ThreadBare said:

Prince operates by the beat of his own drummer. Which means most geniuses are not normal. He has his own unique way of doing things. That don't mean he is a liar and doesn't tell the truth....

ThreadBare said:

I rather him not talk then to just lie.

How Prince got into this discussion in the 1st place escapes me

When somebody speaks from their side of the neck(I.E. "Lets free the music" and then make a crusade against youtube for playing his music) then thats HARDLY "telling it like it is".

Vendetta1 said:

I rather not hear him talk,,,period there was a big reason why Prince boycotted interviews & stuck to performing instead, a GOOD one at that.

I don't always share his opinion, but I do appreciate his candor. What he said about Beyonce here made me want to pass a collection plate or something. And then they showed that clip of her singing to the Obamas, trying to look so earnest as she tucks her weave behind her ears. She bugs! When her time comes, I will not bat an eye!! I promise you that!

lastdecember said:

The problem with both is they're preaching to the choir. On so many topics, the people who really need to hear it are the ones who've made up their minds already not to listen.

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

meow85 said:

Yeah, the ones who really need to hear it usually end up leaving the show @ the middle of it, sometimes even earlier

Paul is no stranger to the easily offended crowd, in fact thats how he made his reputation; stepping on people's toes.
[Edited 1/11/10 3:02am]
[Edited 1/11/10 3:05am]

I LOVE Paul Mooney and his anger BUT the Taylor Swiftt thing was wrong and Kanye was a douche.
That is all

Harlepolis said:

I've been to a couple of Paul Mooney shows here and I've witnessed usually a whole row of white people leaving.

missfee said:

Classic Paul Mooney show

joseph8 said:

He's nice for a good laugh, but many of the things he preaches are wrong. His comparisons are off.

Are we really gonna compare Streisand with Etta James? Please. Streisand is the best selling female artist in America by far. She's also a 2-time academy award winner. One of the biggest female legends in film and THE biggest female legend in the recording industry. The closest black counterpart would probably be Aretha- but we all know Aretha never conquered the film industry. And she sounds (and looks) a hot mess these days. Babs does not. Diana is also up there. Even Donna. Whitney. Janet. Etta who? Psh. I don't care for Bouncy, but Etta didn't even write the damn song. She doesn't own or deserve a damn thing. They could have had their little daughter sing the song for all I care.

Also, about sticking- no, no, no. He's got it all wrong. The white folks will dump black stars when they fuck up. But black people "stick" with their own all day long. People "forget" what radio was supporting MJ when white folks wanted nothing to do with him. Black radio is the sole reason that Invincible managed to go double platinum- compare those numbers to Whitney, Mariah, and Madonna's flops- they couldn't even shift 700k! Did anyone let Usher replace him? Michael was already outselling Usher and Justin in 2008 just with his catalogue sales. Did Ciara replace Janet? Her last album has sold about 180k- the same amount that Janet's biggest flop sold in its first week. Did Keyshia replace Mary? Mary's new album- with no hit and virtually no radio support- is still outselling Keyshia's. We don't "sometime." The replacements come and go- they don't "stick." Black folks sticking is the reason why Mary J is about to have her 10th platinum album 20 years into her career. I don't see country singers from 1991 doing that, do you?

sleepyq said:

paisleypark4:**raises his hand half way through; then puts it down by the last sentence**

This guy is funny!

Harlepolis said:

Or protesting. Or book burning. Or writing the FCC....

sleepyq said:

It doesn't matter, thats her signature song, she made this a memorable a standard, had it not for her, we wouldn't remember this song, its about respect not ownership. And the comparision was to prove a POINT, it wasn't random, forget about the sales. If Susan Boyle or Taylor Swift sang a "portion" of The Way We Were, critics and audience alike would tell her "Thats very cute, now sit your ass down and listen to the original again". Did Babs write or OWN that song? OR Most of her hits for that matter? But she did induce her signature style to them, and if somebody decided to follow her footsteps or give her a tribute, people would NEVER let the artist thats following her forget who's the real deal.




Uh yeah! 3/4 of the country singers are legendary names in that field now, 3/4 of the R&B singers from 1991 are either on drugs(Jodici), in & out of bankruptcy courts or doing the chitlen circut thing,,,,the other 1/4 straight up died or got out of the business altoghether and "found the lord".

For Mary, Janet, Whitney and Mariah combined you got Beyonce and the younger flavor of the month called Rihanna to slay them. Mary is selling because she knows better than to release her album in the same week as Beyonce/Rihanna, same goes with the rest of those "seasoned divas".

But take somebody like U2 or Bruce Springsteen, they can release their album any DAY of the year against Justin Temberfake, John Mayor or anybody young & white and you can bet my rent money that U2 and Bruce will come at the top. Coincidence? I think not.

Play U2 to a young white person, they'll think this is cool, play Marvin Gaye or Sam Cooke to a young black person, your "old ass" will get cussed at and to add insult with injury, they'll say they'd rather listen to Lil'Creature,,,,or Lil'Wayne or whoeverthefuck the syrup monster call himself nowadays.

No, black people(not ALL of them) have shortage of memory. 55 years ago, Dinah Washington was the BEST selling R&B singer, now you might get a shock treatment if somebody black under 20(hell under 30) will tell you who Dinah Washington is,,,,but Elvis who was also a best seller in his field 55 years ago is known by the young & old. Coincidence? I think NOT.
[Edited 1/12/10 5:57am]

Harlepolis said:

So? Babs doesn't own her songs either. I'm saying anyone who compares Babs to Etta is not aware of STATUS. Commercial success and critical acclaim. Do you understand? Babs is THE female in the recording industry, point blank. Who is Etta? You think they would let Bouncy get up there and sing an Aretha song? Shit, even a Whitney song? Tina? Nope! WHO IS ETTA?! Understand that is has nothing to do with who I like or who I hate. Etta is not important to the mainstream audience, ok? Beyonce would NOT be able to get up there and sing an Aretha song, you best believe that. But Etta? Nobody cares, sorry.



What are u on about? Those are flash in the pans. I mentioned the R&B legends from 1991- R Kelly and Mary J. Where's your country legends at? Garth Brooks and...



I'm sorry, but this is wrong. First of all, Beyonce is on top right now. Everyone will have their time in the sun. Its not new, and it has nothing to do with color. Didn't Janet and Whtieny come and blow Diana and Donna out of the way back in the late 80s? Madonna and Cyndi blew away Debbie Harry. There will always be someone younger and fresher outperforming veterans- at least for a while. Can we please take a look at how Carrie Underwood basically killed Faith Hill's career?



WRONG! Wrong, wrong, wrong. Coldplay's last album out sold U2's 3-fold. Springstein last 2 albmums combined didn't sell half of Timberlake's. John Mayer's latest album is flopping.



Who? You've got this all wrong, all wrong. Let me give u a piece of info right now- Michael- memba him? Yeah- look up the RIAA website, ok? Billy Joel and Elton John have both officially outsold him, alright? Well guess who was selling more albums in 2007 and 2008- BY FAR? Madonna sold the same amount of albums as MJ in America- he was otselling her 2 to 1 in the past 2 years before he died. Who is black and who is white? Its about status, not color. Legendary status. If you are the bigger legend, and have more hype surrounding your work, you are considered more important and you will sell more.


LOL, comparing Elvis to Dinah what? Elvis is the King of America. Even Michael doesn't come close to Elvis in the US, Dina who?

Why don't you compare Elvis to Ray Charles or James Brown? You think nobody knows them? Wouldn't that be more adequate? Etta to Babs and Elvis to Dinah Washington. Whoa.

Harlepolis said:

I have read 5 chapters and that's exactly what it is like so far. It should be a biography on Pryor. He sure loved that guy.

Cinnie said:

Yep, just like I thought.

As honest as Paul is, he's not open about his life,,,,which should be the case when you're releasing a tell-all book.

Harlepolis said:

So you didn't trust my opinion as far as you could throw it, huh?

JackieBlue said:

Oh I'll def be reading it(make no mistake) I purchased the book yesterday(via-amazon), I'm just not expecting a TELL ALL thats all(if so, then I'd expect an open discussion about his sexuality ).

But girl, you'd be skeptical about ALL tell-alls too if you read a book like "Aretha! From These Roots" expecting RAW confessions

Harlepolis said:

I actually put it down for a minute but I had it sitting right next to me when I saw your post and thought I'd throw in my It's real lite. He doesn't even really get into his marriages much. I think if he was going to talk about Richard as much, he should have just done two books. A true autiobiography and then something along the lines of Farrah and Me.

JackieBlue said:

Ya know?

Like I said, I'd read this for the sake of a laugh or a "Co-sign" moment but I'm not expecting to know anything more about the guy which I already know; nothing much

BlaqueKnight said:

I disagree with some of his points, but Paul is genius in socially contextualizing stuff. I think Beyonce was absolutely right for showing a certain grace to Taylor Swift, for example. (And Kanye was a jerk.) But not until now had I considered why Beyonce didn't show some proportionate respect to Etta James around her inaugural invite. Sometimes it takes irreverence like Mooney's to call things like that out.

Elsewhere, Mooney is crazy funny, but I take him with a grain of salt. I've seen him handle our own "legends" in ways a LOT worse than Beyonce. At one show I attended, he went on for a good 10 minutes making fun of Aretha and her "tittays, tittays, tittays!!" And he lambasts Oprah... though he'd cry blood if anything bad ever happened to her.

I also suspect Mooney secretly writhes from a lack of more recognition. He was instrumental in some of the most celebrated comedic ventures of the past 40 years, writing for Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, etc. But he's always played second fiddle and is widely unsung, which is why he can't go 5 minutes without name dropping Redd, Pryor, Tupac (more recently), etc.

I love Paul, but he's definitely got issues.
[Edited 1/12/10 11:01am]

sleepyq said:

Now do you feel the same way about someone else singing Bab's classical hits, even if she didn't write them? That was the point of Mooney's video. Having respect for legendary singers for their legendary hits not how many cds, records they've sold, oscars or academy awards received or who's the flavor of the year. That's why Etta was upset with Beyonce and the President for not singing at the inauguration. When it comes to honoring legendary singers, it appears to be a racial double standard. Even with your white folks dumping black stars statement confirms it. MJ happens to be respectfully an exception because his legendary status cross racial lines on the grandest scale, and he can rival Elvis Pressley. Career wise, oh yes they've tried to do him in with those allegations, but that's a different topic.

Lammastide said:

Yeah, Paul started out as a writer,,,,he's what you call a comedian's comedian, an acquired taste if you will. 3/4 of the comics started out from his school(most notabely Robin Williams and Sandra Bernhard).

As for the "mean" part Paul is an insult comic. He had my jaws open when he made that Holocaust joke from his DVD special "Jesus Was black",,,,its what he does, taking the audience off guard.

Harlepolis said:

What's interesting is, I can recall one Mooney show I attended where he was ALL OVER white folks... especially since they all seemed to have the best seats in the house, with all the black folk being farther back, some even having to stand. But none of the white fans left! Instead, it seemed to be some sort of endurance test for them. You could see their discomfort -- they were turning red, wiggling, making faces -- but they'd be damned if they were leaving that room.
[Edited 1/12/10 11:10am]