>>hip-hop in general had a negative effect on P, first in his
>>inability to acknowledge it & then later with his ham-fisted
>>attempts at incorporating it into his sound.
>
>
>First, I have to say again, I'm a Run DMC STAN....I worship
>those dudes...And...You are correct in that Prince did not
>want to respect the hip-hop artform...And while Run DMC's
>cultural impact was mammoth and at times beyond imagination,
>it didn't have as big of an effect on Prince as did gangsta
>rap (and New Jack Swing)...I'll explain further down.....
>
>
>>So Run-DMC would have to be somewhat in that mix even though
>>they were always huge fans of Prince themselves.
>
>Actually not really....When Run DMC were killing it with their
>biggest commercial triumph in 86, Prince was still a
>superstar...He was still having huge singles ("Kiss" and the
>like), touring and his music was getting played on stations
>across the globe and MTV....He was good...Not Purple Rain
>good...But good....
>
I'm saying by being the group most responsible for ushering in hip-hop to the masses in the mid-to-early 80s, they indirectly had an effect long-term through their own influence.

>
>>However I look at Run-DMC's wardrobe/style signalling not
>the
>>end for P so much as a stripped-down/simplified reaction to
>>the bedazzled look/style of early groups like Grandmaster
>>Flash & The Furious Five, etc.
>>
>>A more utilitarian/everyman 'neighborhood' look that could
>be
>>emulated by anybody.
>
>In my opinion, Prince's steady commercial downfall was bought
>on by two factors...His own reluctance to play the game (you
>know, releasing albums every year...Not staying with the
>Purple Rain sound ect...)
>
>However, early gangsta rap HURT Prince big time....
>
>Think about it...in 1987, Prince was still a superstar artist
>coming off the success of Sign O The Time...He sold 2 to 3
>million albums; he had almost his entire album being played on
>pop, rock and R&B stations...He was being nominated for Album
>of the Year by the Grammy's....There was a reason why Sheila E
>was in Crush Groove, Bomb...He was still a big dog...
>
>But when 'Fuck The Police' came out, that was a HUGE blow to
>Prince...You see, Prince was known as an outlaw back then...He
>was the most dangerous man in pop music...The guy you didn't
>want your kids listening to (remember he kick started the
>PMRC)...If you were a parent, you didn't want your kids
>listening to Prince...He was gangsta rap before gangsta
>rap...
>
>But NWA? Those motherfuckers were truly scary...lol...Them
>niggas were NIGGAS....They took all the danger out of
>Prince...They made him look even more feminine, when before
>that was part of Prince's danger in the past...
>

But to me you could say the same for Public Enemy (less gangsta but their overt political bent was construed as anti-white/establishment) or any other group (BDP, etc) who'd been featured in the hysteria of mainstream coverage of rap music in the late 80's summed up by the Newsweek 'Rap Rage' cover.

By the time NWA was big, P had already kinda bricked with 'Lovesexy' & though Batdance was a hit that following summer it already seemed like Prince had sorta become the old guard.

>It got so bad that by the time Prince released Diamonds &
>Pearls, he was holding a GUN microphone in his hand and being
>backed up by wack ass rappers, a signal that he was indeed
>paying attention to the more street oriented hip-hop scene
>that was led by NWA, Ice T, and Cube...
>
Oh I agree, shit was a mess by then. But I don't chalk it up to any one particular group, more hip-hop as an overall movement/culture along with Prince just being insulated & out of touch by that point. Nobody can stay young & hip forever unless they die.

>Gangsta Rap + New Jack Swing= Prince's initial fall....
>
>But Run DMC lit the bomb.....
>
yeah, we basically agree on that.