TurnItUp said:

I am Black and I can tell you must not be. Black people come in all shades. Just because a Black person is light-skinned doesn't mean they are mixed. My sister is just as light as Prince and has red hair, like Lindsey Lohan and she is straight up Black.My mother is the complexion of Denzel Washington. My 2 year old is the same complexion as Prince and her dad is also Black and she is lighter than both of us. There are Black people that are lighter than Prince and both parents are Black Have you not seen those pics of Prince with the kinky afro? Don't be fooled by the relaxed hair. And for the record, his eyes are straight brown, they are not green.

And why do I sense that you want Prince to be mixed because you think Black people can only be 'fine' if they are mixed with white. You need to go take a class in genetics, because you ignorance is beyond ridiculous..."his lips are definitely black. They're full, not big"...wtf

Hell, Tyra Banks ain't mixed and she has green eyes..and no they are not contacts.

prodigalfan said:

So true...it was so cold and of course I was not dressed for the weather because I was not thinking about the fact that Joe Louis Arena is right off the Detroit River....

ThreadBare said:




Don't 4get his touch in2 2day's slang talk in "Life 'O' The Party"...

"We doin' r own thang"

"We ain't trippin' U'all"

"U betta not come if u can't stay"

"we got mad chemistry"

"Don't it make it U wanna holla?"

"Sing Ma!"

& of course him leavin' da "g" off many his words.

I'm sure @ da NOBP da young membas will discuss on that matta.

...and the intelligence quotient gets knocked down a few points again....

KeLo07 said:

I really wish he would stop using the slang...he sounds lame.
[This message was edited Sun May 9 15:50:15 2004 by PurpleCharm]

TurnItUp said:

-----
No African-American thinks Prince is mixed or white. Lot;s of African-American's have green eyes a few have blue eyes.

PurpleCharm said:

Iono but 4 sum reason I like that he's usin' slang. It'sa lite version tho not 2 in depth. I couldn't imagine him sayin' "Why u iggyin' me?" "Yo whaddup nigga?!" sayin' "this" as "diz" & well u get what I mean. Now if he wuz 2 go that far he'll really sound ridiculous. Da way he talks it doesn't sound so forced it sounds like he knows what each phrase means & no thought of him tryna be "young" eva crosses my mind. Hell,even talks a bit 70s slang even 2day. He did on this radio station(KJLHFM) he said "Stevie's a fun lovin' cat.." --now ya know back in da 70s lotta ppl said "cat" referring 2 as "person". I thought it wuz koo.

Prince IMO knows 2day's slang & 70s slang he mixes'em both well. He seems he talks more 70s when he's maybe bein' interviewed & talk 2day's lite ver. slang in his songs. It might seem a bit lame 2 ya cuz he 45 & doin' that but ya know P is koo like that.

KeLo07 said:

Stop writing in slang. A word or two is cool but damn. The shit looks ignorant. Point blank.

.
[This message was edited Sun May 9 16:34:32 2004 by SENSHY]

Ok so...yea, Im a young A.A. female myself and I cant recall hearing A.A. people turn on Prince. Now, Im not gonna say that they all love him like I do but Ive never heard anyone say anything like, "He's not black"...if anything, the A.A. people I know have said that he IS black and claim him fiercely...although they may think he's weird...gay has issues or whatever the case. The most Ive heard as far as him being viewed as a white artist is "He's mixed with Spanish" and they still view Hispanic people as being somewhat A.A. also! And not for nothing, the music Prince plays is heavily rooted in soul, whether it be in rock, dance, or pop...it had so much soul in it A.A's automatically assume Prince is the whole black and nothing but the black. LoL.

I think Prince has more non-black fans than blacks...although I may be mistaken...

SENSHY said:

I'm not writing I'm TYPING & I wuz explainin' what specific slang phrases mean. If u dun undastand it then DON'T READ WHAT I TYPE. It's as simple as that. I type/talk ne typa way I please U or NOBODY else tells me what 2 do. Othas have undastood what I mean. & I dun even talk/type h-core slang. & judge'n by yo response ur obvisiously old & a square.

Riiiiise rainbow chil'ren...RISE!!!

CherrieMoonKisses said:

Agreed. I think Prince's grown A.A. fans(da majority of'em) have always seen'im as bein' black. It's like on that Chappelle show episode when they did that famous person trade-off wit all them different nationalities. Ya know they traded Tiger Woods off..I think 2 white ppl & Wutang Clan wuz traded off 2 da Chinese or Japanese 1 of'em. I think if P wuz up on there 4 trade us Black folks would defintely wanna keep'im.

Of course...that's just tv,tho. Still he's always been black 2 me & always will be. & hispanic ppl are defintely viewed close 2 near black ppl(esp. Latinos). & likewise in music he always had sum soul in it no matta if it did have sum electric guitar in it. If not da beat then da lyrix.

namepeace said:

This is as close to my own opinion as I've seen in here. Lemme just relate my experience recently talking about Andre3000 with my cousin who identifies more with Nas, Mobb Deep and Jay Z. He likes "The Love Below" a lot, and always comments in jest, about how 'that brotha is just "Off". Or, " what happened to the 'regular' dude Dre was when they first came out?" My response usually is to ask what happens to rappers when they grow up? Most don't get the chance to artistically, but when they get a few albums under their belt, see what its like outside of their own 'block'... most start seeing themselves in different ways. So to me, Dre just decided to listen to his inner vibe more and not keep it squashed in his art.

As for my cousin, I would say he's more of a 'closet Prince fan'; asks me to send him copies of all my stuff, and will play it when no one's around, but would never cop to being a fan around his more thuggish friends...unless someone else did first, lol.

Anyway, I see more of this type of attitude towards Prince from the black folk I know, where there's a respect for what he does, but its usually not cool to come out and say "I LOVE Prince's music!" for fear of looking like a punk. Someone mentioned that his music is seen as feminine, which kind of gets at the real interesting issue (IMO), which is the sensuality expressed in the music AND the persona. When DigitalGardin says she/he knows black folk who associate him with whiteness, I think its more directed to his version of masculinity. He primps, is about fashion, and has been known to wear panties and ruffles in public, lol... things that black men DON'T DO (yes I'm generalizing, but with purpose). At the same time, (and I think this was lost in the flack over OutKast's introduction at the Hall of Fame) Prince's reputation and popularity with the ladies, give him an antidote. Brothers can claim to like Prince, and then defend it with 'cuz you know he gets the honeys!', give each other a pound, and preserve their cool.

Taken another way, think about all the comedians on BET's Comic View who do the "black people don't..." routines. Prince's persona falls way outside of what's considered Black Masculinity these days... always has, but since the popular brand of hip hop glorifies the anti-sensual, hyper-(hetero)sexual, Bia Bia.. ho, etc. limited concept of manhood, there's always a point at which an average young black man, who likes Prince's music, will think twice about admitting to it in full. White guys can wear tight leather pants, tease their hair, and wear lipstick and flirt with androgeny and be cool... not "us".

That's just how things are, and it has to be dealt with on an individual basis. Prince challenges that little box we've built for ourselves, without a doubt....if you haven't seen a brother try to tiptoe around his regard for Prince, maybe you should pay closer attention to people NOT in line at PRince . Anyway... I guess I got carried away, lol... but Andre's success is making it easier for Prince to speak to young black males, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

JumpUpOnThe1 said:

J-U-O-T-1 did an excellent job in fleshing out what I was talking at earlier!

PurpleCharm said:

THANK U SO MUCH 4 SAYING THAT!....I FEEL YOU BIG TIME!...YOU CAN'T JUDGE A PERSON'S RACE BASED ON THEIR FEATURES.

I personally never really thought of him being "black" or "white" etc.

(I almost wrote "I personally never really thought of him having a gender" )

I just didn't look at it that way. I just liked his music. Screw his ethnic group! :p (I also know no real fans of his here, well other than my English teacher ... But she's cool. I borrowed her Emancipation CD(s) )

overcast said:

sorry, but being Back is not an ethnic group.

avatarfunk said:

You're welcome...Just speak speaking the truth...

DigitalGardin said:

... and i'm a white female and i have to tell you (all) that Prince doesn't have 2 be treated like a black artist or like a white one. He's a human being, a genius and he have 2 be treated, understood, and listened to , like a HUMAN

POOK said:

no, WHITE GAY

bluelight said:

That sounds nice and all, but Prince isn't the only one that should be treated just like a human, every person on this earth should, but we know that ain't happening. Prince is not above anyone else in this world.

PurpleCharm said:

We are talking about PRINCE, here, am i right?

Q: How is Prince viewed among blacks?

A: From above.

.

JumpUpOnThe1 said:

u made some good points

prince has always been respected

4 his artistry, in the black community

yet, his sexuality has been a double edged sword

sisters love his sensuality while many brothers

don't understand it and let that get in the way

of their appreciation of his music

it must baffle most guys 2 see prince

draw some of the most exoticaly beautiful

women in the world

This is very true about Black Men. I remember when everybody was screaming for Luther and buying his records, then there was rumor about his sexuality. Alot of brother backed away quickly, and were very vocal about it.

On another thread, cant remember which one, someone said they were tired of Prince pandering to r&b radio. Can you believe, looks like there are definately some people who are in denial about Prince being a black man.

avatarfunk said:

AVATAR - I COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER, BABE!!!! THAT SHOWS YOU THAT EVEN IN 2004, BLACK PEOPLE'S AESTETICS' ARE STILL NOT RESPECTED NOR SCRUTINIZED CORRECTLY, LET ALONE THEIR CULTURE!!! THAT'S JUST PLAIN IGNORANCE AND STUPIDITY!!!

mkdagrizzley said:

Say It Sister!!!!

DigitalGardin said:

I haven't heard anyone call him white, but a lot of black people, for some reason, has a problem with him playing guitar. It's just ignorance. They can't get past the programming.

OK Kiddo's, I am late on this subject and will admit I have not read everyone's post, but I must respond.

I have been black a little over 30 years, was raised in a all black environment in the South, and have loved Prince since Soft and Wet. From my very limited experience of that, I HAVE NEVER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE HEARD ANY BLACK PEOPLE REFER TO PRINCE AS A WHITE ARTIST. I am not trying to take anything away from what others here have experienced, but that has been FAR from my experience and trust me, I have experienced a lot of black people in different parts of the country. What I do remember is some of the brothas possibly questioning Prince's sexuality but would eventually come around because of a great song Prince would release on the radio. But black peoople refering to him as "white" is something I have never experienced.

The whole concept is somewhat foreign to me. In the 80's during the Purple Rain day's all of my friends loved Let's Go Crazy. If I'm not mistaken, that song was a hit on the R&B Charts, if not number 1 at one time. During that time I went to a practically all black school, there were 3 non blacks in the ENTIRE school, and a lot of the kids were big fans of Culture Club, The Eurythmics, Madonna, Duran Duran, Metallica, etc., and all of my friends enjoyed good music.

I do understand about the possible thing about the electric guitar, but even with that, I don't think black people are given enough credit with enjoying different types of music. I think most black people (and people in general) have that "odd" or "different" streak. Prince represented something in the black community that was "different", which a lot of black people related to because of the streak in all of us. Almost like a sense of "yes, there are black people that are different from the black main stream in what we are suppose to like, and Prince proudly represents that for me", attitude. But the thing is, there are more black people that are "different" than what we think. You may not have been able to find many black people at a Guns N Roses, or Kiss, or Elton John , or Wham, concert, but I'll bet you can find TONS that can recite lyrics to some of their songs.

The title of this thread is "How is Prince viewed among blacks", well this is what VelvetJ thinks:

Today IMO, to the black community (as far as black men), Prince is like a big brother who is a knowlegable expert on Love and Women, that says what a lot of men would like to say but don't have the courage or words to say. The beautiful company Prince has kept over the years, I think, has nullified any "uncomfortableness" the brothas would have with his appearance. Brotha's know what Prince is about and is cool with it.

IMO Black women see Prince as a Sexy neighbor with whom they've had a secret relationship with over the years, while maintaining relationships with their spouse or loved one. Almost like a unavailable secret lover who knows how to push the right buttons. He's that story book romantic, he's that passionate caring love maker, he's that Freak in bed that women sometimes want, he's that secure man that makes a woman's dreams come true. He's that master teacher of all things Love, that black women know black men need to learn from. Basically, Prince is the Man.

There is a unique type of love that Prince gets from Black people that I think he picks up on. I think that's why there are certain selections of songs that the black community as a whole, relate to and love, that maybe mainstream doesn't quite get. Black people LOVE Prince no matter what and I think he know's that like he has never known it before.