Just thinking about what I've read how Tony thought he could influence Prince (which it seems he did IMO). And this song was an early track after Tony came on the scene (it was performed on the D&P tour right? - so it was around early on in the O+> album sessions).

It's all male bravado, profanity, and 'strutting my stuff' kind of a song, and very harshe spoken word, which all goes along with the rap sensibility (albiet with a little Prince camp and mysticism around the edges!)

Romance1600 said:

this song was a direct rip-off of LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You OUt" It came out like a year later and had the same vibe and attitude as "Don't call it a comeback.."

I love this song

I like that song.

I think he did it to piss of Warner Brothers (if I recall, they did not want him to record it)

.
[This message was edited Wed Dec 3 21:43:44 PST 2003 by Nikster]

"...2 tell the truth, tell me what's my line! Oooh my name is Prince..." GOOD tune!

I prefer 'My Name Is Bart'!

My 2 cents:

The baseline is very reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails 'Head like a hole'.

Prince was listening to a lot of NiN in the early 90's and I think that this was the result.

Romance1600 said:

Well, If Prince could let Tony get away with "GANK any Clown" (i heard Tony was trying to create a rap slang by using the word GANK, but the streets didn't take to it) in 'Live 4 Love', then yeah I guess u have a point Romance1600

i like it i guess.../Call the law is much worse

Christopher said:

Nah, 'Call The Law's a masterpiece.

"Step 2 the mic and taste the hype..."

My name is prince is great, i has a mood of a heavy song with almost no guitar.
It makes me want to break the things and give puchs on the face of people I hate.
:f
:p

DMSR said:

That's exactly what I thought! When I first heard "My Name Is Prince",I knew it had to have been inspired by LL's song "Mama Said Knock You Out".It's got the same kinda vocal delivery,where the lyrics/verses are "shouted".When Prince says "that's when I gotcha,that's when you MINE",he sounds just like LL!

Nikster said:

Warners didn't want to release it as a single.They preferred "7",but somehow Prince convinced them that "My Name Is Prince" should be released first.

r1ghteousone said:

Christopher said:

r1ghteousone said:

Christopher said:

If I recall it went Top 5 in the UK, as did Sexy MF I think (??)

Still don't understand why they didn't release The Continental

Romance1600 said:

Sexy M.F. got to no.4
My Name Is Prince got to no.7

Romance1600 said:

'Continental' would've easily got into the top 10.

r1ghteousone said:

A better choice of single than The Morning Papers, anyway (though I love Papers!)

JudasSmile said:

IMO there was a lot of hit potential on .

'tis a shame it didn't do as well as 'Diamonds & Pearls' on the charts though.

r1ghteousone said:

I think is okay but Diamonds & Pearls is more consistant for me. I see why it was the more successful album

Cloudbuster said:

I agree that 'D & P' is more consistant, but still I prefer - even if it is just a bit too long.
[This message was edited Thu Dec 4 5:11:52 PST 2003 by r1ghteousone]

r1ghteousone said:

There are certainly more genuine highlights on but Diamonds & Pearls flows better and doesn't have as much filler which is why I prefer it.

Cloudbuster said:

Yeah, I mean if you compare 'D & P' to song-for-song, 'symbol' wins easily...
but whilst each of the songs taken on their own are excellent, as a whole they don't work as well, it leaves the album feeling a bit 'dis-jointed'.

r1ghteousone said:

Yep! I can't argue with that.

HOWEVER.

This song rocked for two reasons - the "I wanna be your lover" sample, and "Party Up" sample. He was sampling his own old-school jams, like, "shit, y'all wanna drop classic samples in your songs? I can do that, lessee, what would I put in my song - oh, snap, I know, MY OWN SHIT!"

Just badass.

This is my guilty pleasure favorite. I won't admit to liking this tune to NOBODY, but you know I crank that shit in the car when nobody's looking. It was a nice comeback from the weak shit he'd put out the previous year.

If you read the Alex Hahn book, you are told that Tony got Prince to do rap.

otan said:

Party Up? I thought it was Controversy...