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— Tony Cross
Since his untimely death in the spring of 2016, Prince has been showered with arguably more love and good vibes than he ever enjoyed while he was still alive. As is normal when a giant in the pop world perishes, his music returned to radio and his albums returned to the charts. Many fans realised that they cared for him far more than they ever had known. We would've been even more overwhelmed by public grief had his passing not occurred in the same year as fellow stars David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and George Michael. (The fact that I'm quite sure there were other stars who died that year but can't recall who they were says all you need to know)
I have to say that hyperbole surrounding Prince's posthumous legacy has taken a backseat to how that public reacted (and continues to react) to Bowie's death just three months' earlier. Yes, there was a headline about the Purple One being the "greatest recording artist of all-time" but it was isolated. Revisionism has been kept to a minimum. That said, you don't hear much about how increasingly irrelevant he was becoming over the course of the nineties or that he was mired in something of a creative slump. Lovesexy had been a minor let down following the universally praised Sign O the Times. A year later Batman came out and suddenly its predecessor seemed a lot stronger. But at least people like me bought it. The same can't be said for Graffiti Bridge, the soundtrack to a film no one saw.
1991's Diamonds and Pearls took Prince back into the charts where he belonged but it was clear that he was no longer leading the way. New Jack swing had come about independent of him, even if it leaned heavily upon his influence. Hip hop, however, he didn't seem to have an answer for. What he did still have was a command of the studio and instincts for great pop. Which is how one of his finest works of the entire decade was one in which the spotlight was placed on someone else.
As a quirky British rapper who was respected though not as commercially successful as she probably ought to have been, Monie Love doesn't seem to be the sort who Prince would choose to work with. Then again, neither did The Bangles and who doesn't love the Prince-composed "Manic Monday"? Similarly, there's the late Sinead O'Connor whose rendition of "Nothing Compares 2 U" is simply one of the greatest singles ever released. Yet, these were both numbers written by Prince but produced by others and recorded in studios which weren't in Minnesota. "Born 2 B.R.E.E.D." is a full-on collaboration with the Artist Soon to Be Known as Prince in control.
At first, the Prince-influence is scarcely noticeable. It is only after discovering his involvement that his touches reveal themselves, namely the chugging guitar that had been a staple of his work throughout the eighties. While "Manic Monday" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" do sound like songs he could have recorded himself (probably because they were), "Born 2 B.R.E.E.D." could never have been released by anyone but Monie Love.
A while back, I did a two-part series exploring what it meant to be "Beatle-esque" and "Princian", via back-to-back Singles of the Fortnight from Prince disciples Wendy & Lisa and Cat. I didn't do a great job and they now read like I had some ideas but left them unfinished (not unlike much of what you'll find in this space). Hopefully, this post will address some of the unanswered questions. While Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman and Cat Glover were all members of his inner-circle and, thus, caught in the shadow of the great man, Monie Love previously had next to nothing to do with him, beyond, perhaps, liking his music when she was growing up in south London. True Princian traits of creativity, self-belief and stubborness are best found in those not in thrall to him.
Early nineties' hip hop was in something of a no win situation: it was a genre that seemed to be taken far too seriously or not seriously enough. You make hard-hitting rap music about life on the streets and that "message" that no one ever explains and it's far too earnest to make for an enjoyable listen; turn it into a joke and it can't possibly be taken seriously. The involvement of Prince was enough for everyone to take "Born 2 B.R.E.E.D." for what it was, a catchy and fun rap about making sure kids get educated or something. You might expect a motherly Monie to have lost more of her youthful spirit from earlier efforts such as "Grandpa's Party", "Monie in the Middle" and "It's a Shame" but she's still able to have a laugh while delivering a "message".
Sadly, Monie Love's recording career was pretty much finished by the time "Born 2 B.R.E.E.D." had wrapped up its modest four week stay on the Top 40 (even if the peak of number eighteen for a fortnight was fair enough). Though her presence in the US was minimal, she had relocated to the States by this point which probably didn't help her fortunes back in Britain. (It doesn't appear she made a Top of the Pops appearance in 1993 and there doesn't seem to have been much UK promotion done at all; it's actually a wonder this single managed to do as well as it did) On the other hand, having more of a footing in America likely made sense since hip hop allies De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest were all based there. In any case, she must love it over there since she now calls Atlanta home where she hosts a radio show. It's just too bad she didn't have more rap hits in her. I guess she should've give her pal Prince a call.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Jamiroquai: "We're Too Young to Die"
Jay Kay has a douchy name and he looked like a bit of a douche so his music must've been just the sort of thing for the douche bag in your life but that wasn't always the case. Those of us who only knew Stevie Wonder from "I Just Called to Say I Love You", "Ebony and Ivory", "Part-Time Lover" and his guest spot on The Cosby Show wouldn't necessarily have guessed that Kay was copying the great man's imperial period of the seventies actually thought he was pretty cool. Even if we were aware of the similarity, at least he wasn't aping Michael Jackson. Now that I'm older and I have Innervisions, Songs in the Key of Life and the rest I'm less impressed by Jamiroquai. I have a lot of time for middle class Brit-Funk but I'll take the warm, enthusiastic chops of Brand New Heavies instead. But like him not, that douche sure did a mean Stevie impersonation.
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