5 Things Prince Taught Me

I was re-watching Arsenio Hall last week, the one with Prince for the million time. I was in such a daze watching him. It was good to see the old funk genius back in his old ways. I think we all tend to forget how great of a guitar player he is. To get an interview with the purple majesty is very rare. I can only dream of the day when I could be blessed to chat music with him. He was so candid with Arsenio. I realized that we are a lot like. He talked about how he’s always rearranging music in his head and that he hears it differently. I loved when he was asked what he would do if he wasn’t Prince. He responded with, “When I was 16, I was completly broke and needed to go get a job. So I got the yellowpages out and I couldn’t find one thing that I wanted to do. So i decided I was going to push as hard as I could to be a musician and win at it.” That hit home with me.

Prince has taught me so much over my 21 years of life. I talk about him a lot, because I’m afraid that the world might forget about him. Side Note, it’s been 30 years since Purple Rain was released. So, here is 5 things that he has taught me.

5.) Don’t care about money. Put everything into your art. Prince barely broke even in his 1989 tour. He put everything into his art to make sure that his song told the same story live, as they did on the record. Did I mention that every single night was sold out?

4.) Even though love hurts, show them that it doesn’t. Prince can make a song about how horrible somebody treated you, sound like a postive upbeat song. He kept his relationships pretty low key, and you never really knew who he was dating. When he finally spoke out about it, he blinded you with the rad drum beats, silky smooth guitar, and outrageous vocals, to hide the fact that he was hurt. Example, ‘How come you don’t call me anymore’, ‘Gotta broken heart’, ‘Why you wanna treat me so bad’. Prince clearly understands love, and is constantly reminding us to lay low.

3.) Protect your art. You may joke, laugh, and cry over Prince’s protection laws, but when you’re as gifted as that man, you should! His copyright laws are very lengthy and written out in detial. Proof that you should protect your art. Don’t let record labels, agents, corporate, or fans walk all over you.

2.) You don’t have to play a song the same way twice. I don’t think there was ever a time when Prince played a song the same way twice. Musicians today get into this groove where they basically just go through the motions. The legend was constatly moving, singing, performing, playing differently! Just look at the way he is performing his classic hits today, they don’t even sound the same anymore. Always re-invent yourself, and never go through the motions.

1.) Do things on your own time. Prince has always been the master of this, just look at the gap in-between his current records. He’s a perfectionist, and only puts out music when he feels it’s right. He’s not trying to top the last, but just trying to make good, long lasting tunes. The man of all things purple knows how to make everything he does timeless. All of his stuff is still revelant today! In the next 30 years, who can we say that about?

Man, I just want to get inside his head!

xx

Gabbie