Prince

Released: April 30, 2001

Songwriter: Chuck D Prince

Producer: Prince

Once again I don't follow trends, they just follow me
Just like Israelitis thru the Red Sea
It might take U some time b4 U'll want 2 c
The Undisputed truth and get FREE
My level is now what U must learn 2 rise above
Talk 2 D'Angelo or better yet ?usetlove

Chorus:
How is it that a brutha always wanna keep another one back?
I'm 2 far right 2 get left goin' sideways, Jack
How is that a brutha always wanna keep another one back?
Never We mind what U do, in Moneyapolis - We da MACK!

5 little Indians tryin' 2 steal from my stack
A groove or 2 later, all the critics tell them what they lack
A bowl of them 'O's is like sugar, and no smack
How is it that a brutha always wanna keep another one back?

Chorus

And I... woke this morning 2 a drum roll - RATATAT
B4 I even got outta bed, I got another track
Who's that brushin' they teeth in the bathroom
Slender, fine and black?
Never she mind what U do, in Moneyapolis I'm the MACK

Chorus

4 every royalty point of urs I make a mill$advance
That's y in videos U never c me dance
Y should I, when minorities get half a chance?
In truth: U r 2 me, simply - my biggest fan

Chuck D.'s rhyme:
Come 1, come all 2 the download ball
There's no curfew 2 hurt U - No substitutions
School's now in session
Put down the Smith & Wessons
Real renegades don't invite grenades 2 make the grade
This is a brain raid - Who rise above the lies
Raise above these days
New ways disguised as a craze
Uh, gotcha back against the status they thrown at us
Back against the wall again - HIgh trees catch a lot of wind
Last band standin'
Gotta knack 4 overstandin'
Accordin' 2 plan and look up in the sky
No cable wire
God bless the child

Is that my song playing on the radio?
"It could b G, I can't remember, I wrote it in '84!"
Y'all keep groovin' - U know I got nothin' but love 4 sho
Take it - like Clarence said:
"I got a million of them -
And they're all different, U know."

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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