We should have seen it coming. There were signs in the times.
Years before there were cyber-chat rooms, for for that matter, before there was even an internet, the artist formerly known as Prince talkedin computer lingo — writing songs with titles such as I Would Die 4 U and U got the Look
All this time “The Artist” as is is now acceptable to call him, was just a computer geek in need of a forum.
He has found it in cyberspace, where “The Artist” is marketing his next CD and from where he does interviews such as the one he gave in advance of his first ever Utah concert date.
“This is the Jam of the Year.... everyone needs a dose 4 history’s sake,” he wrote in an interview conducted via fax and e-mail. “These dates r booked based upon being at the right place at the right time. The people present r the ones that r supposed 2 b there.
When we last saw “The Artist”, he had changed his name from Prince Rogers Nelson to an unpronounceable symbol and was appearing in public with the word “slave” written on his face. This was in protest of restrictions placed on him by Warner Bros., his record label since before the date of his breakthrough hit “Little Red Corvette.”
The company, he complained, would not release his albums as fast as he was producing them, “The Artist,”the company explained, was not devoting enough time and effort in each project.
In retaliation “The Artist” stopped recording and the company was forced to deal with his backlog of unreleased works. This resulted in the albums “The Hits/The B-Sides” and the little heard “Black Album,” which was bootlegged for years before it was officially released in 1994.
All this meant little to the music listening public, except that the flag bearer of funk was rarely heard from during the years when rap and grunge reigned.
The Artists tour of duty in the recording industry ended in 1996 when the embattled “Artist” and Warner Bros. parted ways.
He celebrates by releasing “Emancipation,” a three CD collection of all new material on the EMI record label. Then EMI closed down and he was truly on his own.
Life in cyberspace is good. He writes that it has brought him closer to his fans.
“Those in New Power Generation,” as he has dubbed his loyal following, “r leaders,” he wrote.
He does not read fan mail. “Fan is short 4 fanatic,” he said. “I’m more interested in the seeker. Not the followers.”
But he does accept orders for his next CD, “Crystal Ball,” snippets of which can be heard on his Web site www.love4oneanother.com.
“‘Crystal Ball,’ the album of previously bootlegged material, was demanded by (The New Power Generation) and I complied,” he said. When he receives 100,000 orders via e-mail and a toll-free hot-line that he has established, “The Artist” will distribute the album himself. The tally of orders so far, according to the latest update on the Web totals 84,000.
Asked how he arrived at the sales price of $ 50 for the four CD collection he said, “U’ll find out.”
In the meantime he is devoting his time to his love4oneanother philanthropic organization and supporting his wife, Matye Garcia (whom he married Valentine’s Day 1996) with her New Power Generation Dance Company, which is set to debut “All Around the World in a Day” in Detroit later this month.
The couple still live in Minneapolis and “The Artist” does all of his work out of his Paisley Park recording studios.
Now that he is out from under the thumb of the record industry, he said that “God” is the only influence he takes into consideration when he begins a new project or tour
As he puts it, “A simple question like, ‘What’s the single?’ or ‘When will the video be out?’ influences the work. It;s unavoidable. Being free eliminates many obstacles creatively as well as financially.”
Some artists, particularly those just starting out, might need the hype machine of the record industry. To them he offers this advice: “Be a musician, a real musician. Not a sampler. Be a creator and a seller of creativity and 2 think own self b wild.”
As for the future, his main hope is “That mankind will wake up to that 1 common denominator that unites us all as the age old tie will cease and truth will reign.