...
Beck : Midnite Vultures

Seems that Beck inherited all the skills from Prince.
Everything Prince once was, Beck is on this album. And Beck got more guts : he never plays safe.

In the last track, Debra, he even exceeds the master!

If you don’t own this album, do yourself a favour, and buy it!

What’s your favourite rip-off?

Romanthony

? $

His R.Hide in Plain Site album was hailed by some critics as like the best album Prince had done since Sign 'O' The Times.
[This message was edited Sun Aug 10 4:54:32 PDT 2003 by JDINTERACTIVE]

Beck's incredible. Properly love him. It was when this album came out that they made loads of Prince references, so I looked up P and got hooked on that, too. Beck's my man, though. Proper legend!

ThataintFunky said:

beck ain't prince

never will be

however, maxwell's vocals

sound very close 2 classic

prince falsetto

stevie nicks

"stand back"

and before you all say he ghost wrote the song, check your facts you revisionist fools!!!

sosgemini said:

i believe prince

played key boards

on that tune

i remember seeing

s nicks talking about

how impressive and quick

prince played

Oh no, please tell me this isn't going to start the "Beck Suxx vs. Beck Roxx" wars...when "Midnite Vultures" came out, all the Princeheads were split as to whether it was a tribute, a dis, or something that had nothing at all to do with Prince's sound. It got ugly. More importantly, it got OLD.

Ah well, Beck's moved on to "Sea Change" and an entirely different mood and style...but I gotta say, "Midnite Vultures" was pretty purple to me

The NPGMC

Remy Shand

I wouldn't call him a rip off, but he plays,produces, & writes all his music.He's nearly as talented at least.

PhilG said:

absolutely love this man's album! Saw him live, he was cool!

CherrieMoonKisses said:

and he's from Toronto.It'd be cool if he & Prince hook up & collaborate...

I thought this thread was about best Rip-off songs.

Well if its about the artists then nobody is mo' Prince Rip-Off than D'Angelo IMO.

The best Prince rip-off is by Alex Gopher, "Party People" - the Romanthony remix is pure 'Head' style...

Harlepolis said:

because of 'untitled'?

or in general? if in general, why? give me examples too? image-wise, lyrical content, music?

not just drums of 'africa' and cover of 'she's always in my hair'. check his catalogue.

let's discuss.

Missy Elliot's "Get U're Freak On".

Prince should have wrote this funk jam. It's his sound.

purpleone said:

The whole I don't wanna take pictures or please "no recorders", hell check the D'bonics interview and you'd see my point? And yes musicaly too!

Prince from 97 to 99.

Untitled - D'Angelo. Gorgeous tune, tho'.

Beck's a talented enough artist in his own right to not have to rip anyone off. MV sounds as much like Prince as it does other funk workouts. 'Debra', as a song, had been around since '95 and was intended as more of a boy band thing, than a Prince thing. In live gigs at the time, he used to mention Boys II Men before playing it. In interviews, Beck also mentioned the energy of Sly and the Family Stone live shows that he'd seen when he was younger was a big influence. I ain't getting into who's better and who owes what, just that Beck don't need to rip people off. He's very ver clever.

Incidentally, on his acoustic tour of America in August '02, Beck sometimes put 'Raspberry Beret' and 'Purple Rain' out on the piano a little. Also, with a full band behind him again, he's been playing 'Erotic City' as part of a funk medley that's got ALL sorts in it. In Minneapolis a while back there was a rumour Prince was gonna come on and play it with him, but that never happened.

Final thing, in an article Beck wrote at the end of '01 for Vanity Fair, on his top 50 favourite album covers of all time, 'Lovesexy' was one of them> Beck mentioned Prince looking at his most vulnerable, or some such. I forget exactly.

My vote goes to a track from a group started by Allen Jones from the legendary soul/funk group The Barkays{I see a connection here}...

The song was "Something About You" by Ebonee Webb in 1981. If imitating Prince was a crime then these guys should have been put UNDER THE JAIL. They scored a hit off of it though{on the R&B charts}. But they added nothing to their music except some different lyrical contents. Everything else was Prince, straight up and down.
[This message was edited Mon Aug 11 12:37:06 PDT 2003 by BRO915]

D'Angelo's Untitled. Heck, the whole Voodoo album sounded like a very well done Prince rip-off!

MV by Beck was pretty Prince inspired as well in my opinion. Great album, much more adventurous production than Prince's post eighties work IMO.

'I Try' - Macy Gray

the chorus of this song so very much Prince-like!

'do anything' by ???

Some say Prince produced it but I think it's just a very good rip-off even has late 90's female voice in it.

Anyone heard it?

The best? I bet You guys never heard of this. I would say Got to get up on it by Bobby Nunn (she's just a groupie fame)

ThataintFunky said:

I co-sign except for the "exceeding master" part.

Get yo'self, 'Funky!

BRO915 said:

You are right on time with this one, I almost forgot about this group. "Something About You" sounds just like "Head" musically. They had another song "Anybody Wanna Dance" which was hot back in the day.

Harlepolis said:

that was ?uest saying: "you on some prince shit now?" come on. some artists are like that. you never hear anything from d till a new album drops. even than he's hesitant to speak up.

i read the interview too. but did you read on after that first prince reference. later on it's all about marvin gaye, the meters, ohio players, funkadelic, george clinton, etc. don't blow shit up.

and don't forget this: ?uest is always hyping people. saying they're gonna be the next prince, or they sound as fresh as prince did back then. that is, if he truly loves what he hears. why? cause prince is one of his musical heroes. perhaps THE one.

performance-wise d has really been watching prince. true. but also james brown. also george clinton. 'untitled' is just what sticks in everybody's mind. the "naked" video, the 'adore'-like slowjam, the sexual lyrics; but that was meant to be an ode! so, i'll give you that.

in general, "musically too," you say. well, i probably can't change the way you listen to your music. it's just that, when listening to 'voodoo', i can't think of one song, other than 'untitled', that sounds like a prince song, or sounds like prince in some way or another. i can't. and i'm trying.

'playa playa'--no. could've been the ohio players. as they were the inspiration for it.
'devil's pie'--no.
'left & right'--well, it's funky, but.. no.
'the line'--no, i'd say this could've been a marvin gaye song.
'send it on'--no. could've been earth, wind & fire meets kool and the gang (it's their music!).
'chicken grease'--no way. p-funk written all over it. except for the name perhaps.
'one mo'gin'--nope. typical d'angelo song.
'the root'--musically: no. vocally: perhaps.
'spanish joint'--musically: no. vocally: perhaps at times.
'feel like makin' love'--no.
'greatdayndamornin'/booty'--nope.
'untitled'--YES!
'africa'--no. just the drumming (you have to give me that!).

well, that's how i see it. and again, i like the fact that d looks up to prince and finds inspiration in him as an artist. hell, i look up to prince (musically that is)!

however, i don't think it's fair to lable d as a "prince-clone" or "prince-ripp off". to me that's just seeing the talent, but not acknowledging it.

d'angelo IS one of the better artists out there when it comes to the soul/funk scene. so, listen to 'voodoo' (if you haven't already) and try to listen without princely prejudice.

and i don't want that to sound arrogant. i'm just having a hard time hearing what you're saying. perhaps you won't have such a hard time hearing what i'm saying once you give 'voodoo' a(nother) spin.

WonderU said:

Georgio - "Sex Appeal" and "Tina Cherry"

Definately Prince rip-offs but I hate to admit I liked them.

Chico Debarge - "Rainy Night" and "Talk To Me"

The latter sucked, but Rainy Night wasn't that bad.

purpleone said:

I honestly with all due love & respect could give a frog's fat ass whether if you find it hard or easy hearing what I'm saying. Thats yo say at the end of the day! I already made my statment and I'm sticking with it, mista!

4 the record, I already got D's music stuff and yes sir I've seen him live too. D is an artist and nobody could take that away from him, but image wise he ain't got nothing to go home with.

Far as his music goes? I agree, P-Funk, James Brown, Ohio Players and the rest of the Funk greats made an influence on his music. But Prince made a solid and a very obevious finger-print in D'Angelo musicaly. The way he lays the vox and lets not 4get the way he puts his production 2ghether. Shit, you ought to see the brotha live so you could know what I'm trying to say.

Prince was a music school 2 D'Angelo rather than a music teacher and thats cool, when I said he was a "Rip-off Prince" I didn't mean it in a bad way. D has his own sound somehow but no power can deny the influence that Prince made in D's music.

As 4 the LP Untitled? well, all I have to say is put the Black LP/LoveSexy/Parade in a blender and there you have "Untitled". Some of the ideas and echos from these CDs can be noticed in this joint clearly.

I don't need 2 blow shit up, hell its a message board as far as I'm concern, it ain't the centre of the universe.

Much love & props tho!