But he secured a 100 million contract with Warner Brothers, at the time most lucrative.

He had massive hits all over Europe with My name is Prince, Sexy Mf and Gett of.

Also a number 1 album with come.

LOL OKAY.

Prince didn't get that contract because of his attempt to rap on a song.

"My Name is Prince" and "Sexy M.F." were bombs. They didn't even come close to cracking the top 20 in the US.

Come wasn't an album filled with wannabe rappers, including Prince's attempts. "Space" had a limited release, so any "rap" on that went unheard by the masses. Come was #1 only in the UK, no other country including the US. It barely made Gold status.

In fact, "Diamonds and Pearls" was his last #1 hit in the U.S. on the Top 100 or R&B chart (not "Cream" as many think).

So this rap=hits bullshit is invalid.

TrivialPursuit said:

LOL OKAY.

Prince didn't get that contract because of his attempt to rap on a song.

"My Name is Prince" and "Sexy M.F." were bombs. They didn't even come close to cracking the top 20 in the US.

Come wasn't an album filled with wannabe rappers, including Prince's attempts. "Space" had a limited release, so any "rap" on that went unheard by the masses. Come was #1 only in the UK, no other country including the US. It barely made Gold status.

In fact, "Diamonds and Pearls" was his last #1 hit in the U.S. on the Top 100 or R&B chart (not "Cream" as many think).

So this rap=hits bullshit is invalid.

I am talking about Europe, and he had many hits many countries , you cant judge his success on just the US. The world is bigger.

Come was top ten many countries.

Cream was number 1 on the billboard.

He got the contract at that time because he was successful and thoes rap songs were part of it.

Mind your language.

sambluedolphin said:

I am talking about Europe, and he had many hits many countries , you cant judge his success on just the US. The world is bigger.

Come was top ten many countries.

Cream was number 1 on the billboard.

He got the contract at that time because he was successful and thoes rap songs were part of it.

Mind your language.

I am speaking of the US because this is where I fucking live. I can judge his success on the numbers. As I stated, Come was #1 in ONE country. Look beyond, the world is bigger than the UK. Hell, a time zone in the US is bigger than the UK.

He had a contract that was renewed with new terms. He didn't get "the contract...because he was successful." Rap was a small part of his music. He tried to incorporate it, but clearly most people couldn't give two fucks about Tony M., TC Ellis or any other 2¢ shit rapper he threw on a song. He got renewed because he had a #1 with "Cream" and "Diamonds and Pearls," but was still the Purple Rain-guy. He had clout.

I edited Tony M. out of 95% of Diamonds and Pearls and and they're exponentially better albums. I took the raps out of Emancipation album, and the one on "I Rock, Therefore I Am" on Chaos and Disorder. It was an upgrade.

Prince was not a rapper, by any means. He was a rhythmic singer/talker at best, but a full on rapper? I don't fucking think so. You can argue the rap element all day, but my mind and most others won't be swayed. Prince's ability to find great talent to put on his records faltered here and there. Tony, TC, Scrap D, etc is him faltering. Why? Because he started to follow shitty trends instead of creating fucking amazing new ones.

TrivialPursuit said:

sambluedolphin said:

I am talking about Europe, and he had many hits many countries , you cant judge his success on just the US. The world is bigger.

Come was top ten many countries.

Cream was number 1 on the billboard.

He got the contract at that time because he was successful and thoes rap songs were part of it.

Mind your language.

I am speaking of the US because this is where I fucking live. I can judge his success on the numbers. As I stated, Come was #1 in ONE country. Look beyond, the world is bigger than the UK. Hell, a time zone in the US is bigger than the UK.

He had a contract that was renewed with new terms. He didn't get "the contract...because he was successful." Rap was a small part of his music. He tried to incorporate it, but clearly most people couldn't give two fucks about Tony M., TC Ellis or any other 2¢ shit rapper he threw on a song. He got renewed because he had a #1 with "Cream" and "Diamonds and Pearls," but was still the Purple Rain-guy. He had clout.

I edited Tony M. out of 95% of Diamonds and Pearls and and they're exponentially better albums. I took the raps out of Emancipation album, and the one on "I Rock, Therefore I Am" on Chaos and Disorder. It was an upgrade.

Prince was not a rapper, by any means. He was a rhythmic singer/talker at best, but a full on rapper? I don't fucking think so. You can argue the rap element all day, but my mind and most others won't be swayed. Prince's ability to find great talent to put on his records faltered here and there. Tony, TC, Scrap D, etc is him faltering. Why? Because he started to follow shitty trends instead of creating fucking amazing new ones.

Like i said Come was top ten Europe, it was Gold in the UK. In fact it was the diamond and pearls tour that was significant, at the time it was one of the most successful Europen tours, he didnt do a full tour in the US. Diamonds and pearls was his second most succcessful album, and symbol hit number one in the UK, and ten most Europe. Like i said thoes 3 rap songs were big, maybe not US but else where. The contract was signed August 1992 after the release of thoes so alled rap songs. My point was people said he couldnt rap, but thoes hits showed other wise. I went to the manchester gig and immediatly sexy mf was top 5 and on radio.

come is better than around the world in a day and also it's a top 5 album of his career

sambluedolphin said:

But he secured a 100 million contract with Warner Brothers, at the time most lucrative.

He had massive hits all over Europe with My name is Prince, Sexy Mf and Gett of.

Also a number 1 album with come.

It was not because he was atempting to rap though, it was because he could still sell out stadiums and at least give you a platinum / gold album. That was lucrative to record companies back then. Also, Prince had a whole studio to run. Warner really believed in him at the time. Prince proved that after a dud he can come back strong with the Diamonds and Pearls album, however he really had to get on the road and push playing the hits again. It probably drove his creative juices up the wall.

I feel like he could rap but not in a freestyle setting. His rapping on the Act 2 tour, especially during the "Tell Me How You Want To Be Done" is definitely more in his lane. It's playful and cool and isn't as braggadocious as a lot of rap that was heard in the mainstream at that time. If you gave him time and pen and paper I feel he could really get into the style, as a style that embraces poetry

sambluedolphin said:

I am talking about Europe, and he had many hits many countries , you cant judge his success on just the US. The world is bigger.

Ah, but rap wasn't a European art form at the time. The Hip Hop coming from Europe was all a bit off to American ears and lagged for whatever reason, so I guess that makes sense that Prince's rap sounded better to overseas audiences.

Those weren't rap records anyway. Prince is doing other things not just rhyming, and it's more rhapsodic instead of rap.

no one gave prince a deal to hear him rap.

no one bought a prince album to hear him rap.

no one bought a ticket to hear him rap.

we were just forced to.

lol

ANYBODY can rap, just like ANYBODY can sing. The question is whether they're any good at it, and Prince was horrible at one of those things

TrivialPursuit said:

Chile I grew up during the dawn of hip hop. Prince, however much I loved him, could not rap, and was not an MC. He was a brillant musician with a sick vocal range who never played or sang a bad note (at least not publicly)...but a rapper he was not.

lustmealways said:

sambluedolphin said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Jesus, many popular, high selling songs can also be shit.

Especially when it came to that era of "rap" hits.

OperatingThetan said:

sambluedolphin said:

I am talking about Europe, and he had many hits many countries , you cant judge his success on just the US. The world is bigger.

Come was top ten many countries.

Cream was number 1 on the billboard.

He got the contract at that time because he was successful and thoes rap songs were part of it.

Mind your language.

Those songs were indeed very commercially successful in the UK and Europe. Prince was at the zenith of his popularity in Europe in the early 90s, which is often overlooked by fans living in other areas.

Well said, a positive and true post, who ever thinks if he was good or not, we can all agree he had some alltime great songs.

KlyphIsBackAgain said:

ANYBODY can rap, just like ANYBODY can sing. The question is whether they're any good at it, and Prince was horrible at one of those things

I agree that Prince was not good at rapping, and I disagree that ANYBODY can rap and sing. ANYBODY may be capable of rapping and singing, but that doesn't mean that they can.

TrivialPursuit said:

LOL OKAY.

Prince didn't get that contract because of his attempt to rap on a song.

"My Name is Prince" and "Sexy M.F." were bombs. They didn't even come close to cracking the top 20 in the US.

Come wasn't an album filled with wannabe rappers, including Prince's attempts. "Space" had a limited release, so any "rap" on that went unheard by the masses. Come was #1 only in the UK, no other country including the US. It barely made Gold status.

In fact, "Diamonds and Pearls" was his last #1 hit in the U.S. on the Top 100 or R&B chart (not "Cream" as many think).

So this rap=hits bullshit is invalid.

Sexy M.F did well in the UK as I recall (top 5). It was the only time that I remember a Prince track being a hit in the playground.

I'm one of Prince's biggest critics when it comes to incorporating rap and hip-hop, but I actually quite like "My Name Is Prince" and "Sexy MF." (I really like Sexy MF in fact). To me they were still uniquely Prince... is "My Name Is Prince" even rap? It's once we get to "Pussy Control" and "Face Down" territory that my skin really began to crawl.

fen said:

sambluedolphin said:

LOL @ rap being a shitty art form. You people are something else.

TrcikyChristopher said:

Quick story. I was a DJ in the 90s and 2000s. Still dabble. I played "The Good Life" (Big City Remix) during a party. It was a hip-hop crowd. Everyone kept coming to me asking who it was and we're shocked when I told them it was Prince. They loved it. A lot of his other rapping attempts were mediocre, save for MAYBE "Sexy MF" because of his flow riding the groove like James Brown. But even that's pushing it. I did enjoy "Why Should Eye Do This When Eye Can Do That", though.

Love that remix. How much better would Newpower Soul have been had it not been bumped from the track listing late in the the day?

I don't know that Americans look to Europe for validation on quality rap. More than most genres, rap is about authenticity, and it's associated with youth and struggle. Prince was just alright on his best days, and given that he was in his 30s when he started, and already a huge popstar going through a rough patch, it never felt like a genuine move. Which maybe wasn't fair, but that's how it felt.

In hindsight, it's all okay. I sometimes cringe when I hear it, but I cringe at a lot of early 90s rap. The famous ones, like P Control, Sexy MF, and Gett Off, are all ludicrous and fun enough. The album tracks (whose names I can't remember) are easily skipped.