it says a lot about those people.

If he was 100% black.... Great! If he was mixed.... Cool! If he was part Italian... Fantastico!

What freaking difference does it make? He was 100% awesome and that's all that matters.

E319 said:

endiadj said:

this thread. geez. people acting like they know this or that as fact. both sides unwilling to budge on "their" facts. geez.

Hear, hear.

All these "experts"... Personally, it doesn't make a difference to me whether he was 100% black or mixed race or half Italian or whatever... However, unless any of you know his complete family tree, how can you "experts" be so sure you are correct?

I would think the best source would be Prince himself and (so far) the only thing I've heard him say is what he says in the audio interview when he was 20 and mentions one or both of his parents being half-Italian.

If he was making that up (which is of course entirely possible) can someone please post a link to an interview where Prince clearly states that he was lying and what his true lineage is?

I don't see how anyone can say he's 100% anything though and I think it's pretty ridiculous to see people here that claim to know that for a fact... And it says a lot about those people.

If he was 100% black.... Great! If he was mixed.... Cool! If he was part Italian... Fantastico!

What freaking difference does it make? He was 100% awesome and that's all that matters.

You two are the only people using the word expert-I want to clarify, I never said I was an expert in anything, that's the interpretation and word chosen on both of your accords. When I say 100% black, I'm not talking about a national geographic study on his "ethnic" make-up, I'm talking about who he identified as. Do you notice, this statement was never said again? Toure, Spike Lee, Questlove, Michaela, and a few others did a panel and brought this up. Spike Lee expressed his discomfort in people believing that Prince was "italian" due to the fact that him knowing his mom was black, and therefore he was disturbed about the Purple Rain choice of his mother being white. Toure went in-depth about this, and clarified that Prince was actually just "black" (which means many things) and that that was a falsity. (He wrote a book on Prince) It brought up a discussion about the black community that needed to be had but unfortunately makes many people uncomfortable. He's black, sorry. And you're right, 100% awesome.

nammie said:

CalhounSq said:

STOP IT, please... get 5 clues, I fear 1 won't do Black people come in all shades - I have a sister much lighter than him & she's BLACK. He was BLACK - be ok w/ that, people

Good to see ya Cal, I see ain't a damn thing changed LOL

RIGHT??!!!

CalhounSq said:

nammie said:

Good to see ya Cal, I see ain't a damn thing changed LOL

RIGHT??!!!

Exactly. There is always a quest to "exotify" black people, as if being black isn't exotic in itself.

fortuneandserendipity said:

CalhounSq said:

You're kinda missing my point - I'm not looking at mixed people suspiciously, I'm frankly just tired of those who think being "just" Black isn't enough, especially for their beloved Princey ... also, I'm guessing you & your mom haven't seen a whole lotta Black folks... but whatever, people can pine for him to have been this & that & blahblahNAH - dude was Black, sorry 'bout it

You say you are sure he is black. But unless you know exactly who his parents are, their family tree, their geneology, then you're guessing- which means you're believing what you want to believe. I'm open-minded to the possiblity he isn't 100% black.

Dude was black.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/megan-smolenyak-smolenyak/prince-geneology_b_2638616.html

So according to this woman's research somewhere down the line white appears to be mixed in...as it is with many families, of all races. I don't see many nit-picking away at this fact with others like they do with Prince.

JustErin said:

[img:$uid]http://funkyimg.com/i/2cxeZ.jpg[/img:$uid]



Even the autopsy report listed his race as Black/African American. So there.

wizardtelly said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

I've not come across any central africans, east or west who have a skin colour as light as a berber or arab of north africa. I also haven't come across any central african with the same colour as Prince. You're the one being delusional as you are certain Prince is 100% black. I'm not certain either way. The evidence on balance would suggest he wasn't. His skin colour is lighter than barack obama's for instance who is 50% black. Maybe just maybe Prince avoided the sun for 20+ years and he ended up with a skin colour much lighter than perhaps his genealogy confers.

Furthermore, there's nothing wrong in 'dismantling' what being black constitutes. It's called fair-minded analysis, and if you want to be prickly about this, remember we all come from the central east part of africa anyway.

Where you come from, is a place very far from where I want to be. In specific, we all technically come from Ethiopia. Guess what they are? Black. Stop responding to me please, I don't understand why people like you actually exists. This is a big reason why Prince marketed himself this way, because being "black" and having mainstream successes was difficult as it is. He is black, I am sorry white folks of the world (without penetrative racism or prejudice, as well). I know the urges of whites liking to "claim" black people with extending talents is a popularity. People will come out of the woodworks and investigate and find "So & So is 2.83719% Neandrathal and 3.1928% Celtic-Irish" *due to enslavement*. If it makes you feel better, then sure! Have a good day, month, and week. Take it easy.

[Edited 6/3/16 5:59am]

If any of his fairly recent ancestors are white/arab/semitic/native indian/hispanic/asian/berber(north african native) then technically that makes him mixed raced. You are just going to have deal with that possibility, or remain an ignoramus. I stand by the fact I have never seen somebody present-day from central/west/east africa have Prince's light skin tone. And here's a fact for you that should quell any accusation you have of bias or god forbid racism. We were all black once upon a time because early humans came from africa and if we didn't have dark skin, we'd all probably have got melanoma before puberty and died out! So perhaps we can agree on that.

In this interview, he says his dad is half Italian and his mom is Italian. I remember during the 1999/PR era where that falsehood was widely spread in the media. Prince was always "half Italian" when I was a kid. Smart marketing.

Some good stuff in this interview. I especially liked the part where he said he'd be quitting the music biz after about 3 more albums! I guess that would've resulted in retiring after Purple Rain, imagine that!

His speaking voice still sounded the same when he was an adult!

StopIt said:

He pushed away from these divisive race agendas for the same reasons ya'll are Still trying to shove it down our throats now. No one cares. No "race" owns this man, so stop trying to lay claim. Jesus.

Exactly, we're all the same anyway.

StopIt said:

He pushed away from these divisive race agendas for the same reasons ya'll are Still trying to shove it down our throats now. No one cares. No "race" owns this man, so stop trying to lay claim. Jesus.

THIS.

E319 said:

CalhounSq said:

fortuneandserendipity said:

I've heard a few times over the years his dad was part italian and his mother part french and american indian. If true why would this be a problem to anyone? After all it's said the mongrel is always the cleverest animal in the litter.

I don't think it would be a problem to anyone. His parents were Black, he is Black. The "problem" is some folks don't want him to be "JUST" Black, & it's weird. Lots of folks are mixed with stuff, but what all are you gonna claim at the end of the day? & what are the motivations for doing so? 'MURRIKKA

To me he's just beautiful.

pikachumeow said:

Prince was clearly black American. But I would not be surprised if he has European heritage or if one or both of his parents were biracial. He's a black icon no matter what!

Baby he was an Earth ICON

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Mkilpatrick74 said:

Please forgive me guys if this is already out there but I couldn't Contain myself after listening to first 10 mins. This has to be the most intimate and endearing interviews I've ever heard From him. He speaks openly about his parents and his mom resenting him for loving music and being so talented bc it reminded her of his father. Again sorry if uts a duplicate. https://youtu.be/O0MXqmUCN9U

Just listening to Purple Rain, that end woo hoo kills me, can't stop crying.

[Edited 6/4/16 8:02am]

wizardtelly said:

pikachumeow said:

wizardtelly said:

wizardtelly said:

I have this on CD.

rightbluecheek said:

wizardtelly said:

For the record, his grandparents being born into slavery says a lot more than some of your hearts wish for, he is a black man. His people like many others, were subjected to enslavement/torture. And people want him to claim some sort of "biraciality" for what?

Because, despite of this, he has never wanted to be classified?

I'm not sure, I'm sure he wanted to bridge the gap between how people will perceive him as a black person and wanting to limit the boundaries put on blacks at the time. Black people making rock-infused music wasn't much of a "popular" thing at the time, and I can imagine saying a statement about being partially Italian or some sort enabled him to feel free of the chains that prohibit many black artists from being themselves.

I personally don't understand the desire to make or explore the numerical value of a black person's "blackness" when they unfortunately pass on, especially Prince. He meant a lot to people of all creeds, regardless of his race; however, just because of that doesn't make him any less black. The lunacy about, "Well how do you know his parents were black?" is absurd and very, very pitiful. A man born from two black parents, regardless if their grandparents or parents were mixed heritage, is also black. How would they classify as "other"? I didn't want to really make this about race or get too into this topic because I noticed the behavior earlier on. It's taboo to accept blackness in all its glory when it comes to genius.

I believe there is one race, however, that unfortunately is not how racial classifaction goes. Prince never denied he was black just because he believed that people are people. Being a unifier and wanting unity, equality, and for wishing for peace doesn't make someone's blackness invisible, it makes our desire to be accepted as a part of our human race known.

There's nothing wrong with being curious, but then trying to use that as a way to discredit an individual's primary culture as well as race that they were born into for playing a big role in who they are? That's sad. I don't mean that sarcastically, I mean it is pitiful. From day one, being black has never just been enough for some people. It's very disheartening. It's disgusting, to be quite frank, that people use certain tactics to make black people "less black" so they can feel included and comfortable; thus they form ideologies and ideas that "Well, black people do not look like this, or based on his skin.. (as stated by a user in this thread) he looks to have this DNA," kind of make no sense and have no significance to him being a black person.

Yes, he transcended boundaries, but remember the circumstances as to why all of this "transcendence" had to happen. Being oppressed calls for heroic individuals to rise against that divide.

MTV scorned and feared the idea of playing black artists music videos, so him "exotifying" himself into Italian/Black & Italian makes perfect sense because people then & now seem to appreciate the idea of 'not too black' versus 'just black'. Being mixed to many individuals who are black is considered some sort of "privilege", and makes many blacks feel better than the other. Sure, it's great to be proud, but this is a deeper discussion than just being mixed. The reality is that this goes back to the indoor slaves and the outside slaves, the lightskin vs darkskin, the "good hair" vs the "bad hair" "where do you fit?" mentality. It is considered to be less intimidating to be "bi-racial", especially back then as it offered the close-minded people behind the companies a bit of safety.

There was a time when being talented was not enough because many people saw color and taboo. I'm glad people have not seen color when listening to Prince or MJ. It makes me happy, but think of why that's also troublesome. See our race, and don't think we're incapable, do that/apply that to every human being as well. That's all I'm saying. I'm not sure why it's impossible for him to be classified as black, because he is black. This isn't about someone getting touchy and not liking the application of race to Prince because they personally don't "see color" or think he's mixed down the line ***which many blacks of the diaspora are***, this is about a piece of history, a big piece that belongs to our identities moreso. The rising above adversity and the ignorance of the people who feared us is a big deal because although we are in 2016, many of us still live the effects of slavery, capitalism, and exploitation. Prince was a man who took a stand in being himself, and yes, for me that constitutes as being black, being unbiased, being fearless, and gifted.

Have a good day. xx

[Edited 6/5/16 16:10pm]

[Edited 6/5/16 16:17pm]

wizardtelly said:

pikachumeow said:

^^^ Dito this.

Very tired that when a historical black figure dies, someone is trying to say that they transcended race, isn't black (there's a user in here who ignorantly wrote "sad that either race is trying to claim him"), or colorless. Pitiful, just pitiful. Prince claimed black, I'm not sure why the need to make up what he is is necessary. We blacks claim him, because he was black, he is our icon. He is a man that showed us FIRST that it was possible. I wish people would realize how they disrespect black people without directly doing so. Everyone wants to be included in the make-up of our heroes that share that blood with us so they can make us all "equal" and try and "humble us" aka take from us a piece of our history just so they can put their hands on our genius. They've done it to Mr. Ali as well. Look at it, our black heroes "transcended race" because the opposers, who are white, wanted to keep us boxed in, steal from us our arts and cultures, and sell who we are for some advantage and profit as well and these scenarios make that clear. We all know he was human, first. We know that about every person with impact. It's nice to say, "We're all only one race, the human race," but a lot of your ancestors weren't saying that when they abused us, breeder us, murdered us, and degrad(Ed) us for their own superiority issues. Our black heroes are such an enigma that we have to take pride and "claim them", they sang (both figurative and literal) of our struggles in a way that let us know we are apart of humanity too. its pathetic to see his race on Wikipedia as "African, European, and Native American", that is pitiful and disgusting. Instead of saying he is an African-American man, people tried to breakdown a fictional fantasy to make them feel better and justified. A man that never gave you folks a biological breakdown and has admittedly stated that he used to lie in these early interviews about things of such nature is still igniting a desire in you DNA hungry folks. Prince's "mixed race" isn't what makes him great, it's his blackness, and until people come to terms with these truths in the wake of any black persons passing, share not what was asked for and wanted to be assumed for your own personal hope that you can be attached to something so great. Sorry, we have a right to claim him, he's a human being, and "one of us". [Edited 6/5/16 10:50am]

WELL SAID

wizardtelly said:

Elvie said: