Hip hop has been popular since at least the Run-DMC/Fat Boys days and has been the #1 genre in the mainstream USA for years now. So how would it limit anybody's appeal? It helped Mariah Carey's career. In the early 1990s, Jump by Kris Kross was #1 for 8 weeks on the Hot 100. Maybe the general public did not dig Prince/Tony M rapping. Other singers/groups used actual known rappers who made records, not some guy nobody heard of. Like Earth Wind & Fire did a song with MC Hammer. Anthrax did a record with Public Enemy. Tony! Toni! Toné! had DJ Quik. There was an entire soundtrack of collabs called Judgement Night.

Not at all...quite the opposite, in fact. It broadened his appeal to a new generation.

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People tend to forget: Gett Off was THE monster jam of the summer of 1991. Prince was rapping all over that track. This song kicked off the Diamonds and Pearls era.

-

Simply put, a rapping heavy song was fundamental to ushering in one of Prince's most successful albums and one of the commerical peaks of his career.

[Edited 3/29/21 21:33pm]

RODSERLING said:

Among fans here, for sure. I love it when Prince raps, such as Tony M. I think they are both great rappers and have nothing to envy to 50 cent or Kanye West. Fans who still wonder why falsetto limited Prince appeal among the general audience, but can't stand Prince rap, are the same type of people who don't like Prince falsetto.

-

Oh Tony M sure is a good rapper. I don't xant to judge about that (anymore).

Mind it was Prince who arranged it all, deciding what tony M had to do.

But I can't help but feel that Prince had some problems with

transforming or mingling his own funk-pop into/with rap.

His approach of rap was used as an extra arrangement I believe.

But it did not enrich his songs.

Though his own earlier approach of rap was fantiastic and original :

'All The Critics Love U In New York',

'Irresistible Bitch'

...or the prayer in Controversy.

He had his own style, so unique.

'Sexy MF' is a song I never listen to, because I think his rapping is the worse ever.

He completely missed it. It was not sexy, it did not translate Rap as I know it.

You have to know I love good rap music.

-

To me it will always remain the fact that Prince wanted to keep up with what was delivered in the charts.

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skywalker said:

Not at all...quite the opposite, in fact. It broadened his appeal to a new generation.

-

People tend to forget: Gett Off was THE monster jam of the summer of 1991. Prince was rapping all over that track. This song kicked off the Diamonds and Pearls era.

-

Simply put, a rapping heavy song was fundamental to ushering in one of Prince's most successful albums and one of the commerical peaks of his career.

[Edited 3/29/21 21:33pm]

SELL IT!!!

skywalker said:

Not at all...quite the opposite, in fact. It broadened his appeal to a new generation.

-

People tend to forget: Gett Off was THE monster jam of the summer of 1991.

In what country?

OPP was released late in summer but that was the jam. Will Smith's Summertime, and a lot of songs were huge.

lavendardrummachine said:

skywalker said:

Not at all...quite the opposite, in fact. It broadened his appeal to a new generation.

-

People tend to forget: Gett Off was THE monster jam of the summer of 1991.

In what country?

OPP was released late in summer but that was the jam. Will Smith's Summertime, and a lot of songs were huge.

Agreed. Gett Off was popular among prince fans and it got some airplay, but it was far from a monster jam to the masses. But rap didn't limit Prince's appeal, as he had done spoken rhyming (not conventional rap of the 90s) long before, but he could not properly transition into 90's rap since it was too far from his lane. There's nothing wrong with that, and although most of his 'rapping' doesn't personally bother me, I can see how it doesn't hold a candle to the stuff that full time rappers were doing at the time.

lavendardrummachine said:

lavendardrummachine said:

OPP was released late in summer but that was the jam. Will Smith's Summertime, and a lot of songs were huge.

There was also the popularity of dance rap like C+C Music Factory, Snap!, 2 Unlimited, Betty Boo, Technotronic, etc.

RODSERLING said:

it was only a positive message delivered, not insults, not fuck the police, just " Live 4 love".

Yeah Bob George has a really positive message.

MickyDolenz said:

It is hard to really numerize it IMO, I am sure people who weren't into Prince prior listened to his '90s stuff and some previous Prince fans liked it, and some didn't

[Edited 3/31/21 0:02am]

From what I read, it's mostly people who dislike rap in general who don't like Prince's rapping. Which is kinda odd because I don't think they can really critique his skills because they're biased about a whole ass genre of music. As I mentioned on another thread, his face down rap was pretty solid.

If the rap part in the Gett Off version from Coming to America 2 is him, then that's pretty good as well. So, all in all, I think he was pretty good at it.

It sure showed he was fallible. Any problems in his 90s music were deeper than him just adding rap, although that coincided with said problems.

To answer the original question, it depends on who you ask....

RODSERLING said:

I think Prince did great in rap music. He succeeded in taking the best of this genre : the funk, the rythm, the groove, the message, the drama and punching effect, but also take out the worst of this genre : he made his own music, with real great musicians, he quoted his samples when he did it ( like James used to say...), it was only a positive message delivered, not insults, not fuck the police, just " Live 4 love". So saying he tried to follow the trend was in fact completely the opposite. He made the genre a U-turn, adding his own musical AND visual style in it. He stood above the genre. [Edited 3/30/21 21:31pm]

Exactly. Folks not liking his 90's work is much deeper than just adding a rapping style. There's a lot more songs from that period without rap than ones that have it so why they really mad? lol He was creative. He took a style that he didn't create, made it his own and incorporated it in his music. Gett Off sounds like nothing on the radio at the time so what trend was he really following?

skywalker said:

Not at all...quite the opposite, in fact. It broadened his appeal to a new generation.

-

People tend to forget: Gett Off was THE monster jam of the summer of 1991. Prince was rapping all over that track. This song kicked off the Diamonds and Pearls era.

-

Simply put, a rapping heavy song was fundamental to ushering in one of Prince's most successful albums and one of the commerical peaks of his career.

[Edited 3/29/21 21:33pm]

BINGO

ThatWhiteDude said:

From what I read, it's mostly people who dislike rap in general who don't like Prince's rapping. Which is kinda odd because I don't think they can really critique his skills because they're biased about a whole ass genre of music. As I mentioned on another thread, his face down rap was pretty solid.

If the rap part in the Gett Off version from Coming to America 2 is him, then that's pretty good as well. So, all in all, I think he was pretty good at it.

BOOM. ALL OF THIS.

ThatWhiteDude said:

tab32792 said:

RODSERLING said:

lavendardrummachine said:

In what country?

OPP was released late in summer but that was the jam. Will Smith's Summertime, and a lot of songs were huge.

Gett Off was #4 in Europe, #8 in Australia and sold more than 500.000 copies in the US ! The commercial mistake was that it was released too in advance from the album it was related to.

Thanks, I can't speak for outside the US, but we are running into this problem when talking about Prince and the charts, because here in the US, a chart spot didn't always reflect what was going on with his popularity or how the music was received.

I also don't think Gett Off was thought of a rap song at the time.

lavendardrummachine said:

I also don't think Gett Off was thought of a rap song at the time.

"Gett Off" was premiered on 'Yo! MTV Raps'

nayroo2002 said:

lavendardrummachine said:

I also don't think Gett Off was thought of a rap song at the time.

"Gett Off" was premiered on 'Yo! MTV Raps'

Yah but the producers are in an oral history about the show mentionng Prince as an example of playing Black music that wasn't rap.

lavendardrummachine said:

RODSERLING said:

lavendardrummachine said: Gett Off was #4 in Europe, #8 in Australia and sold more than 500.000 copies in the US ! The commercial mistake was that it was released too in advance from the album it was related to.

Thanks, I can't speak for outside the US, but we are running into this problem when talking about Prince and the charts, because here in the US, a chart spot didn't always reflect what was going on with his popularity or how the music was received.

I also don't think Gett Off was thought of a rap song at the time.

Exactly! if you had your ear to the streets in 91, you'd know Gett Off was a banger. Charts don't matter nor do they equal a "hit".

MickyDolenz said:

RODSERLING said:

it was only a positive message delivered, not insults, not fuck the police, just " Live 4 love".

Yeah Bob George has a really positive message.

Bob George was a bootleg track until 1994 when it was officially released. Also, it was Prince, so you knew right from the bat the entire track was tongue in cheek.

tab32792 said:

I'd take 18 & Over, Big City Boy and others over 95% of rappers any day.