Although it is very JB inspired I absolutely love this track. It's damn funky, I dig Prince's rap, heck, I even don't mind Tony M.'s rap on this one. Furthermore I love the organ, guitar and saxophone solo's on this song.


What are your thoughts on this track?

IMO, it's both a blatant JB ripoff and an excellent Prince track.

Great track either way.

funkaholic1972 said:

I don't remember being totally blown away by it. James would never sing those lyrics , but it is very JB inspired. Not a fan (or fam ) of Tony either. Suffice to say, I don't hate it...I don't love it.

But I definitely would not say Prince has ever blatantly "ripped off" anyone. He's too good a musician for that.
Prince's music has never been about ripping off his influences. It's about paying tribute. And yes, there is a difference.

-SWANGneedsa
[This message was edited Sun Aug 24 10:09:46 PDT 2003 by SWANG]

SWANG said:

I agree with you, but I once read a reply on a thread where someone said the "blatant JB ripoff" thing about Sexy MF and I wondered if there are more people having this opinion...

Prince may not always think things through, but he knew who he was copping when he put Sexy MF on tape. Call it tribute, call it ripping-off, I think of it as "class in session".

I love the track. One of his last great singles.

An homage.

I miss the audience participation on that song.

it's not his best JB homage, that'd be kiss.

The Work is much more JB 'inspired' than Sexy MF.

BorisFishpaw said:

The Work is certainly another very JB inspired tune, just like Prettyman. I enjoy all of them!

One of his best. Much more jazzier than anything James ever did.

Art, Amsterdam, Holland.

BorisFishpaw said:

finally, i was waiting for someone to post this.

the live version of 'possessed' is another example.

but that was dedicated to james if i'm not mistaking.

it was a cool and imo better version of the original.

Definitely JB inspired, and not the first time as has been noted in this thread. "The Work", "Prettyman", "Batdance".

None of which are outstanding tracks, by the way.

Actually both. But lyrically, Prince wasnt trying to sound like anyone but himself.
And "Prettyman" is a fun song as well as "Batdance"..."The Work" is cool to listen to then move on from it.

Both.