Publication: Sister 2 Sister [US]
Date: January 1997
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Page Number(s):
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Title: "Prince's Emancipation"
Interviewed By: Jamie Foster Brown

It's Saturday afternoon. I'm sitting in my bed about to write this story about Prince while watching Debra Winger and John Travolta in a crazy movie about riding a mechanical bronco. The theme song is "Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places." I'm thinking, "Boy, they have their arms, their legs, they can think, move and act. God bless 'em!

Why am I tripping? I just read the news about Prince and Mayte's prematurely born (October 16), cerebrally-damaged son. He was born with an incurable disease called "cloverleaf skull sundrome." Just a few days before I read this article, I found out that Mayte had been put in the hospital due to pregnancy complications. I feel the pain of this couple who were so looking forward to having their baby.

I'd just seen Prince in Minneapolis about three weeks before I read about the baby. Mayte had to have been in the hospital already when I was there. But there we were -- several press and radio guests and I were flown up to Minneapolis by Dave Rosas of EMI Records to eat, chat and be treated to a private performance by the artist formerly known as Prince. EMI had just signed Prince to a manufactuing and distribution deal for Prince's own record label, New Power Generation.

Prince owns New Power. He's so happy about that. He says he is emancipated from Warner Bros. Records. So Dave, who is a sweetie pie, was excited about having Prince to promote -- especially with all those good songs on his 36 cut, 3 hour long, just under $30 CD called Emancipation.

That night, Prince talked his butt off. He was in good sprirts. There was no sign that his baby was sick or his wife hospitalized. The nanny (whose name is Nanny, believe it or not) and Mayte's personal assistant, Arlene, were at the Paisley Park complex while I was there. They're sisters from Puerto Rico. I was so happy for Prince that night. Who knew?!

Before we got to Paisley Park, there was lots of chatter and excitement from the press group I came with. Prince intended to give us a mini-concert that night. And he did. It was splendid. He showed us some never-before-seen performance moves. EMI's President Davitt Sigerson and I were so moved, we danced our butts off.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We were met at the airport by Daria Langford, EMI's Chris Barry, and Dave Rosas' assistant Stephanie. Dave and his team are responsible for the success of D'Angelo. Daria is a marketing consultant to the Black music division. She comes with lots of juice, having been VP of Promotion for Mercury Records and later the VP of marketing for LaFace Records.

The EMI staff was gracious and warm. We were all treated to a special, catered dinner in the hotel, then shuttled to Paisley Park. No cameras. No tape recorders. What the hell was I doing there, then? Folks were complaining that nobody will believe we were actually there, since weee couldn't take pictures!

The EMI people poked out their chests saying that Prince had recorded songs not just about sex, but about romance. Surprisingly, his first single was a cover of the Stylistics' "Betcha By Golly Wow." He has there other covers, including Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me." Chante' Moore sang background on "La La La (Means I Love You)," which is an old Delfonics song. Prince loves Chante' and wants to work with her again.

EMI Sr. VP Frances Pennington told me that Prince had sampled his unborn child's heartbeat for his single, "Sex In The Summer." If you look carefully on the CD cover, you'll also see Mayte's pregnant stomach with musical notes dancing on it. The fourth coverv he did is from Joan Osborne's "One of Us." Why so many covers? Prince said, "I grew up with lots of songs like "Betcha By Golly" and I wanted to give back to those writers. I want to give back to writers than wait six months to pay people. We get a writer, as soon as the money comes, he gets his money."

Paisley Park had been totally redecorated since I was there about eight years ago. Prince's longtime friend Steve Parker -- who paint's Prince's album covers, T-shirts and other stuff -- decorated it. It's warm and colorful with carpeting printed with astrology symbols. The hall leading to the performance area is lined with huge posters of Prince from the time he was a musical pup.

So, here we were all gathered in the performance area. Prince pranced in like Pepe Le'Peu -- unannounced. He took the mike, excusing himself because he was hoarse. The word "slave" had been erased from his face. That was a requirement his lawyer made if Prince wanted the lawyer to work with him.

Prince said he doesn't own the name "Prince" anymore. He said "Prince was out doing rope-a-dope in 1994. That's when my troubles began." When we asked him what to call him, or what his employees call him, he said "Just call me a friend that would be straight with you. My friends don't call me anything -- not 'boss' or anything. They just talk. That title of 'Artist formerly known as Prince' -- that was put up on us by the press. People would hold the symbol upside down, sideways...." When we asked if he would be offended if he were called "Prince" by the press, he said "My skin is so thick now. I'm not offended. Freedom is a beautiful thing."

Prince was in such a good mood that he said he would do station ID's for us radio people. He invited us to call him at Paisley Park and gave us the number. Whoa! We were blown away.

He said he was drawn to EMI because the Beatles came out on [Capitol]/EMI. He felt that the Beatles got a fair shake with EMI.

Prince said he's asked other music bigwigs when they're going give Jimi Hendryx's family their due. He said, "They all say, 'Yeah, yeah,' but it's a problem area. I've been talking to D'Angelo [he's also on EMI] about doing something together. His and my children should make the lion's share of the money we generate." Prince went on to say that "I'm a sevret being [like we didn't know that] and I don't eat or sleep much."

Although Prince is telling the world that he's emancipated because his recording contract ended, he said that he really doesn't have hard feelings agains Warner Bros., his former record label. "Warner Bros. helped me build this studio in 1984-85. I've been in here pretty much ever since. But, some days, I feel like calling them and saying, 'I love you, man.' I'm happy to have gone through it [his experiences with Warner Bros.]. You all were part of my experience. I have no regrets about leaving. But listen," he continued, "I've done 20-odd albums and there were all kinds of peaks and valleys. I know where I fit in. I'm the most cofident person I know. I'm not about negativity. With Tupac's death, hopefully there will be a shift from that. I want a chance to talk to Biggie and Snoop -- maybe have them rap on top of my music. The Fugees have that advantage."

We asked him why he stayed up in Minneapolis. He said, "It's so cold, all the bad people stay away." He also added, "Being married has put more focus on my life and music." Prince said, "Morris [Day] comes over occasionally. We're still cool. Morris does not want to have a boss -- like any man."

After that, Prince said he wanted to treat us to a concert, but his bass player had left. We had to wait an hour or so before they even located her.

And that was that. Prince's mouth closed tighter than a virgin's "hmmm." If you tried to talk to him after he had put down the mike, no go.

Just days (November 1) after I left Paisley Park, I talked with Prince's lawyer, Londell, who is a handsome 30-year-old African American. Prince had already left for a three-day press junket in Japan. Londell doesn't say much. He's a cautious one, you know. But he did say that Prince has a lot of love songs to his wife on the album. I thought Prince lived in Paisley Park, but Londell said he lives up the street from Paisley. Londell and I talked:

Jamie: Why did Prince come to work with you?

Londell: He met me when he was switching from a Los Angeles councsel to a New York-based counsel and he was interviewing different lawyers. At the time, he wanted to get out of the Warner Bros. situation and the issue of possible litigation became something he wanted to pursue. There's no more reputable entertainment litigation comapany than ours [Gold Farrell Marks]. We represented Billy Joel when he sued his manager and his accountant; Eddie Murphy in all his lawsuits; and the Beatles. We also represent [basketball Olympian] Lisa Leslie, rapper YoYo; and filed bankruptcy for singer Miss Jones, who's now on Motown Records. I was also the associate producer on Spike Lee's Get on the Bus soundtrack.

Jamie: I heard that EMI was looking for a buyer and tat the reason they put Prince on the label was that they had to have a big name so the company would be more valuable.

Londell: I don't think so. EMI just bought Virgin Records -- you know, Janet Jackson. They have Garth Brooks. They internationally distribute Metallica.

Jamie: How does the deal work between EMI and Prince?

Londell: I negotiated certain parts of what does and does not get paid. We are responsible for certain aspects of the deal. EMI is more involved with the manufacturing and distribution.

Jamie: What kind of father do you think Prince will be?

Londell: A great one. Prince talks a lot about what life would be like when the baby is in the world, and what he hopes the world will be like. Prince and I talk a lot. We have a very kind of brotherly relationship. Right now, he's taking a step at being more accessible so that he can communicate his message.

Someone asked me if it was because he was trying to sell records. I said, "Come on! Give me a break! Sell records?!!" I mean the man is on a mission and he has always had depth through just his music, and now since he feels as though he's not enslaved, he can articulate his message as well as have his music speak.

Jamie: What the heck is Prince's message?

Londell: His message is that we have to find truth and stop taking advantage of people by not telling the truth and not doing good. And you can't be about truth if you are restricting people and incarcerating their ability to be free. And being free means free of all restrictions, so that people can do the best that they can do. I just kind of summarized it, but after conversations and conversations [with him], that really is it. He feels his freedom is as an artist, and that he should not be told by the executives who don't know the art what he should and shouldn't do.

Jamie: But does he understand the business?

Londell: Well, this will be a test in truth. He's a very sophisticated type of guy. He's very intelligent and I was able to at least confirm with him that if he had the opportunity to share his feelings with the public, they would respect him more and learn to appreciate him because he's a very smart and articulate man.

Jamie: You know what's interesting is that in the beginning he was bringing along so many artists -- Vanity and Appolonia. Does he ever talk about that?

Londell: He still does that. Recently he was doing a lot of work with George Clinton and Mavis Staples. You know, he says to me, "These people are national treasures. We should take care of them." So in his way....Many people used to knock him saying, "Come on, man, they're not going to make it, man." And he says, "It's not only about hit records, it's about national treasures."

Jamie: What do you love about him? Do you love him?

Londell: Yeah. You know why? Because we are totally different -- like night and day.

Jamie: How's that?

Londell: Come on, now. I"m the most regular nigga you gonna meet. I'm from the ghetto. He's from the ghetto, but I"m from the street and just happen to wear suits when I work. I'm more of a B-boy, urban, straight type of laywer guy. You know, I'm understated, more of an average type guy. He's eccentric. What I love about him is that he's a fighter and a risk taker and he puts it on the line and he never accapts staus quo.

Jamie: When you go and eat with him, does he eat? Does Prince eat? He says he doesn't eat.

Londell: He eats. He's a vegetarian. Yeah, he's got me on Tofu. I told him if I could afford Tofu every night like he does, I would never eat no meat.

Jamie: Is Tofu expensive? Is it good?

Londell: What?! The way this man has it cooked, he has it cooked! He's got chefs.

Jamie: Is he in love?

Londell: He's in love with his wife.

Jamie: They said that she was perfiect for him.

Londell: He is in love with her, I mean this guy, he loves people and he loves women, but he's to the point where he doesn't talk about any other woman. When people ask him about all that sexy stuff, he looks at his ring. You know, like I said, he's a risk taker and he lives by taking certain types of risks and pushing the limit. If he was only just a status quo tupe of guy and letting everyone make up his mind for him, he may not have ever given me an opportunity. They said no lawyer could get him out of the deal. He had five other lawyers trying to get him out of the deal who had more experience than I had years on earth.

Jamie: What was the deal?. Okay, was the deal like this? Well Prince, I paid you all this money and you owe me three more albums because we gave you a lot of money up front. What happened? What did you do?

Londell: It's nebulous because it's in the spirit of confidentiality and I would like to at point help other people become free. Whenever you want a mutual type settlement, you have to give and get something and what I can say without violating the spirit of what we're doing is that I think I was able to convince Warner Bros. that at some point they could not render value to their shareholders by forcing this particular artist to go against his will. And likewise, I was able to convince the artist that freedome is not free.

Jamie: Why did Prince want out of the deal?

Londell: Prince wanted to own his own Masters [of his music], and no one has ever accomplished that -- not Michael Jackson, not Madonna -- no one really has their own masters. The alternative is co-ownership [with the music company].

Jamie: They said he was giving Warner Bros. trash [music] -- just some things that he pulled out of the corner of the room -- and that he wasn't going to put his heart into it, and that's what people felt.

Londell: People felt that?

Jamie: Didn't he give them his albums from the last couple of years?

Londell: Yeah, he did. And he would have had to give them three more if we didn't get out of this deal.

Jamie: What albums? What were his last two that he gave them?

Londell: The last one was Chaos and Disorder

Jamie: How did that do?

Londell: Not too good. And the one before that was The Gold Experience and that was a good album.

Jamie: You like Mayte?

Londell: I love her. She's real cool.

Jamie: When is the baby due?

Londell: It was originally supposed to be in early November.

Jamie: Why was she hospitalized?

Londell: I believe it had something to do with her pregnancey and when you have money like Prince you can afford to keep a person hospitalized for weeks at a time.

Jamie: They say Mayte is to dance what Prince is to music.

Londell: She has a beautiful presence. It's not fabricated. It's just natural.

It's Saturday. I've been invited back to see Prince on the big day that he drops his first single from the album, Emancipation. There will be another mini-Prince concert Tuesday morning.

I don't know what I'm feeling about this. Prince was told by the doctor in Mayte's fourth month that something was wrong with the baby and that she would need a cesarean. But Prince wanted to have the aby at home with a midwife for privacy and no photos. I'm sure Mayte needs her hubby with her. I want him and Mayte to stay brave and strong. Because after that baby news, I feel like I've been "rode hard and put up wet." I've always been like this: I feel other people's pain too much.