Im a black female and it has always irritated me that a lot of black people view Prince as a white artist. Just because he plays electric guitar and isnt limited musically doesnt mean he is a white artist. He is just a versatile artist. Has any other black fan on here ever gone through this too? It just makes me sick that some people think that as black people , we should only like r&b and rap music.

One of my friends thought Prince was Indian.

She was like, "that's why he's called Prince, right? Because it's like Prince of India?"

I am Black and I have never heard other Black people refer to Prince as a 'white artist.' Black people love Prince. When I was standing out in the rain for tickets last Saturday, the majority of the people in line were Black and I am talking 99%.

Anxiety said:

That is crazy. I will never be able to understand how anyone would think Prince is other than Black. He doesn't even look mixed(black/white).

POOK said:

naw they dont think he's whtie but I have heard a LOT of blacks say that only white people like Prince because most blacks dont like the electric guitar.I was like what the heack!!

PurpleCharm said:

No I wasnt talkin about him lookin white but some blacks think that his music isnt black enough...

DigitalGardin said:

is this post from 1985?!

thirstinhowlVIII said:

see

It's ironic also that jimi Hendrix is proberly the best guitarist ever!

Prince has usually been seen as a girl thing among blacks and not a black guy thing! They tend not to like Babyfaces music either! The black guy stereotype is just rnb and hiphop but i'm sure this is not true!


When prince completed his line up of the original NPG, it seemed, especially with rapper Tony m, that Prince was trying to get some black street credablity! NPG-NWA? Even had the gameboyz as dancers, doing their 'street' moves! But this being Prince, he always put his own slant on things!

Anyway can't say much more as I'm not black but the few black people I have known or know, tend to think Prince a pussy 'cause of his makeup and clothing etc.... a shame, before "Purple rain" though, his audience was proberly more black then white 4 sure! "Around the world..." album even more so than "Purple rain" proberly killed off his black audience, both women and especially men! "Lovesexy" and "Parade", simular story!

thesexofit said:

its like ..most blacks dig his ballads but would dismiss something like DOLPHIN or BAMBI

PurpleCharm said:

This is a touchy sticky subject. And it's old too. Yeah, I've heard it, but in a round about way. It's happened to Hendrix, Kravitz. I'm a black rock guitarist/musician and I've been told I sounded like Hendrix, Prince, Funkadelic, [i.e., black artists with rock guitar] forever and some blacks link that with trying to sound white. Prince was tagged by some blacks for something similar to this during Parade and Under The Cherry Moon as well.

Listen.....it's very stupid and uneducated to say that all people with the same backbround (skin color, hometown, native country, family) thinks the same way every other person of that background. Not all black people (or any other group) think the same thing about most anything.

skywalker said:

wow..its stupid and uneducated not to be able to read and comprehend ...in none of my replies did I ever use the words ALL BLACKS...READ!

this post is full of ridiculous generalisations (mostly on the part of those aiming to categorise the majority of an entire race). prince has always had a large black fan base.
[This message was edited Fri May 7 15:48:45 2004 by thirstinhowlVIII]

i've been a fan for 25 years and i have never heard of any blacks viewing prince as a white artist.

DigitalGardin said:

And also as a black female..I got to agree wit ya. It irriates me also. Prince is a black man who likes to experiment with music, thus MPLS sound. He plays gutair and sings the occasional rock songs that doesn't mean that he is instantly white. And also, I agree wit you on how people think as black people, we only should listen and like R&B and rap. I'm black and i love music, it doesn't matter what kind. I like rap, rock, pop, it doesn't matter as long as i can dance to it *cause i do like to shake my thang*..

I am constantly hearing people saying that Prince is white..
???
[This message was edited Fri May 7 15:51:07 2004 by angle1234]

I'm glad that someone else can relate to where I'm coming from...I think that Prince is definitely UNDERVALUED somewhat in the black community

DigitalGardin said:

Don't worry girl, you're not alone..

What it is,is that back in the 80's when black people went 2 see prince in concert they wanted 2 hear I wanna be your lover the way it souned on the album but when they got to the show they heard something, this has been said for many years about how the albums sound R&B but the concert were like rock shows.

Where I live no one really digs Prince,its nothing to do with skin more they think he's too camp ,he confuses them .Thats what I like best about him he's kinda universal he isnt specific to one thing or another,he takes the rules and mixes them up.

DigitalGardin said:

THAT DUMB THING TO SAY

LOT OF WHITE PEOPLE BUY MILES DAVIS

SNOOP DOGG TOO

skywalker said:

Yeah, but ALL Star Wars fans would say something like that.

funkadelic71 said:

RIGHT!! Funkadelic!!! I wish I was around back in Prince's early days to see how the crowd of mostly blacks would respond to him playing BAMBI or WHY U WANNA TREAT ME SO BAD with him rocking it out when they thought they were gonna hear I WANNA BE YOUR LOVER or SEXY DANCER

DigitalGardin said:

On the Controversy Tour at the Santa Monica Civic, and this was early 82, I'd say 85% of the crowd were black. P played Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad, Uptown doing double lead guitar solos with Dez. And Dez was more rock than Prince was at that time. So live, yeah, Prince was more rock than anything, even during the 1999 tour. Blacks at those shows weren't surprised. A

blackguitaristz said:

thanks for that man...do u recall ever seeing Prince do BAMBI live back in those days(79-81) how was the audience's reaction???

richierich said:

Used to, anyway.

All "pop" music comes from Afro-American influences. I really don't see the reason for classifying any type of pop music as being black or white. Its all black.

I seem to recall Rock N Roll being started by Black musicians... stemming from the blues... and jazz...

I have to respond.

As a Black man it always funny when other Black people do not like Black stars once the cross over has taken place. I was listening to Prince on my sister's 8track back in 79-80.I am listening to Prince now, and will listen in the future regardless what "people" say.