This is one amazing find and one of the reasons I haven't ended my
subscription to 313. Rare and important.
MoJo more so than any of the performance djs (May,atkins,etc.) influenced my
musical taste beyond belief. To this day I have him to thank for introducing
me to 1. Kraftwerk, 2.Art of Noise, 3. Blonde 4. The Time (Get it Up and
777-9311,,not that Bird crap) 5. Funkadelic/Parliament and of course Prince
along side DETROIT Techno.
I had moved away from Flint by then but would come back to Detroit/Flint to
spend my summers and hear the most eclectic music out at that time from this
guy. I knew of his love for Prince but had no idea he actually got a chance
to interview him.
As for Prince himself. We'll he's my all-time favorite pop musician and
back in the day Detroit was his favorite place to BE. I remember another
interview where he actually said that he prefers to perform in Detroit than
anywhere in America. Even during his slow fade from popularity he would sell
out in Detroit where other cities had stopped supporting him. But once again
I had no idea that He knew of Mojo's support of him.
As for the movie thing, Well this interview seemed like it was even before
Under the Cherry Moon. So at the time, Purple Rain was his only movie. In
context, Mojo could say that he did great movies also. Side note, to me Sign
of the Times concert movie was even better, but I do agree that the others
were horrible.
As for Prince's uncanny appeal to Detroit,,
Well I have a story to tell that may sum it up. Let's see if any of you guys
remember this. In 1980 or maybe it was 1982 Prince performed a sort of
Battle concert against Rick James. I was way to young to go to a concert
like that but I remember my mom and all of her sisters , brothers and
cousins going but only to see Rick James. When they came back they were all
fans of prince. They were just amazed to see a guy play the piano, drums and
guitar in one show, play rock, funk and soul in one show and wear bikini
briefs and high-heels and a rain coat. Lol,,, He was the epitome of a black
musician doing WHAT they want to do despite what others think. He was
crowned the new funkster by them and the rest of Detroit WAY before the 1999
or purple rain ,mtv crowd embraced him.
I believe at that time Detroit loved that kind of f**k you, I'm bad and I'm
ME attitude amongst black stars. It's a sort of sign of independence that I
feel a lot of black people dreamed of especially in the 70's 80's.
Ja'Maul Redmond
PERKINS WILL
1100 South Tryon Street, Suite 300
Charlotte, North Carolina 28203
-Original Message-
From: Matthew MacQueen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 11:10 AM
To: Martin; 313@hyperreal.org
Subject: (313) RE: Mojo interviews Prince OT (1985)
Albums...check
Talented...check
From Detroit...check
nope, born and raised in Minneapolis. Though freakishly popular in the
motor city (how many consecutive sellout shows of the Purple Rain tour were
in Detroit? It was originally supposed to be FIVE but I think there were
even more shows added?)
Fantastic movies...no fcuking way, could this interviewer
get any further up Prince's anal corridor...Jesh...
this interviewer is the Electifyin Mojo so show let's show a little
respect tough guy ;) Only the man responsible namechecked by
Detrick/Kevin/Juan for fertilizing the birth of Detroit techno? But you
knew that.
Look at it context man, this was near the Zenith of his career at the time,
and when it came out in 1984 and he was at the top of his game, He had only
done one movie and it was hype. And you have to imagine the electricity in
the air in Detroit about this time, just following a Prince concert and
being on the airwaves over the whole city. He was the hottest act in the
country at this time! You better believe it was exciting.
I agree he's done some dumb stuff and bad music following his 80's
dominance, but you can't sh!t upon the interview from today's perspective.
Peace,
Matt MacQueen
