Prince

Released: August 21, 1990

Featuring: Robin Power T.C. Ellis Tevin Campbell Mavis Staples

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Verse 1: Mavis Staples]
Don't pick my apples, don't pick my peaches
(we are the new power generation)
Leave my tree alone...leave it alone...leave it alone
(we are the new power generation)
Don't you look at me
(we are the new power generation)
If you're sad and you know it and you think you want to blow it
Let your feelings out, love is there

[Bridge]
Just go!
[T.C. Ellis]
Kid! Yo Kid!
I got to do this, I got the noise, I got to do this
[Prince]
So pump the big noise, come on in the house

[Verse 2: T.C. Ellis]
This here rap's about the true confession
If you listen close you about to learn a lesson
You must know failure before success
Now this is the failure I must confess (well)
I was hanging onto life trying deal with this
Playing the games, almost got dismissed
Cocaine was the thing that I took on
And nowhere was the place that I was going (preacher, cmon on)
I must tell the truth, I cannot lie
I was headed for the kill, steal, destroy, and die
Top to the bottom to bottom to top
Success is where I'm headed there is no doubt
Success is something that we all want
But the truth is what we need to reach our point
I had to give this message the so-called truth
I hope it's something in it that's there for you

(Love to the left of me, love to the right
Come on make a noise somebody
Party tonight [oh yeah!]
Love to the left of me, love to the right
Come on make a noise somebody
Party tonight [oh yeah!])

[Verse 3: T.C. Ellis]
Like I told ya before, I'm a tell you again
Success is something that's deep within
So remember the truth you can't go wrong
The flesh is weak and the spirit is strong
I know it to do this rap, and I know its right
Because I did it in the name of Jesus Christ
(come on somebody lets party tonight)
Party tonight! (oh yeah!)

[Outro: Robin Power]
You want me to what?? (shake!)
What? (shake! shake!)
Awww, right

The New Power Generation has just taken control

An American singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and actor that produced 22 RIAA-platinum albums during his 40-year career, Prince may be known for one of many different things – his turn as “The Kid” in the iconic film/album/8 ½ minute ballad “Purple Rain”, being the writer behind the acclaimed anthem “Kiss,” rivaling Michael Jackson at the pinnacle of his career, being the inspiration behind censorship laws, or being the artist addressed as an unpronounceable symbol throughout the 1990s—but while many know of Prince, most don’t fully understand the impact his legacy left on this world.

Going by many aliases throughout his life, Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 7, 1958 with his father’s (John L. Nelson) stage name as his own given one. Growing up, Prince suffered from serious epileptic seizures at a very young age, but he had wrote his first composition of many by age seven, and outside of his love for basketball, he wanted music to be his purpose in life. His tumultuous childhood, witnessing alcoholism and abuse, caused him to find refuge in neighbor André Cymone’s home in his teens, where the two competed in local band competitions, leading to Prince’s introduction to Morris Day alongside music with his cousin’s band 94 East, leading him to be courted by record labels and ultimately signed to Warner Bros. Records with complete creative control; at 19, his debut album, For You (1978) was released – Prince played all 19 instruments on the record.

Influenced by the likes of Miles Davis, Rick James, and James Brown, Prince desired to form a music dynasty and after the success of his next albums – the platinum-selling Prince (1979), the sexually-charged Dirty Mind (1980), and politically-motivated Controversy (1981) – he negotiated for the ability to form his own label and manage artists of his own. Prince’s trademark sexual/religious rhetoric within pop-and-dance, funk-rock sound gained him a following, but his opening slates for Rick James and The Rolling Stones were both negatively received and facing bankruptcy, the young artist began to reach for mainstream popularity. Cashing on the drug-influenced doomsday mania of the times, 1982’s 1999 easily achieved that mainstream appeal, landing him on MTV, music charts, and radio stations across the world.

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