I've read this article many times and there are some really interesting points made on Prince & his career.

I'll highlight the ones that stood out for me

But that freedom has also led to albums that are under-promoted and over-long. The man who once wowed the world with nine songs on Purple Rain released the four-disc Crystal Ball this year and, in '96, the three-disc Emancipation. Both sold respectably -- Crystal Ball moved more than 250,000 units at $50 apiece, and Emancipation crossed over 500,000 cash registers. But despite some great moments on the records, both suffered from a lack of editing. And, like his latest release, Newpower Soul, all lack the complex thematic unity that characterized his greatest albums. Now that he's working for himself, however, the profit margin is much higher.

"For me to create an album, tour all over night after night, and get less than the $140 million it grosses is ridiculous," said The Artist.

"Of that, how much did you used to get?"

"I'd get, at most, $7 million."

"Still, how could you call yourself 'Slave' in light of the history of that word among black people?"

"Imagine yourself sitting in a room with the biggest of the big in the recording industry, and you have 'Slave' written on your face. That changes the entire conversation. You know what they think of us. They said, 'It makes it real hard to talk to you with that on your face.' And I said, 'Why?' And it got real quiet. They don't wanna get into all that. Adding that language into the conversation worked perfectly. It changed the dynamic."

He dodged a follow-up question about a multimillionaire music-maker likening himself to a dawn-to-dusk cotton-picker. Meanwhile, I furiously scribbled notes. . . He speaks quickly, often using parables and cryptic sentences that have little to do with the context of the discussion. "Sometimes," his old girlfriend says, "he says things that make you feel like you haven't gotten an answer. He leaves you to have to think about every word he's said, which is kind of irritating."

Is there a difference between Prince and The Artist?"

"Only that Prince owns nothing. None of those songs."

"So you're happier now. Did the old music come from a place of pain?"

"I won't speculate on where the music came from. I look back in awe and reverence. It's made me become courageous."

"Courageous around music?"

"Regarding everything."

"So," feeling stifled, recalling photos of Mayte and him at Lakers games, I said, "you like basketball?"

He seemed to loosen up a bit. "Yeah."

"What's your team?"

"Bulls," he said.

"Still? You think they're comin' back?"

With an oh-please air, he said, "Jordan's gonna be player-coach. That's why Phil Jackson left. Scottie's gonna get paid, Rodman's gonna get paid. It's gonna be rock 'n' roll time next year. The Bulls are gonna be like the Beatles. [Jordan's] Superman. He don't have to do that much to whup them people."

"D'Angelo's really gotta search his heart deeply on being part of the problem or the solution. What's his whole consciousness? He's got to own his masters," he said, referring to master tapes that confer true ownership of a song, and are generally owned by the record label, not the artist.

I walked out feeling as though he'd never truly shared himself, as though I'd been given the day's propaganda, along with a few tasty side bites, and sent on my way. I felt I understood what actress Kirstie Alley said, in the role of frustrated interviewer, on Prince's 1992 so-called Symbol album: "Just once will you talk to me, not at me, not around me, not through me?"

Leeds does recall ocassionally seeing a jovial, glib, outspoken side of Prince. Every once in a while, Prince would cancel the almost-constant rehearsals in favor of a cookout and some hoops. "Once," Leeds says, "We were rehearsing for a tour, and suddenly there was the first warm day of the year. When everybody showed up for rehearsal, we found out that Prince and his assistant had bought 10 baseball gloves, a couple softballs, a couple bats, and we went to the local school field and played baseball all day. But, in the midst of that, he's constantly talking about the last record he did and the tour we're gonna do and what we should do tomorrow in rehearsal. That function never ends. You're at a club somewhere, where he suddenly says, 'Hey, you got a notepad?' And he starts dictating orders of what we're gonna do the next day in rehearsal."

In our interview, The Artist refused to consider [Michael] Jackson his main competition, saying he wasn't "worried" about people as famous as he, but other "guitar killers." "I'm just a guitar player," he said. "I look out for the Jonny Langs tearing up the guitar. I don't stress nobody else."

After Purple Rain, he continued making great music -- journalist Anthony DeCurtis who interviewed Prince in 1996, says: "Between '82 (1999) and '87 (Sign O' The Times), he was in the zone. It was the moment when the zeitgeist flows through you, and as it moves through you, you're shaping where it goes once it passes you. He was channeling, man."

Sign O' The Times was a creative zenith. After two quirky, under appreciated records -- 1985's Around the World in a Day, 1986's Parade -- Sign was a critical watershed that remains the favorite Prince album for many musicians and non-musicians. "His best album to me is Sign O' The Times," says Ahmir, drummer for the hip-hop band The Roots. "That's his all-look-ma-no-hands record. No one but him would put that coda at the end of 'U Got the Look.' No one but him would put backward drums on 'Starfish and Coffee.' No one but him would write a song like 'Starfish and Coffee.' And put that shit sixth on his record! Artists today put all their eccentric shit way toward the end because they're all worried about makin' sure the first six songs are absolute bangers. Meanwhile, he covers the whole spectrum of music in the first four songs. He covered Santana, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield -- just as far as styles -- Joni Mitchell, Pink Floyd, all within the first five songs."

That was a great interview, with a great cover shot too. ICON was actually quite a good magazine in general - shame it didn't last longer.

When he came out," says [music author Nelson] George, "he was the most controversial artist of the time, dealing with incest and raw sexuality and sexual ambiguity and racial ambiguity. All that worked for him. And then a new movement came in called hip-hop. Once the Rakim, Run-DMC, Big Daddy Kane era came in, the whole level of masculinity was different. There was no room for ambiguity. There was definitely a cultural backlash among men. A lot of people suddenly said, 'Prince? He's a sissy.'" However, George added, not all Prince fans changed with the times: "Of all the artists I knew, I don't know anyone who's had so many unabashed women fans who love him to death."
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Warner Bros. believed that the reason Prince's sales were slipping after Sign O' The Times was that he was over-saturating the marketplace: between 1978 and 1992, Prince released 13 albums, 2 of them double sets. In that same period, Bruce Springsteen, known for his hard work, released only 8

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For years, Warner Bros. had given Prince unusual latitude. "He was less a slave than any black artist I know of!" says George. "There's no other black artist you can look at during his era who had more artistic freedom than Prince. They really let him have control of his career in ways that black artists never have. They let him pick the singles. With the Sign O' the Times album, 'Housequake' was never a single. It was the biggest record in the country at one point, but never a single. 'Adore,' [many people's favorite Prince ballad] was never a single. They put out 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' as a single, which was a great record, but it wasn't an obvious commercial single. And those were his calls."
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George continues: "As the stories go, Prince could do anything he wanted and Mo [Ostin, then the chairman of Warner Bros.] would co-sign it. Prince would go in his office and literally get on top of his desk and dance and sing for him and make Mo spend money. They never pigeonholed him as a black artist, at least internally. They put out two-sided singles and double albums and gave him mad tour support. They supported him as an artist to the highest level for most of his career. But the freedom they gave him at Warner Bros., he became a victim of it. They'd spoiled him for so long and indulged him for so long that when they started trying to rein him in, they couldn't."

At the time, The Artist told a journalist: "You don't know how much it hurts not owning your own material. When a record company goes ahead and does something with a song you wrote. . . it can make you angry for a week."

The disagreement deepened when Warner Bros. consented to allow The Artist to release a single, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," on another label, the tiny Bellmark. It was an international success, and it convinced The Artist that his decreasing record sales were not his fault. At the time, Bob Merlis, senior vice president of Warner Bros., told The New York Times: "He wanted to release more albums than his contract called for. . . Eventually we agreed that his vision and ours didn't coincide." Warner Bros. agreed to end the contract, though it retained ownership of his voluminous -- and lucrative -- back material.

On music he's a little more open, shunning any specific discussion of his past songs except to express an awe toward his own oeuvre, as though it was created by someone else. He writes: "Ultimately, spiritual evolution is the axis on which inspiration and creativity spin. . . there r so many songs that I've written and recorded, sometimes it is hard 4 ME 2 believe it all comes from one source!" And, intriguingly: "All of my musicality comes from GOD. . . . The blessing/curse ensued when I kept sneaking back in2 the talent line dressed as another person. . . I got away with it several times be4 they caught me!"

For three hours, the ICON photographer sets up in a Paisley Park sideroom adjusting the lights, prepping the film. Then, suddenly, a white BMW Z3 roars up to Paisley, and in strolls Prince -- not That Artist who's offered us this awkward parody of a name that seems designed to militate against familiarity, but a real person -- Prince.

So Prince, in a long, flowing buttoned-up, basketball-colored top that stretches down to his knees -- and cream colored heels -- sits down in front of the camera and, for a little while, lets the wall down a bit, keeping us all in stitches with his dry, quick-witted humor. Outside of interview mode, he shows off more of the changed man, a freer, more relaxed man.

Already wearing one ear cuff in each ear, he contemplates adding a hoop earring to his right one. He holds it up to his ear, "Earring or no?"

"Yes!" the female assistant says. "Wear it."

"Who buys the magazine?" he asks.

"Men," he's told.

Right on the beat, he drops the earring to the ground. "Women always get me in trouble," he teases. Then, in a womanly voice he adds, "Oooh, you look so nice in that."

End

Love the way you broke that down. Good work! OldFriends.

OldFriends4Sale said:

On music he's a little more open, shunning any specific discussion of his past songs except to express an awe toward his own oeuvre, as though it was created by someone else. He writes: "Ultimately, spiritual evolution is the axis on which inspiration and creativity spin. . . there r so many songs that I've written and recorded, sometimes it is hard 4 ME 2 believe it all comes from one source!" And, intriguingly: "All of my musicality comes from GOD. . . . The blessing/curse ensued when I kept sneaking back in2 the talent line dressed as another person. . . I got away with it several times be4 they caught me!"

OF4S,

What is your take on the last line? I don't know how to interpret that.

nelcp777 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

On music he's a little more open, shunning any specific discussion of his past songs except to express an awe toward his own oeuvre, as though it was created by someone else. He writes: "Ultimately, spiritual evolution is the axis on which inspiration and creativity spin. . . there r so many songs that I've written and recorded, sometimes it is hard 4 ME 2 believe it all comes from one source!" And, intriguingly: "All of my musicality comes from GOD. . . . The blessing/curse ensued when I kept sneaking back in2 the talent line dressed as another person. . . I got away with it several times be4 they caught me!"

OF4S,

What is your take on the last line? I don't know how to interpret that.

That is a line, I read over and over and over, and don't get it. But understand that Prince can be out of touch in communicating with people in his cryptic way, that halts a person from understanding.

Part of my is thinking about when he performs as another character like Tora Tora?
Or maybe he is talking about being out of character with who is knows he is, and doing the music for the wrong reason.

But the curse ensued and being caught ... IDK

OldFriends4Sale said:

nelcp777 said:

OF4S,

What is your take on the last line? I don't know how to interpret that.

That is a line, I read over and over and over, and don't get it. But understand that Prince can be out of touch in communicating with people in his cryptic way, that halts a person from understanding.

Part of my is thinking about when he performs as another character like Tora Tora?
Or maybe he is talking about being out of character with who is knows he is, and doing the music for the wrong reason.

But the curse ensued and being caught ... IDK

I think it means that once you get a "hit" in the record business they want you to stay in your lane and keep making the same stuff that made that hit money. He's sayin that he switched it up a few times (and got back in line) before he got called out for "changing".

NorthC said:

There's nothing cryptic about it to me. Imagine everybody who's being born stands in a line when talents are given to them. You get writing talent... You get technical skills... You get music talent... Prince was in the music talent line. The reason I got what Prince was saying right away (it's a joke really) is that where I'm from, when we saw a girl with big boobs, we sometimes said: "She must have been first in line when they (boobs) were handed out." Meaning, the one who's first in line gets the biggest portion. Prince was first in line when music talent was handed out, and then disguised himself and went back in the line a second time to get some more talent.

Hey lol all good reasonings. But unless I had your space in life to connect those dots. It was cryptic to me lol. Some days I'm operating in in the mind of 'just be straight up with me' don't make me think too hard today lol

NorthC said:

There's nothing cryptic about it to me. Imagine everybody who's being born stands in a line when talents are given to them. You get writing talent... You get technical skills... You get music talent... Prince was in the music talent line. The reason I got what Prince was saying right away (it's a joke really) is that where I'm from, when we saw a girl with big boobs, we sometimes said: "She must have been first in line when they (boobs) were handed out." Meaning, the one who's first in line gets the biggest portion. Prince was first in line when music talent was handed out, and then disguised himself and went back in the line a second time to get some more talent.

After reading your take, I think you are right NorthC. I really didn't focus on the God part of the quote.

purplepoppy said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

That is a line, I read over and over and over, and don't get it. But understand that Prince can be out of touch in communicating with people in his cryptic way, that halts a person from understanding.

Part of my is thinking about when he performs as another character like Tora Tora?
Or maybe he is talking about being out of character with who is knows he is, and doing the music for the wrong reason.

But the curse ensued and being caught ... IDK

I think it means that once you get a "hit" in the record business they want you to stay in your lane and keep making the same stuff that made that hit money. He's sayin that he switched it up a few times (and got back in line) before he got called out for "changing".

thanks

the part that throws me off is when he starts out with ''All of my musicality comes from GOD. . . . The blessing/curse ensued ..''

sounds like something from the Rainbow Children lol

OldFriends4Sale said:

NorthC said:

There's nothing cryptic about it to me. Imagine everybody who's being born stands in a line when talents are given to them. You get writing talent... You get technical skills... You get music talent... Prince was in the music talent line. The reason I got what Prince was saying right away (it's a joke really) is that where I'm from, when we saw a girl with big boobs, we sometimes said: "She must have been first in line when they (boobs) were handed out." Meaning, the one who's first in line gets the biggest portion. Prince was first in line when music talent was handed out, and then disguised himself and went back in the line a second time to get some more talent.

Hey lol all good reasonings. But unless I had your space in life to connect those dots. It was cryptic to me lol. Some days I'm operating in in the mind of 'just be straight up with me' don't make me think too hard today lol

Yes sir! Some days I'm just happy if my clothes aren't on backwards. Prince had a way of putting double triple infinity meanings to his lines as all great poets do.

purplepoppy said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Hey lol all good reasonings. But unless I had your space in life to connect those dots. It was cryptic to me lol. Some days I'm operating in in the mind of 'just be straight up with me' don't make me think too hard today lol

Yes sir! Some days I'm just happy if my clothes aren't on backwards. Prince had a way of putting double triple infinity meanings to his lines as all great poets do.

lol right

that is why I had to post #1

Sometimes," his old girlfriend says, "he says things that make you feel like you haven't gotten an answer. He leaves you to have to think about every word he's said, which is kind of irritating."