Urban Thought Collective

We’re dipping back into the 80’s well once more this week. This week, we put the spotlight squarely on one Prince Rogers Nelson. I realize that the Purple One’s oeuvre is too vast to encapsulate into one column, so I decided to stick to the pre-90’s. Now, there really isn’t a whole lot I can say about Mr. Paisley. You know him. You love him. Ladies marvel at his ability to dance in six inch heels without falling once. Fellas marvel at his ability to bag some of the hottest chicks this planet has ever known, even though he’s only 5’3” in those six inch heels. He’s just “That Dude.”

“I WANNA BE YOUR LOVER”
OK who has better hair, Prince or Katt Williams? I gotta go with Prince. He is coiffed like no man has ever been coiffed before…yes that sounds dirtier than I intended and no it wasn’t meant as a euphemism. This video is funny just due to the fact that Prince drops the pretense of his backing band actually playing on the album. Produced, Arranged, Composed and Performed by Prince means exactly what it says.

“RASBERRY BERET”
This song always makes me want raspberry sorbet. Sorry, I like food. It’s a problem. I’m working through it. Anyhoo, this track was very pop for Prince at the time. Apparently, he wrote it in ’82 but decided to rework for “Around The World In A Day.” I think it was a good move, as this has always been one of my favorite songs. No, not because it makes me hungry…well that’s not the whole reason.

“WHEN DOVES CRY”
“Can you my darling? Can you picture?” Purple Rain was a bit of a juggernaut. During the summer of ’84, if a radio station went 20 minutes without playing a song from the soundtrack, then a hummingbird died. The largest hummingbird population in the history of the US occurred in 1984. I’m serious. Look it up.

“ALPHABET STREET”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to…watch.” Look at the pumps, pimpin’. Just look at the pumps! The slightly homoerotic gaze into the camera. The chest hair. The “Oh my God is that penciled in” moustache. Seriously, what can I add to that?

“1999”
“If I gotta die, I’m gonna listen to my body tonight.” If you’re of a certain age, you know what music dubbing was like before “ripping and burning.” If you wanted a cassette (remember those) copy of an album(remember those) you had to go through a bit of an ordeal. You put the record on, hit record on the cassette deck, then you had to shut the Hell up because the mic that recorded the album would pick up all ambient sounds. You couldn’t get up from the bed, walk across the room, belch, or sniff. It was archaic, but a pretty cool ritual in retrospect. 1999 was the first album I ever dubbed…well my cousin dubbed it for me, but you get the point.

Diallo Tyson is a filmmaker, comedian and old school music junkie. When he’s not busy, he is a rapper with the group “Two Pimps and a Dream.” Step into a groovin’ time machine every week on UTC.