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Founder |
Remember in the days when Michael Jackson and Prince used to "compete" for being the "most talented man on the planet"? While they didn't do it openly, there seemed to be a bit of a rivalry between the two as to who had the best records and who was the coolest etc. Believe it or not, back in the early 80's I remember when Prince was "weirder" than Michael.
 All these years later, it's pretty clear who the winner is now. Prince made more money than any other music artist in America last year and has an absolutely beautiful wife on his arm. And Michael . . . Here's a link to a pic of Prince and wife at the Oscars. http://www.imdb.com/features/rto/2005/gallery/oscar05-redcarpet/131 
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A1 |
You ain't lyin'!  Micheal went from 'he', to 'she', to "it"! He is a *&%@! mess! P.S. Who did you like better back in the day? Egungun, Egungun ni t'aiye ati jo! Ancestos, Ancestors come to earth and dance! "I'm sick of the war and the civilization that created it. Let's look to our dreams, and the magical; to the creations of the so-called primitive peoples for new inspirations." - Jaques Vache and Andre Breton "Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone." -John Maynard "You know that in our country there were even matriarchal societies where women were the most important element. On the Bijagos islands they had queens. They were not queens because they were the daughters of kings. They had queens succeeding queens. The religious leaders were women too..." -- Amilcar Cabral, Return to the Source, 1973    |
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Founder |
Well, it was hard not to be in love with Mike back during the Thriller days - OA were you even born then!  PS - I added a link to a pic of Prince and his wife at the Oscars in the original post. What a stark contrast w/ good 'ole MJ.  |
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A1 |
Mike was my pick too. Thanks for the link. I've never seen Prince's 'newest' wife until now. She is pretty...But so is he! Is she the lady from Canada I heard he built a cstle like home for? And yes, I remember Thriller MBM!...lol...I actually still know the entire "Beat it" dance routine from the music video by heart! I even remember the "Off the Wall" LP when Micheal looked normal..I wasn't allowed to touch any records or the record player at that age so when they were brought out I would study the labels as my Dad held them... I have the strange ability to retain early childhood memories of music. But my father used to be a musician so that's probably why. Who do you like more now? Prince or Mike?...not judging looks...just music... Egungun, Egungun ni t'aiye ati jo! Ancestos, Ancestors come to earth and dance! "I'm sick of the war and the civilization that created it. Let's look to our dreams, and the magical; to the creations of the so-called primitive peoples for new inspirations." - Jaques Vache and Andre Breton "Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone." -John Maynard "You know that in our country there were even matriarchal societies where women were the most important element. On the Bijagos islands they had queens. They were not queens because they were the daughters of kings. They had queens succeeding queens. The religious leaders were women too..." -- Amilcar Cabral, Return to the Source, 1973 |
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A1 |
I used that same pic of MJ in an e-mail joke yesterday to some friends, in which I had him in a photo lineup with Jason, Freddy Krueger & the guy in the "Scream" mask.
What a got dam waste. Before I got heavily into music, Thriller was out & everybody was into the phenomenon, so it was hard not to like it. But by high school, Prince was all-that, and MJ was already starting to become a joke to me. The hair-on-fire thing, the elephant man thing, and all the plastic surgeries were kicking in back then. Prince was weird, but his music was edgy & creative, & it worked for me. BTW, I wish I could've seen MJ in concert. That's the true test of talent, & that would've been the best way to compare them. because last year, Prince... tore... the... roof... off... of Madison Square Garden. So for me, it's no contest. Prince is King. ____________________________________________________ |
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Black Ceasar |
Chris Rock said it best last year in his HBO Special Never Scared.
"Remember back in the 80s when we used to wonder who was better [between Michael and Prince]?...Prince won!" I remember someone on the defunct africana.com had an article between Prince and Michael Jackson and someone said you could tell which girls were Michael fans and those who were Prince fans. If you were a dad in the 80s and your daughter had a MJ poster, you weren't upset. But if she had a Prince, you'd be very concerned...if she wasn't sexually active, she would be very soon.  "There are two things that are infinite, human stupidity and the universe...and I'm not too sure about the universe." --Albert Einstein |
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A1 |
Poor Mike
 THAT TYPE OF HONESTY IS BELOW MY PAYGRADE. |
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Bad Mother Fucker |
IMO, Price is the more talented artist - on his first couple of albums he played ALL of the instruments. I don't think Mike can/could've do(ne) that.
Peace, AudioGuy ************************************************* "I am African, not because I was born in Africa; but because Africa was born in me" -Anonymous "The cost of Liberty is less than the cost of repression." -W.E.B. DuBois, John Brown 1909 "... can you imagine Doobie in yo' funk??!!" -G. Clinton Sense is far from COMMON! ... The tragic irony here is that a lot of African Americans may not fully recognize the implications of this decision for years to come. Stop by any barbershop, barbeque or church basement in Black America and you will hear – with distressing frequency – that old canard that "integration" ruined the Black community. William Jelani Cobb ************************************************* |
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Founder |
OK - I'll start some stuff to keep this discussion going. Prince may have been more talented in the sense that he can play a number of instruments, but IMHO, Mike's vocals and dancing/performance are so far superior to Prince that the ultimate experience blows Prince away. Who cares that Prince plays more than one instrument? We consume the music and the performance in total - and in those categories, Mike is miles and miles ahead of Prince. It ain't even close. I saw the Purple Rain concert as well as Mike around the same time. The Prince show was fantastic. He is a great performer - absolutely. BUT - he don't come close to Mike in his prime. Back in the day, Mike was incredible - better than anyone else on the planet.  Thoughts? |
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B5 |
You have got to be kidding MBM ! Prince' LOVESEXY tour tore everything Mike did to shreads. I admit to being prejudiced though. Prince does not do shows he does experiences. Only James Brown is funkier. As a performer MJ in his prime was a good Pop artist while Prince is an artist period. To compare the two is not fair to MJ he will never be what Prince is. The cat has arrived, rats disappear. Yoruba proverb. |
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Bad Mother Fucker |
I'm sorry... I thought that the initial question was about TALENT... My bad.  Peace, AudioGuy ************************************************* "I am African, not because I was born in Africa; but because Africa was born in me" -Anonymous "The cost of Liberty is less than the cost of repression." -W.E.B. DuBois, John Brown 1909 "... can you imagine Doobie in yo' funk??!!" -G. Clinton Sense is far from COMMON! ... The tragic irony here is that a lot of African Americans may not fully recognize the implications of this decision for years to come. Stop by any barbershop, barbeque or church basement in Black America and you will hear – with distressing frequency – that old canard that "integration" ruined the Black community. William Jelani Cobb ************************************************* |
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Founder |
You know - there's a reason that we're talking about Prince and MJ as opposed to MBM and AudioGuy. It's called TALENT.  You infer that Jackson's music, singing, and performances are somehow not related to talent? Mr. AudioGuy - OFF THE PIPE!!!  |
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Bad Mother Fucker |
No, it's called marketing. Either one of us could be touted as the next famous whatever - all it takes is marketing (and a whole lot of it!!!  )
Singing and dancing are indicators of talent???!!! Would you say that Beyonce is more talented that say, Quincy Jones? Would you say Hammer or Vanilla Ice are more talented than RUN-DMC? Milli Vanilli more so than Babyface? All because of their performance ability?? Maybe you should define what you see as talent - and we will start over. Peace, AudioGuy ************************************************* "I am African, not because I was born in Africa; but because Africa was born in me" -Anonymous "The cost of Liberty is less than the cost of repression." -W.E.B. DuBois, John Brown 1909 "... can you imagine Doobie in yo' funk??!!" -G. Clinton Sense is far from COMMON! ... The tragic irony here is that a lot of African Americans may not fully recognize the implications of this decision for years to come. Stop by any barbershop, barbeque or church basement in Black America and you will hear – with distressing frequency – that old canard that "integration" ruined the Black community. William Jelani Cobb ************************************************* |
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A1 |
Not only was Michael talented but he was also extremely gifted. That's undeniable. You can convince yourself, but you can't convince the millions of fans that Michael still has.
THAT TYPE OF HONESTY IS BELOW MY PAYGRADE. |
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Founder |
AG! Can YOU dance like Hammer? Can you even sing like him?  Of course singing and dancing are examples of talents. Being a producer is but another type of talent.
You're trying to compare apples and oranges, but I would say that Q is a more talented producer than Beyonce is a singer/dancer. On the other hand, I would say that Michael Jackson was a more talented performer than Q is a producer. I would say that the other MJ - Jordan - was a more talented basketball player than Q is a producer. I would say that Paul Robeson was a more talented person than Q is a producer. There are lots of talents that people have. I think in this thread we were comparing Michael and Prince to each other, somewhat holistically, as artists/performers. Sure Prince may be able to play more instruments. At the end of the day though, I'm not sure that matters all that much. People are buying the whole package and IMO the most important variables are the vocals and over-all performance - closely followed by the music. Let's take Mike's little sister, as an example. Janet CAN'T sing, but because she's FOINE and puts on a great show, she has been a very entertaining performer. The entire package is entertaining. When I was drooling at her in concert here about 10 years ago - I could care less that she was probably lip syncing and in reality had no voice. The experience of her show was great. Prince is definitely a smarter guy. He definitely has better judgment than Mike. He is saner than Mike. He can probably write "better" lyrics. He can probably play more instruments and play them better than Mike. But IMHO, in their prime, Mike was a better performer (although I'm sure Prince could probably let Mike have it in concert today.)
In a word, "HELL NO". But, while Hammer was a more talented dancer - the total package of Run-DMC - IMHO - put on a better show!
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Bad Mother Fucker |
Can I now dance like Hammer used to? No. Did I used to be able to? Yes. In fact, I was in a rap group as a DJ/Dancer - back in MY heyday. We performed @ the Apollo and everything (not on the TV show - just wed night am. night) Obviously, my employment as a sound engineer has jaded my opinion - I have a very different view of what talent is. When you can write, produce, play all the instruments, record all the instruments in your own studio, establish yourself as a premier artist with hit records, and then back it up with your performance... in my book that makes much more talented than just about anybody else out. But as I said, I am jaded. Just as an aside... Jacko had the bulk of his success as a solo artist with two albums - "Off The Wall" & "Thriller"... who was the producer of both?? Quincy Jones!! Just maybe Q is a more talented producer than MJ is an artist... Food for thought.
Peace, AudioGuy ************************************************* "I am African, not because I was born in Africa; but because Africa was born in me" -Anonymous "The cost of Liberty is less than the cost of repression." -W.E.B. DuBois, John Brown 1909 "... can you imagine Doobie in yo' funk??!!" -G. Clinton Sense is far from COMMON! ... The tragic irony here is that a lot of African Americans may not fully recognize the implications of this decision for years to come. Stop by any barbershop, barbeque or church basement in Black America and you will hear – with distressing frequency – that old canard that "integration" ruined the Black community. William Jelani Cobb ************************************************* |
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Founder |
Ah, so . . . Jay Z is the most talented man in hip hop? |
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Founder |
BTW - who is more talented, Prince or Stevie Wonder?
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Bad Mother Fucker |
JayZ does not play any instruments, doesn't produce his own music... he only writes his own lyrics - much like MJ.  Stevie, he did the same as Prince on his early albums(played all instr's)... except he is blind!  Peace, AudioGuy ************************************************* "I am African, not because I was born in Africa; but because Africa was born in me" -Anonymous "The cost of Liberty is less than the cost of repression." -W.E.B. DuBois, John Brown 1909 "... can you imagine Doobie in yo' funk??!!" -G. Clinton Sense is far from COMMON! ... The tragic irony here is that a lot of African Americans may not fully recognize the implications of this decision for years to come. Stop by any barbershop, barbeque or church basement in Black America and you will hear – with distressing frequency – that old canard that "integration" ruined the Black community. William Jelani Cobb ************************************************* |
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Founder |
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