Prince

Released: March 31, 1987

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Intro]
Shut up already, damn!
Tell me who in this house know about the quake?
We do
I mean really, really
If you know how to rock say 'yeah'
Yeah
If you know how to party say 'oh yeah'
Oh yeah
But if you ain't hip to the rare house quake:
Shut up already, damn!

[Chorus]
Housequake
Everybody jump up and down
Housequake
There's a brand new groove going round
(Housequake)
In your funky town
(Housequake)
And the kick drum is the fault
You got to rock this mother, say
(Housequake)
We got to rock this mother, say
(Housequake)

[Verse 1]
We're going to show you what to do
You put your foot down on the two
You jump up on the one
Now you're having fun
You're doing the housequake
Yeah
Question:
Does anybody know about the quake?
(Yeah!)
Bullshit!
You can't get off until you make the house shake
Now everybody clap your hands
Come on
Let's jam y'all
Let's jam
Don't wait for your neighbour
Green eggs and ham

[Chorus]
Doing the housequake
There's a brand new groove going round
In your city, in your town: Housequake
And the kick drum is the fault
Housequake
(Housequake)
Housequake
You got to rock this mother
(You got to rock this mother)
Housequake, housequake
You got to rock this mother down
Come on
Housequake, housequake

[Verse 2]
Now that you got it, let's do the twist
A little bit harder than they did in '66
A little bit faster than they did in '67
Twist little sister and go to heaven
Come on you all, we got to jam
Before the police come
A groove this funky is on the run
Hey yeah!
Shake your body until your neighbours stare atcha!
Quake, quake, quake, quake, quake, quake

[Chorus]
Housequake
Everybody jump up and down
Housequake
There's a brand new groove going round
(Housequake)
In this city, in your funky town
And the saxophone is the fault
Check it out
If you can't rock steady
Shut up already, damn, you got to get off!
You know what I'm talking about?
On the one, you all say: housequake
Top of your body, let me hear you shout
Say, housequake
My lord
(Housequake)
My lord
(Housequake)
Bullshit
Louder, say it
(Housequake)
Shock-a-lock-a boom!
What was that? After shock!
Everybody, everybody
You got to rock, you got to rock
Come on

[Outro]
We're going to shake, we're going quake
Because we got the baddest groove that we could a make
We on the two, y'all
The drummer's gonna tap
We gonna see if we can rock this mother to the max
And that's a fact
Housequake
Come on say it
(Housequake)
Come on
You can't follow it
We got the baddest jam in the land
Everybody shut up, listen to the band
Housequake
Shut up already, damn

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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