They are supposed to be great friends nowadays, but in the past Prince and Lenny Kravitz set them against each other (once I heard it was because of a woman, Ingrid Chavez).
But I think it's clear Lenny Kravitz is influenced by Prince, things like the formula "Produced, arranged...", the sound (Lenny plays rock specially, but for example albums like "5" -Black Velveteen, Straight Cool Player, e.g.- sound like Prince), the attitude. Not a copy, but there are some of Prince on Lenny.
Another special moment was when Lenny published the song and album "Rock and Roll Is Dead", and then Prince published the b-side "Rock and Roll Is Alive (And It Lives In Mineapolis)".

And what about those lyrics? Do you remember Prince's I wanna be your lover?

I wanna be your brother
I wanna be your mother and your sister, 2

And in Justify My Love, the song by Lenny & Madonna, we can read:

I want to know you
Not like that
I don't wanna be your mother
I don't wanna be your sister either
I just wanna be your lover

Only a coincidence? Maybe another influence?

I don't know. Do you know something more about Lenny Kravitz and Prince?

how about the fact that Lenny says that his main influence is Prince?
Could it be more simple than that?

Heavenly said:

I didn't know Lenny told that For me it was clear Lenny plays music like Prince. And I like him, I have almost all his albums, I like his compositions, but I think Prince is better playing guitar, bass & keys, Lenny is better on drums. And Lenny is not so versatile composing as Prince.
What do you think?

JavierAlcalde said:

And that may explain the familiarity in the lyrics to "Justify My Love" which Ingrid Chavez claims she wrote, and ending up suing Lenny for songwriting credits.

NuPwrSoul said:

And she reached a satisfactory settlement to recognise her contribution.

Lenny Kravtiz didn't write the lyrics 2 Justify my love, Ingrid Chavez did and there was big controversy over it, bcuz she claim she never got any credit 4 these lyrics she wrote. Now every time I read the lyrics I can hear her voice reciting them, like she did in the movie grafiti bridge.

Now I'm seein' nupowersoul beat me 2 it edit
[This message was edited Sat Nov 8 13:25:48 PST 2003 by DigitalLisa]

I read an interview with La Kravitz in a British mag about 6 months ago and he said that he hadn't heard from Prince in a while. Wouldn't surprise me if Prince had dropped him.

ConsciousContact said:

Lenny 2 busy hangin' out with p diddy these days

i gotta reply 2 this !!!

1.ingrid chavez and lenny wrote justify my love.
2.madonna released it and claimed co credit with lenny.
3.ingrid sued madonna and WON!.
4.if u listen 2 jml by madonna it dosesnt sound like anything she's EVER done b4.
5.if u dropped this track on ingrids magic 1992 album it would fit perfectly !

imo,its without a doubt ingrids song !!!

danielboon said:

The words, maybe, but not the music.

Lenny has openly said that Prince was a great influence on him. Where have you been?

Does P come after O in the alphabet?

whodknee said:

the style and delivery of the lyric by madonna is...pure ingrid ! dont how she thought she'd get away with it !

whodknee said:

Chuck D found out after the release of Justify, that his beat had been "borrowed".

squirrelgrease said:

Yup, it's a straight jack from "S1W" an instrumental track from "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back." And before people start with "that aint nuthin but JB's "Funky Drummer," it aint Funky Drummer.

JavierAlcalde said:

PRINCE is a big musical influence on lenny BUT lenny never had prince ATTITUDE...nothing 2 do with each other.

and BTW lenny sux

Then Shocklee & Sadler (the Bomb squad) sued Madonna, & Lenny Kravitz for sampling the track from a instrumental they did for PUBLIC ENEMY (the songs was called sw1).

They sued because at the time all the pop stars were suing rap producers for sampling, so they were making a statement that they also were being "stolen" from. Plus they barely changed a thing about there track...they settled out of court.

James Brown rules ...

Justify my Love is a JB-sample!
Prince is strongly influenced by JB ...

So, that's the connection:
They stole it both from James

ThataintFunky said:

I don't think it's a james brown sample

JavierAlcalde said:

Lenny better on drums? You're kidding, right? Examples of Prince on drums: Tamborine, Irresistible Bitch, Let's Work, New Position, Head, Do Me Baby, Crystal Ball, the Madhouse albums, the Time albums, The Family album, etc., etc.. Don't get me wrong, I like Lenny Kravitz but he wouldn't be able to play the drums on these tracks and albums either at all, or with the same sophistication as Prince does. Just listen to the incredibly funky little accents he puts in places or how delicate he works the hi-hat in some of his songs and instrumentals.
In my opinion Lenny is a very average rock drummer and nowhere near Prince's league (just listen to one of Prince's project called "Madhouse 8" and you will hear it yourself).

Hi!
Lenny is a very good artist!Maybe not as good as Prince but he's better than most of the other musicians
who call themselves superstars!!!I love his music!!!

He and Prince are good friends, at least Lenny's said that *lol*. He like Prince's music very much and he admires him!And,of course, he's influenced by P.

I don't believe that it's true which is said in this "British mag".I mean there are rumours that Prince and Len produced together the song "God is funky" which will be on his new album "Funk" that'll probably be more P-influenced than any other album.
And that lyrics...why is it so bad that they sound almost the same???I think the music itself is much more important!!!


Let love rule!

Flowerchild said:

I like your post Flowerchild. I am also a big fan of Lenny's. In fact, I've been a fan since his Romeo Blue days. I think Lenny is a very good musician and seems like a down to earth, caring man. You will find that many people on this site criticize Lenny and his work quite often. I really have no idea why, but the first thing that comes to mind is Lenny isn't black enough for some people. I also believe that Prince has alienated many past friends due to his JW conversion. It's truly sad because Lenny has always talked about God and his belief in God. I think they are stills pals, but don't associate much with each other these days. Their religious beliefs are too far apart right now. Lenny is very cool, on that I 100% agree with you!!

Eeeeh, I love Prince too, when I started this thread I always wanted to tell something curious I believed I had found (later, other orgers has showed me the truth), but I think Lenny is an incredible musician, and I have 5 albums by him, and I love them all, specially 5 and Are you gonna go my way.

It's beautiful to see that there are other people who like Lenny as much as I do!


Let love rule!

JavierAlcalde said:

I agree. I only have one LP, but I like much of his other stuff, and I like him personally. Anyone who loves his mama like he did is okay in my book.

He's been a mild disappointment to me recently, but that's all right. It's a matter of taste.

JavierAlcalde said:

Madonna also used that mother, brother, sister type of line in "I'd Rather Be Your Lover" (which might have been influenced by both tracks). In other words, it kind of became cliche after a while but yes, Prince probably did it first!

danielboon said:

Are we really supposed to know Ingrid as some kind of musical artist now? I mean, I just thought she was a good starfucker, or am I wrong. Anyway, Madonna only claimed "additional lyrics". So does Ingrid claim she wrote the entire thing?

prince humillated lenny on the one show rave 2000...very cruel, but he always does that kind of thing. he did the same with sting once onstage 2gether with ron wood

Number23 said:

Are you down with OPP?