I find it interesting that many people on this site seem to assume that Prince has suddenly become proud of his Af. American heritage in the last few years. I find the rheotric ironic, considering that he wrote the following song, Superhero for Earth, Wind and Fire's Millenium Album in '93. This Prince penned track explores some of the same straight-forward themes discussed in his remake of the Staples Singers' When Will We Be Paid.



Earth Wind And Fire
Title: Super Hero
Album: Millenium
Composer: Prince

Chorus:
I will be your Super Hero
But U must understand
If I'm 2 be your Super Hero
U must give me half a chance
Listen 2 my band

I am born unto poverty and fear
I am scorned yet I hold back my tears
There's so much I can and
Will and want 2 do
But I cannot until I get through 2 U

Chorus

I am lucky if I learn 2 read and write
Where I live U must first learn 2 stand and fight
I'm the product of the system, I'm aware
What's my name, don't matter-nobody cares

Chorus

I understand U need me if U ever 2 war
But I don't understand if I buy the goods
Why I can't own the store
Don't tell me that I am not worthy
After 400 years overtime

If it's yours then tell me
Why can't it be mine
I am just as good as U or any kind
And there's so much I can
And will and want 2 do
But I cannot until I get through 2 U

Chorus

Give us what U give your brothers
Then U'll understand
That I won't be your Super Hero
Until U give us all U can now-now!

Chorus

Let them think ill then...I don't feel any artist who's black red white green or yellow needs 2 go out of there way 2 prove 2 anyone...How pro black or latin or native they truly R etc...2 make a point or 2 feel connected. Thats something in a mans blood & heart surrounded by his soul. And who R they 2 judge the brotha's creditability? I ain't.

People come into there own as artist and start writing and singing about what reflects certain issues as they see fit. As they mature, as they gain experience etc...When there clock says its right.

Doing a EW&F track ain't got nothing 2 do with them being black as it has everything 2 do with Prince having love and respect 4 them first as artist.

So 2 say look here he's done this 4 them so in 93 this proves XYZ that he's been down..

Lawd nothing like hitting the post button B4 U finish the final post..blah~ scratch that last line~

I love that song "SuperHero" by Earth Wind and Fire.

*cough http://www.prince.org/msg...msg_805509 cough*

A part of me wonders if perhaps it was the way that Prince was marketed early on in his career that made him seem "not so black". I certainly don't think that Prince all of sudden became pro-African-American but always was that way and now that he's older, and does not need to market himself the way he did when he was young, he can express it freely.

I wasn't born when Prince first came out on the scene but from looking back at old interviews and reviews of his music, it seems like he was being marketed as this multiracial guy who was playing multiracial music to a multiracial audience. Almost like he didn't have any set racial identity at all and the fact that he has a lighter skin tone helped play into that. So if that was the marketing plan, any pro- African-American statements that Prince may have made back then would have been supressed so that he could keep up this multiracial image and fanbase.

Just a hypothesis. Perhaps an old-skooler can give me his or her opinion on the matter.

jessyMD32781 said:

Just remembered this: Way back in the day (mid-1980s), there was a "We Are the World"-type song done to honor Dr. King. A LOT of R&B stars were on it. It was called "King Holiday," and the artists were credited as the King Dream Chorus & Holiday Crew. BET used to play it 24/7 (they probably don't know where the tape is now, but that's another story...*ahem*)

Anyway, at the close of the video, a closing credit over a black screen would give a special thanks to Prince (I always took it to mean that he'd helped with funding for the project, but that was an assumption).

I think there is a difference between multiracial marketing, Prince's publicized relationships with usually-light-complected women, and behind-the-scenes works he was known for doing back then, like donating the good (Purple Circle) seats to charities during the Purple Rain tour.

Such works would suggest a connection to the ethnic community or identity this thread asks about.

ThreadBare said:

I enjoyed reading that~

I never saw Prince as anything else but black. I think there was a time in his career when he strove for less emphasis on his race and pre-conceived notions about what he should "act" like. But I never got the impression he was "ashamed" of his heritage. He just wanted to dispel any preconceived notions of what it meant to be a black artist.

His racial consciousness is more pronounced than it used to be in his work, but it was always there.

how about hes just an artist not a black artist or white artist but a good artist-DANG!

PinkPeach said:

Well...he IS black. He's also short, thin, light-skinned, etc. He's lots of things...and a good artist. Why does an artist have to seperate their identity to communicate their music? James Brown is a good artist, but would one seperate him from his blackness? Why do so many people on this site try to make Prince an exception (i.e., he's mixed; he said "Am I black or white" in Controversy, etc.) Is this some way of trying to heed his wishes? I don't get it.
All I know is sometimes I go to music stores and Prince is in the rock section, yet Living Colour are in the R&B section. Go figure? LC rocks MUCH harder than Prince. I'm not the only one who sees in color.

BlaqueKnight said:

What that the black or white record store? Sometimes they put Madonna and Kylie in the R&B section, go figure?

realm said:

I have NEVER seen Kylie Minogue in the R&B section of any record store. Jon B., maybe even Pink (when she first came out), but NEVER Kylie. Madonna either. My point was that people's perceptions of Prince vary. If HE wants to speak on one of his traits, then so be it. He IS black. No question. I just don't understand why so many on this site go to ridiculous ends to say otherwise. I'm not harping on the fact that he's black, I just try to understand why people get so pissed when he says something that everyone already knows.

BlaqueKnight said:

True, Prince is black! Blacker than MJ!
What I do not get is?? are you saying you've only seen black artists in the R and B section? Is that why Eminen is in the pop section? Or is someone just trying to sell some cds by putting them anywhere people will look. I've actually seen LivingC in the Metal section. Numerous country artists in the pop section. What I do not get is radio?? Why not have a station that plays all types of music, criteria? good songs! I would love that, I think it would work.
Hmm..the pop section, kinda like ground for anything, I doubt you would see GnR in the pop section until they started selling millions. Anything fast mover!! Goes to the pop section, so to me when Prince worked his way back to the "r n b" section exclusively, possibly not going gold. I don't know just a thought!
My point is you sell a lot of records you'll end up in the pop section!!! bawhawhawhaw
[This message was edited Thu Jan 22 16:40:08 PST 2004 by realm]

Ohh, I heard this all before with metal, you know Crue ain't metal they were pop(80s) now they are metal(2000) again! Same with RATT! hehe. Geez and why are Metallica cds in the Pop section OMG!

Maybe someday real smart people like us will have jobs at the wrecka store and we can make the real important decision of where the records go! I think maybe we could start up a course, maybe sell it to a community college. At the end of the year we will hand the student a bunch of cds and say sort these out, and they pass or fail!

I think it all goes back to when he made a BOLD statement and sprawled "SLAVE" across his face. Was living in DC at the time and some of the people did not think that was cute, and I did get the point he was making! STILL I would say the perception of Prince the pop star to Prince the mad man at WB started about then. That moment changed the image of Prince forever in the minds of the people outside of the core fans! Does anyone here think of him NOW as "Slave", I think not? If you talk about him with the everyday asshole they will bring up and ask is he Prince? or better yet bring up the "Slave" cheeks!

I think though your making some good points in general that some people that work at the record stores do not know all the music! You are right on. Anyways, chill, it happens to the best of them.

realm said:

Here's the way it's often worked, though, amigo:

Same song, practically the same arrangement of that song.

White artist sings it, the record is found in Pop.
Black artist sings it, the record is found in R&B.

I don't think it's the same as Metallica & Ratt being placed in the pop section (their 1980s rotation on MTV might have justified such a categorization). The line might be a bit blurred there, for most people. Even their diehards were accusing them of selling out, as that rotation increased.

With the R&B and pop distinction, the line usually has been determined by the race of the artist, with a few rare exceptions.

Very few stores will list Prince, with all his distorted-guitar-drenched albums under Rock or Pop, where most of the other similar products will be found ... just because he's black.

i thought prince was mixed?

sexkitten04 said:

BlaqueKnight said:

co-

ThreadBare said:

I've wondered about that at times why some places put him in the pop section and some in the r-n-b. I still would go with if he sold a million it would wind up in pop no matter what his color. Same goes for something like Blur, for the longest time they were classified under 'alternative', they made music that was from rock to dance, when 'song 2' became a massive hit where did you find those 'alternative' Blur cds? In the pop section!

I found that when anyone sells a few million records soon someone will try to duplicate the sound image and then the originators get duped sellouts cause everything looks sound the same, its happened in the 80s metal scene, its happened in the 90s grunge scene, it happened with the rap scene. on and on. Most true artists IMO will see making music and being able to make a living at it a success, and I agree.

Sales figures will get your albums in the pop section, if your black red white green. It does not matter! Yeah, there are different cultures and music. They call it "Pop" ala POPULAR music for a reason? Agree?

If you were working at a record store and all of Prince's cds were in the RnB section. I bet you would place 'chaos and disorder' in the same section not knowing the sound of that record. Now I ask if you did hear it would you place the cd under pop/rock? If TRC sold about 2 million copies would you find it under 'rnb' or the pop section? I damn well bet it would be pop. It's more so because your working in the store and every asshole is looking for this music that is on the radio and they will not think to go and look under "metal" or "rnb" they will go look for the flavor of the week, pop pop music. These days, some stores do not even carry Prince, well maybe only the "greatest hits" so once again IMO if any artists sells a lot they get clumped into pop. Why do they not carry Prince cds?? My guess is they are cashing in on selling whats selling now. Its a shame Emancipation was at the dollar store.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Ok, Whats the problem if someone has a mixed race?! I do not see the problem. I know a kid who is 1/8th black. So is he mixed race? or black? Where does one draw the line or do we? Shall someone who is 1/8th something not feel that he is not "black" or "white" etc. Race in the space that I mark HUMAN! Who said that???

realm said:

yeah, i thought he was mixed when I first started listening to him and it wasn't until I came of this site that I found out that he's not. I don't think that anyone here has a problem with the idea of Prince being mixed, it's just that many crap threads have been started about whether or not prince is part filipino, or italian, or spanish, or godknowswhat.