Prince

Welcome 2 America, welcome to the big show
Everybody's looking for something when there ain't no place to go
Except inside America is the only life I know
Transformation happens deep within: yes or no?

Welcome 2 America
Where you can get hired, fired (Come on in, sit right down)
Rehired and get a 7 hundred billion dollar tip (Into your pockets, yeah)
I ain't trying to be mean (Somebody's watching you)
Face to face contact now got a screen in between
Welcome 2 America

There's still a lot to learn about race relations
If your in the mood for drama
Between 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the election of Barack Obama
(Got an education of any situation)
Welcome 2 America

(Somebody's watching you)
Big Brother's in full effect
If you still get molested at the airport (It's up to me and you)
Just remember who you elected
Welcome 2 America

Watching you, watching me
Where the teachers tell you half of everything they know
Just to keep you not free
Now they want you to drink some tea (Who, me?)
Tell us the names of the past 7 Presidents before George Washington
Then we'll see
We about to make history
Welcome 2 America

Everybody ain't a star
I don't care what Sly said
(Really don't care who you are)
Ain't nobody on the cover of the Rolling Stone
And the biggest star is dead

Welcome 2 America, welcome to the big show (Waiting for Superman)
Everybody's looking for something when there ain't no place to go
Except inside America is the only life I know
Transformation happens deep within: yes or no?

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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Welcome 2 America

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Welcome 2 America