I was listening to sexy motherfucker and there's Prince rapping. And now my Question is, do you think that Prince had skills? I mean, I don't find it bad or anything, just a little bit unusual to hear. I'm one of the younger Fans here, so I'm pretty new and I'm only familiar with the other songs, the songs where he's only singing.

Another Question, how did the people react to his rapping back in the day? You can tell that he tried to keep up with the music back in the day. Did it work or was it rather bad?

What's you opinion on his rapping skills?

I have been a fan for nearly 40 years. I was a teen growing up when rap exploded and I was a huge fan for many years. I have read many, many negative thoughts on the org over the years about Prince incorporating rap into his music. (Many have cited Prince chasing music trends.)

IMHO I have heard many rappers throughout the years that sound a lot less smooth than Prince. When Prince started rapping, a lot of the time his rapping was still backed by a full band, so the songs still sounded like "Prince" songs to me. In other words, because of the music and the arrangement and everything else going on, even with the rap, the songs received the "Prince treatment", so it was OK with me.

And to be honest, Sexy MF is absolute FIRE, rap and all.

pdiddy2011 said:

As someone who was raised on blues, funk, rock, soul, gospel, and jazz, hip hop never moved me, despite me being a poet and short story writer. (I'd prefer to read a poem than listening to one.) That being said, Prince's rapping never bothered me because, for the most, it never disrupted the music. Prince never changed the musical flow to accommodate his rapping skills or lack thereof, depending on whom you ask. Only when it became god-awful, as in "Mr. Goodnight," did I wish he didn't do that. But, songs like "Sexy MF" or "My Name Is Prince" never bothered me because they still seem organically Prince even with the emceeing.

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As for whether he was chasing trends, that's, of course, debatable. All artists are influenced by the new to some degree or another. Lots of funk and rock veterans had at least one disco hit. If the song--the disco hit--was good (either popular or well-crafted), it could be viewed as both chasing a trend and expanding as an artist. Thus, Prince was definitely impacted by the rise and success of hip hop. Whether that was a good or bad thing is in the eye or taste of the listener. My only issue was that he had created "Dead On It," which I perceived as a diss to rap; yet, he was rapping on that diss. Moreover, technically, Prince is also "rapping" on "Irresistible Bitch." And, according to Questlove and others, Prince's dance move in the "Little Red Corvette" video is some of the first b-boying that appears on MTV. So, it seems that a case can be made that Prince was well-aware of hip hop culture before 1988. Yet, I don't have a problem with folks stating that by 1992 he was chasing a trend because, again, the whole notion of "chasing a trend" is subjective. All I can say is that it was not enough to cause me to like the music less. Even with Tony M, I love Diamonds and Pearls.

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As for how it was received, Prince's rapping, for the most part, was ignored by mainstream and hip hop heads. Yet, the "Gett Off" video was played once on Yo MTV Raps, with either Dr. Dre or Ed Lover introducing the video by saying, "Rapp so hot it got everybody wanting to rapp, even Prince." But. while some diehard fans hated Prince rapping, most fans just tolerated it while casual and non-fans simply, again, ignored it. But, to be clear, some diehard fans actually went so far as removing lots of Prince's rapping as well as Tony M's rapping from songs and albums. There are a few old threads that you can find with folks discussing doing this.

He came off real Ice-Tish

which everyone was mimmcking at the time. It was a solid style of masculine rap

ThatWhiteDude said:

I was listening to sexy motherfucker and there's Prince rapping. And now my Question is, do you think that Prince had skills? I mean, I don't find it bad or anything, just a little bit unusual to hear. I'm one of the younger Fans here, so I'm pretty new and I'm only familiar with the other songs, the songs where he's only singing.

Another Question, how did the people react to his rapping back in the day? You can tell that he tried to keep up with the music back in the day. Did it work or was it rather bad?

What's you opinion on his rapping skills?

Out of all of his attempts at rapping, I'm more impressed with "The Good Life (Big City Remix)". "Sexy MF" was rapping, but more in line with what James Brown and Pigmeat Markham were doing. "Race" was meh, but "TGL" and maybe "Days Of Wild"'s studio version were more in line with 90's Hip-Hop and had a certain "swag" to them.. I'd venture to say maybe even "Now", even though "DOW" and "Now" are spoken songs rather than actual raps, which is how he described his rapping anyway.

I think there is little doubt, from a purely technical/musical standpoint, that Prince was as remarkable as rapping as he was at singing or playing any other instrument. Try and rap Race and you'll see how easy it is

However, while he tried to incorporate elements from hip-hop and new jack swing into his music, he never really tried to emulate rapping per se, he himself once said in an interview that he didn't rap but "rythmically sang", or something of that order (no exact quote sorry, it's an interview I read 20 years ago in some music magazine). Rap was chewed, swallowed and spat back by Prince, fully integrated in his music. I had no issue with that at the time, I liked rap a lot and had no problem with P toying with it as long as he kept his feminine edge and didn't try to go all macho and testosterone like most other rappers.

RJOrion said:

best attempts by Prince at rapping are: ....Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This ...

RJOrion said:

best attempts by Prince at rapping are: 1.U Know 2. Silicon 3. Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This ...any other attempts sounded almost comical...

I don't know why you would make such an absolute statement. It's too subjective and based on no evidence to make any sense to me. You make yourself sound like God and, with all due respect, I do not believe you are God.

pdiddy2011 said:

And to be honest, Sexy MF is absolute FIRE, rap and all.

databank said:

coldcoffeeandcocacola said:

RJOrion said:

best attempts by Prince at rapping are: 1.U Know 2. Silicon 3. Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This ...any other attempts sounded almost comical...

Not "Days of Wild" studio version?

I'd say a bad rap was in "The Latest Fashion"

I love Prince's voice a lot so I enjoy it whenever he sings, raps or just talks. Do the talking parts in 'Lady Cab Driver' 'Superfunkycalifragisexy', 'Bob George' and 'Positivity' or even the slow 'Dreamin' About U' count as rap too? Some of his earlier raps had a sing-a song rythmn to them, like nursery rhymes... Similar to Sheila's rap on 'It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night' or Cat on 'Alphabet Street'.
'Get Off', 'Days of Wild', 'Face Down' etc... I love them all and I don't mind Tony M. rap either (he's fantastic on 'Willing and Able').

[Edited 10/9/17 12:46pm]

databank said:

Sexy MF is, imho, a Prince pop-funk classic.............

But who am I to tell you???


- because, usually, I detest hiphop and rap = so-called "music", from so-called "artists" who definately are way less talented than Prince,

Are you speaking about "true" musicianship, Prince was superior to most, if not all in his generation.

I don't know why it is so popular for some fans to, somehow, put down a Prince-song.

Ok with me if you choose the bad ones, - but to put down Sexy MF, wow that song is a classic.

Ok, different opinions and.... I disagree then...

Prince was not really a rapper. He has had some hits and misses...

HITS: Sexy MF, Love 2 The 9's midsection , My Name Is Prince Days Of Wild, Face Down, P Control, Gett Off

MISSES: The Flow, Sticky Like Glue midsection, Dead On It, Release It (The Time), The P (TC) and many of those awful Carmen Electra tracks, Sun Moon and Stars midsection.

After 2000 thankfully Prince put that mess to the side and picked up the bass and drums for some funk.

As a kid I didnt like Prince's raps unless it was just a few that didnt sound bad like the above tracks. I only owned Diamonds and Pearls and the album at 12 years old.

I'm a rap fan and being newly from New York at the time (say 93/94) he just sound fake and a wannabe. Still liked the other songs. It was listening to D&P and the album that actually made me back track and listen to the 'real' Prince...

databank said:

Apparently this is what happena when some fans hear Prince songs they dislike: https://m.youtube.com/wat...ersIyzsOpc Needless to say, I call this overreacting...

the studio version of "Days Of Wild" is Prince's most convincing rap/hip-hop track,imo.Such a shame that he didn't include it on TGE.

thedance said:

Sexy MF is, imho, a Prince pop-funk classic.............

But who am I to tell you???


- because, usually, I detest hiphop and rap = so-called "music", from so-called "artists" who definately are way less talented than Prince,

Are you speaking about "true" musicianship, Prince was superior to most, if not all in his generation.

I don't know why it is so popular for some fans to, somehow, put down a Prince-song.

Ok with me if you choose the bad ones, - but to put down Sexy MF, wow that song is a classic.

Ok, different opinions and.... I disagree then...

It still got some rappin' in it tho. I didn't say it's a Rap-Song, because I don't think that Prince ever did a pure Rap Song.

To be honest Prince's rapping is the only rapping i can stand

When he attempted 'hip hop' it was toe-curling. When he was just rapping because that's what very funky people do, it was usually splendid.

Gold Nigga and Tony M's album were so bad I lost interest in Prince.

But Superfunkycalifragisexy is a classic. And Dead on It was hilarious. And Sexy MF is an immortal classic.