New Prince - "PFUnk"
The capitalized "FU"'s important in Prince's new diss track, "PFUnk." Remember last week when the Purple one was suing fan sites for using his likeness? Well, those PFans banded together as "Prince Fans United," claiming First Amendment rights. Looks like they won't go down for good without a good fight, which is obviously pissing off His Royal Badness. As of now, it's unclear if Prince will continue with the legal proceedings. Actually, looks like he's spending more time sucking helium in the studio than preparing his case. You can hear the new P-Funk-style (duh) track over at Prince Fams United. Pun duly noted.
You'd also do well to note some of the better lines: "There you have it world, that is passing away" (whaa?), "I love all y'all, but don't you ever mess with me no more," "The only reason you say my name is to get your fifteen seconds of fame, nobody's even sure what you do," and "The best remedy for a basket full of lies is funk." Just like mom used to say. At one point he riffs on about digital music disappearing in a day ... was he somehow behind the OiNK bust? In any case, ridiculousness aside, the tune is pretty great, so hopefully it sticks around longer than a blink. If not, no worries ... it won't ruin our day.
Posted at 10:27 AM
Tags: Prince
Y u so mean 2 your fans Prince?! Good song though
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Shouldn't George Clinton sue Prince for using the name P-Funk? And hasn't Prince proven that digital music is still alive by distributing this song online? And if he bothered writing this song, didn't he let "it" ruin one of his days? But what do I know...
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@greg- that might be why it's so self-indulgent...so he didn't have to ruin a day. check out my bass noodlin, y'all.
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The track is off the chain! Awesome music fo sho' Thanks Prince
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Oh Prince, Prince, Mister Prince....
I do NOT get what the deal is with Prince. I read news about his further 'legal' ventures, open-mouthed with a complete sense of shock.
I've been a big fan and collector of Prince for many years now and have spent a lot of money in doing so. Does it not occur to Prince that it is such folk (ie: fans) who have actually kept him where he is today? Does that not register?
I understand Prince is so obsessive with his past and guided by his 'religious standpoints' that he feels the need to hide and edit certain areas of his past. Unfortunately, that's impossible, Mr Nelson. It doesn't work like that. Does he not understand the concept that, whilst you can erase an image, song or site online, with a host of burly lawyers (most with a deluded concept of reality) it is not possible to 'erase' these visions and memories from the minds of the people.
The public have grown up with Prince, they have seen every aspect of his career and his choices. Every day that he has lived, every song he has released and every tour he has embarked on have all been adding to the paint that fill his canvas and, unless you've been watching too many fantasy movies, these memories stay with people regardless of if he has every video, image or song removed from the Internet.
I understand copyright infringement and I understand an artist protecting their rights - that's totally understandable and every artist is within their rights to do this. But, Prince is not just aiming to do this, he is trying to 'edit' and remove traces of his past. That, my friends, is nothing short of impossible.
When it comes to youtube and such video-hosting sites, what is the relevance in removing videos from there? They are compressed, flash format, are difficult to download and as soon as they are enlarged they become pixelated so therefore they aren't of quality to be burned to DVD or even illegally shared for profit, hence Prince is not losing anything here. Sites like youtube play a MASSIVE part in promotion for artists, and in fact many artists have actually been 'discovered' through the medium of such sites. Does it not occur to Prince that a lady posting a video of her toddler dancing to 'Let's Go Crazy' or a fan doing karaoke to 'Gett Off' is not something bad? It's people CELEBRATING his work.
Whilst he may be ashamed or wary of certain areas of his past career it's very arrogant for him to assume that other people feel the same. For a lot of people those songs, those memories are very special and important. Somebody may remember getting married or engaged to 'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World', someone might relate to the lyrics in 'The Truth' and someone may remember the first time they won a dance trophy for their school talent show performance of 'Kiss'. It goes even deeper and I'm sure there are people whose lives have been deeply affected and even improved by the music of Prince and ALL people are doing is celebrating this and therefore thanking Prince for how his music has touched the world. Why on EARTH would he want to 'erase' that?
If someone is selling a bootleg of unreleased tracks or uploading torrents of his entire discography then, yes, get those lawyers and chase that jackass down but don't confuse piracy with celebration. Fans love the work of Prince, both past AND present. We all have our favourite moments, eras and albums and we all have our own personal memories and associated experiences from them and for Prince to begrudge fans of this after 30 years of spreading it all over the world, then it's extremely unfair and unjust, especially as we have been the ones supporting him the whole way.
Religion is a perception and everyone has a different view on it. No one person knows the answers and too many people become obsessed with it when ultimately they are going by what some brain-washing cult has stamped in to their heads, but it doesn't define 'fact' or 'reality' and to think Prince is censoring his music partly based on his religious views is also equally disturbing. He sang about sex, incest and the rebirth of the flesh many moons ago and that cannot be erased. It's art and people are celebrating it.
One day Prince will get to the point where he deletes any trace of himself from the lives of fans and I'm not saying the memories, as they will always be there. I'm saying that fans will eventually tire of this 'Censcorship' and 'Obsession' and will abandon any support of Prince in the future and then he really will be twiddling his thumbs at Paisley Park and wondering why there are no fan sites to bring down. It'll be because there are NO more.
Be Wild,
Ellectrika x
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