Sorry you are wrong about one thing. His parents were multigenerational mixed. The first black enslaved Africans were never light skinned by any measure. His parents were mixed race…just multigenerational mixed like Vanessa Williams parents. She had her sidestep test and is 44% white. Both of her parents were multigenerational mixed race. Same concept about Prince.
With all respect intended to Jouelzy Sports Actuary in the comment section of various channels was the first person to point out that Prince was a colorist. His choices worked a head job on dark skin woman. In my judgment I place him second on the colorism hall of shame. First place would be Oscar Micheaux. Michael Jackson, whom I otherwise liked, would be third on my list. Prince was supremely skilled but a piece of S. Guys with whom he grew up he stiffed for money. Who does that that is not down-and-out?
The last recent time I saw black people collectively praise dark skinned talent/ performers was during the Lauryn, India Arie, Missy, Foxy Brown Era ..haven't seen it since sadly
I want to add brandy in there too, especially since she was the only dark skin black girl that thrived in a pop space. Unfortunately she was negatively compared to someone more lighter who couldn’t compare vocally in no way. But I think it’s very sad that after Brandy…. Has there been any dark skin black woman that was mainstream? This is why I think girls like Normani have so much pressure, because even she is being negatively compared to chloe, again, like Monica someone more lighter skinned. I feel so bad for her…
@@Premonition_333 black people collectively praise ari Lennox and Normani though. Justine skye,tems, summer walker, etc there are many liked brown / dark skinned singers they’re just not super mainstream
@@Myaccount923 from what I’ve seen black people collectively trash normani and ari where you been? They get dragged all the time for their looks and career not being where it should. And ironically both of them got negatively compared to chloe Bailey, not just normani.
@@Premonition_333 I’m not on twitter and twitter doesn’t determine shit, if those are the draggings you’re referring to. I’ve yet to see Normani even from twitter be dragged for her looks, only ari. And there will always be haters
Yea…. I noticed lol but as a darker skinned girl I have learned that black people don’t want to ever address colorism they just label me as bitter. So I stopped talking about it.
I'm tired of people trying to gaslight Black women as if our eyes don't work, LOL! We can see and FEEL it when Black men don't love us in the way that we love them. We aren't delusional or bitter...if anything, we are just RIGHTFULLY tired of being put to the side.
all i can say is disappointed but not surprised. the entertainment industry always gives lighter skin women a leg up before they gave a darker skin woman a chance.
Why are we as black women sad the demonic, sexually deviant entertainment industry don't want to use us as pawns like everybody eles! It's run by white folks of course they want to use their own or a equivalent to represent them! Duh, they own it!
As a dark skinned GenXer who loved Prince and his music, I recognized he was a colorist in the 80s as a pre teen (especially after seeing Under the Cherry Moon). Honestly, this was the case of the vast majority of famous Black men at the time; most partnered with white, multi racial, or the lightest Black women. Purple Rain had ethnic looking Apollonia but Under the Cherry Moon had a tired looking white woman, who he died for! I learned real quick to not idol worship and just enjoy the gift the artist shares. I swoon sometimes but over the performance of the art not the artist.
I can't even watch UTCM because it is devoid of Black women. Prince seemed to always find Black men to include in his visual projects, but where were the Black women?!
Exactly. He died for that woman from the English patient. The older spicy white woman looked better than her. Even the side kick had a white woman. A mess. I still love that stupid movie because it was campy at hell. But I was like oh we ll moved on to just white women huh?
I'm so glad to see this comment. I stated similar awhile back. This despite hearing about this so called crush on Patrice Rushen and a poster of Chaka Khan upon his debut.
I’m a Gen Xer who experienced Prince’s rise in real time. I was and am a fan but yes, he was a colorist. I really peeped it by the late 80s but I personally didn’t have the language to vocalize it. I must say the 80s itself was a HIGHLY colorist time to grow up in as a dark skinned girl. The women whom Black America found attractive (Jayne Kennedy, Vanity, Lisa Bonet…etc) fit a specific look.
I find that weird. Self-hating blacks really ruled the 80’s. While in the 70’s, being darker and having a nappy Afro was the trend. Bad transition. I don’t get it....🤨
I I'm Gen X and I grew up with Prince in the USA but moved to The U.K and sadly don't see it that way at all now. He was promoting Multiculturalism and being inclusive. Prince didn't want to be put in a stereotypical box like every other black artist. His music wasn't like any other black artist and he pushed many boundaries that black audiences didn't always understand either. It's sad that Art and music always has to be politicized with identity politics. I have to disagree with you but glad we all still are connected with his music. 😀
I agree, I have always felt this way about Prince while still enjoying his music and how complex he was . As a dark skin little girl growing up and now full grown black woman, I never could crush on him nor did I bother to go crazy fan over him bc clearly he did not have an infinity towards my kind!
WTF.....You sound like a TROLL. Prince's idols and influences where 'BLACK' musicians and artists e.g James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Chaka Khan etc. Prince was very pride of his blackness.
I'm 56 years old so I'm familiar with how Prince moved in real time. I was a big fan of his music too. However, I noticed how Prince sometimes would play down his blackness. He even played biracial in the movie Purple Rain. His protegees for the most part were biracial, Latino, Asian or plan white. I still enjoy his music today but I sense that he had some self hate. RIP Prince Rogers Nelson.
He was plainly never into black or dark skinned women! So was Micheal Jackson! It is a big shame! But black people were his consumers where he had his big break before the mainstream media discovered him! Most black artists are not attracted to black and wants to be accepted by white Micheal Jackson in his last years , with all his allegations, black men and women were his defenders whilst the white community crucified him The same with Meghan markle! Black people are her die hard fans but Meghan friends were all white unless you are the Serena Williams or the Oprah Winfrey’s of the world, Meghan markle wouldn’t be your friend
Prince had his mother portrayed as Italian on Purple Rain. Both of his parents were black. His mother was a lightskin black woman and his father was light brown skin. He was not biracial. His admixture was there but just like the majority of AA ancestral.
@@kaysmith8787 I agree. When he first appeared on the scene as rising star, before Purple rain. He stated that he wanted to be viewed as a artist, not a black artist, that's why he wouldn't perform on shows like Soul train in he's early years.
I'll provide some perspective as a Black woman born and raised in super white Minneapolis, MN: the Black men ain't checking for Black women in MN. Point blank, period. Prince was a product of his environment and it's as basic and simple as that. There aren't a ton of us in Minneapolis and there isn't the same socioeconomic diversity among Black people in MN as there is in more racially-mixed metro areas. I made the decision to leave MN in large part because of what you point out with Prince - I wanted a range of dating options than just white men, because that was all I attracted. And now that I left, I will never return to that. It is what it is.
I had a friend who lived in Minneapolis with his father and he said he seen alot of biracial ppl there so that goes to show Prince was definitely a product of the environment I read back then Minneapolis was only like 20% black most of the blacks were living on the Northside I remember Morris Day said on a interview one time that Minneapolis didn't even have a black radio station lol
Somebody finally said it. While I enjoyed his music, he had a weird obsession with teen/young adult ambiguous girls. Danileigh isn’t talented at all I saw that interview and was very confused but it was evident. He made sure they were just at a legal age. None the less he was a timeless talent. I’ll still listen to his music.
@@aimaydarling Anna Fantastic said that she slept in the bed with Prince for months before they "finally" consummated the relationship on her 18th birthday. I know dating "standards" were different back then and this might've been acceptable, but IMO, this is grooming. He was in his 30's. 🥴
@@lynej2011 Grooming is when an adult uses manipulation to indoctrinate a child into normalizing a sexual relationship pretty much and it's disgusting.
I'm at the point where I actually despise the cult of celebrity bc it largely just attacks people who aren't overt or mindless fans of artists. If someone is considered an 'icon or genius' (which are such gendered terms, women entertainers are rarely called geniuses), then their "fans" will show up to call you a hater, miserable, liar, bitter, etc. if you have a single word of critique. And specifically annoying is how as a BW, you get called these names when you decide 'Eh, if someone is colorist or anti-Black, I don't really care too much about them. Nice talent sure but not for me .' I'm going to side eye anyone who gets mad at me for being uncomfortable or for not being an overt fan of someone they have a parasocial relationship with. Period. This was a great video.
YES. Once I learned the most popular women in music business right now was Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, it explained why their fanbase was mean spirited and anti-black. They are literally two light skin thin women that are overpraised and I had to revoke my parasocial relationship card with these two women and just appreciate their music from afar. Idc how much a “bad bItch” and empowerment figure they are put on a pedestal as. I am not worshipping ANYONE that doesn’t go out their way to worship me and I’m a dark skin plus size woman. So I know what I’m up against in this life.
@@dejstoney You used so many key words. Bad bitch (which is only a term afforded to certain people), worship, pedestal, overpraised.....it makes it so that even if i still enjoy Beyonce or Nicki Minaj music, I'm seen as a terrible person for not treating them as gods. I'm a sensitive person and I really resent being told that my casual enjoyment AND simultaneous critique of artists is equivalent to me being a bitter and miserable person or less Black.
As a older teen I absolutely loved Prince. I went to see him in concert, had all his albums and even wanted his music to be played at my funeral. But as I began to educate myself on black women's journeys through feminism, misogynoir etc. I fell deeply out of love with Prince. I read the article you mentioned and the pain washed over me, that I chose Prince but he would never chose me. His idea of feminine beauty was not me or my non-ambiguous black friends, who spent all our money on his albums, waited tables to buy tickets to see him live. We were no where in his heart or mind. My Prince albums are gathering dust under my son's wardrobe, what do you do when you are in a non reciprocal relationship? You cut your loses and move away with dignity. Thank goodness for Google. If I see a black male in the public eye, before I jump in to support him, I check out his politics, relationships and values. If I had Google and today's language, Prince would have received not one penny of my money and not a space in my heart. It was so normalised that white tanned women with long dark hair were the epitome of beauty and as a young girl I bought into too.
I'm the same as you. I don't understand why DSW buying Prince's music when the majority of he's songs weren't speaking to women that look like us. He was uplifting Biracial and WW and what made it worse was, he was making biracial women the face of blackness. I know waching he"s videos I felt invisible.
@@rockssolid2543 I'm not saying W, biracial or Asian people can't buy B Artists music. I'm Just saying that Prince was a BM and showing affection to every other group ofwomen but BW it looked odd . Look. he wasn't attracted to BW especially DSW. There no other group of Women W or Asian oh and by the way, Asian isn't a race, who would continue support a group of men that are uplifting every other group but there own. I'm pretty sure other groups of women would withdraw their support from that Artist Only BW are stupid enough to support a group of men that treat their women as if their invisible. Prince wasn't any different from the majority of BM who are colourist. And think that BW are dumb dumbs who will continue supporting them. Prince did an interview on BET in the late 90s, he said that he always felt that BP were always going to support him no matter what. Well theso days of BW support BM no matter what is ending, BW are beinging to know their self worth.
@@debbiedavid3151 i dont believe Prince is intentionally colorist bcoz he did feature dark skinned black women (for example in MV black sweat, u make my sun shine) and he actually dated all colours of women. knowing him, i think his preference goes toward light skinned but ambiguous women bcoz he himself is a light skin black man who but can be mistaken as another racial group. its kinda like you love who you are so you kinda pick someone beautiful that reflects that ambiguity in yourself. he dated nona gaye who was dark skinned but mostly the black women he went with are typically mixed girls. if you know prince, one of the intentions he had when he started writing his autobiography is that he wanted it to end racism once and for all, which is an impossible goal. he has used this 'ambiguity' to his advantage bcoz he wouldnt reach a wider audience otherwise. he was raised thru the 60s and 70s after all when black pride was empowering the ppl. He believes in his original core audience eventho sometimes he makes stuff that perplexed them. you can look back at his work and how he acts to see all this plain as day along with the way ppl keep coming back to him and showed him so much respect also says much of his character as a person. also i think the only person who was even remotely asian was miss judith hill who is a black and asian person who is dark skinned in general asian standards (trust me). the only good thing that came from his indiscriminate womanizing was that despite the mainstream image, he didnt just get with white or light skin ambiguous women.
@@raggedyhaggity250 I'm not disputing that Prince wasn't a talented musician. My point is, that, Prince came over very anti black to me. He was uplifting biracial women and the standard of beauty in black community. saying that these women are the face of blackness. His anbiguaus look he was trying to achieve, was in partly because he was relaxing he's hair, so it would give him a loser curl texture. He was light skin, but there are lot of light skin BP out there, I have them in my family as well. I have two Aunties who have natural red hair, and freckles, but there not call themselves biracial. Using skin tone, hair texture and eye colour is just another way of BP distancing themselves from their blackness. As for him dating and working with DSW. Prince was doing what most colourist BM do, which is to throw a few bread crumbs to DSW in the hopes that they would get happy and be quiet. Unfortunately it worked, due to DSW lack of self confidences. Yes you're correct Prince did date Nona Gaye and may of dated other DSW. However, DWS like None was seen as a bit on the side, he had no intentions of dating them publicly, proposing or marrying them. He's main squeezes were none BW. And yes you can argue that he had private relationships with none BW as well but, he went on to marry two none BW. I would have to disagree with you Judith Hill is not dark skin. and once more she's blasian. Oh and the music video for black sweat the DSW who was dancing came of very Jazebel like, that's another way colourist BM like to portray DSW in negative light.
Janelle Monae is the only person I can think of as a prince protege who is brown and non ambiguous looking. And Miguel is definitely someone who has taken on those fashion/love interest characteristics that echos Prince
That’s cause he knew he was about to kick the bucket.. Just like all the women towards the end he would hang out with darker models and singers..Black men always surround themselves with the “darkies”towards the end! Lol That’s why I can’t understand why darkskin women keep fighting to be apart of the black community..
@@dejstoney agreed. I definitely understand . But also his mom is the Black person… also Miguel has a brother who is an artist, Nonchalant Savant, and he leans more to non ambiguous Black women in his videos and real life love interest. In no way saying Miguel is as bad as Prince was, but he definitely has Prince’s influence
I always thought Prince was self obsessed. I never noticed his colorism until now, but I always thought the women in his videos looked like they could be Prince’s sibling. I still think, perhaps, Prince was a bit narcissistic and loved to see his own face more than he was a colorist. Of course, I could absolutely be wrong.
Interesting. I so disagree. Most of the women he pursued did NOT look like him. Prince is a lightskin black man with a perm. His facial features were black. He frequently referred to himself as not being black. His female equivalent phenotypically would have been Beyoncé. His protégés and love interests did not look like Beyoncé. They looked like very petite version of Kim Kardashian. He is the one that developed that template. Altho Beyonce does things to whiten herself and Kim does things to darken herself they still do not share a natural phenotype.
When I was a teenager in the 80s, my cousin said, “He never dates any black women.” That was the first time I noticed and I never really liked him after that.
Michael Jackson too…but by the time it was very obvious what he wanted (post Black or white) it was also obvious that someone on his team told him to start hiring black models in the music videos. That still didn’t change the fact that he never publicly dated a bw even for show. But name one black man in media who hasn’t done this…especially when they’ve touched a level that Prince and MJ reached…sad but it’s the truth
I realized that almost all or probably all of the bm artists, actors, celebrities, athletes, etc were and are colorist...I used to sit and wonder why I ever supported them, when the reality was that they never liked women that looked like me for horrible reasons...so, I stopped buying their music, watching their movies, etc...I haven't supported in years...I had to find my peace of mind with them!!!
This! I just can't support Black male artists anymore...they don't love us like we love them. Behind the scenes you learn that they don't even date Black women, LOL!
I am a HUGE fan of Prince AND Jouelzy is 100% correct! He didn't invent colorism but as a child growing up in the 80s and 90s, he created the blueprint of "modern day" colorism.
What is modern day colorism? It seems like a strange term. Why do we look for "identity politics" in artists when his music was inspired from legends like James Brown and George Clinton.
Modern day colorism 😭 You do know colorism means to have prejudice towards darker skin tones right? He’s never publicly done anything that warranted that kind of label. He definitely had his preferences no doubt but his protégés, back singers, video vixens etc were dark skinned women. The man even dated a few and wrote his hit “i wanna be your lover” about patrice rushen, a dark skin queen.
@@exquisite2185 Your right. He never went public about he's colourism, that's because he was smart, Prince moved silently. It was through he's actions I noticed he"s was colourist.
@@debbiedavid3151 You sound unhinged, he employed more black women in the 2000’s than any other male celebrity. Y’all love throwing labels around when it suits your narratives, stay bitter.
He was a colorist. I can recall an interview in which singer Alexander O'Neal said that Prince said he was too dark to join the group The Tymes with Morris Day.
Alexander O'Neal has his own preferences too, I bet. I wonder if Alexander himself thought that it's different standards with women because he was 🎶looking for a girl who's innocent🎵 and then some?
@Miss McQueen Jimmy & Terry tried to bri.g Alex in the group as lead. Prince told him he was too dark. Morris got the job. I remember that interview well.
It’s wild that for so long I thought Prince was mixed. I was introduced to Prince through Purple Rain and since it was supposed to be semi-autobiographical (at least that’s what I was told) I thought he was just a mixed light skinned black boy given his parents in the film and so his choice of romantic partner or muse made sense. But since he’s just Black it shifts my mind to how light skinned Black folk (especially back then) were anti-black towards darker skin and still are. Their complex about skin color mimicked whites and since he’s from an earlier time, I wonder if he learned that through his parents? I think Prince played into the mixed look. His clothes were a European style and he straightened his hair. Given his stature and skin tone, he could get away with that look while darker and more masculine or larger built men could not. All this played into the stereotypes about light skinned black men, being soft sensitive feminine and sexual even in a feminine way. So it worked in his favor It’s sad that all these women have to do is look the way they do and men like prince give them opportunities brown skinned women would have the skills to be qualified for. Unfortunately by the time he started uplifting artists like Janelle Monae and Lizzo, he was pass his prime. He may have been genuine about it I’m sure but much too late.
And let’s be real, both Janelle Monae and Lizzo have button little features, small noses and tiny lips. It’s not like he collaborated with chicks who looked like Nina Simone. Also, he infamously had a video directed by Dani “YELLOWBONE is what he want” Leigh
You've got to consider a few things: in the era Prince was coming up through the music industry, he was one of few who "crossed over" at the time. He specifically promoted people who were palatable to white audiences - Vanity, Apollonia, Morris Day, etc. Another thing to consider is his narcissism - yeah, I hate to say it but Prince seemed to prefer women who looked like him. Perhaps it was the Gemini in him that wanted a "feminine twin" around him I dunno. Professionally, however he supported and worked with a multitude of dark skinned women like Ashley Tamar, Shelby J., Liv Warfield, Nona Gaye (almost married her), Ledisi, Rosie Gaines, Boni Boyer, and more.
Finally, someone is talking about this. I luv Prince. But even as a small child, I noticed his preferences. I even dressed up as Apolonia for Halloween as a kid. I asked my stylist to make my hair like hers. She said, "baby, your hair is different and beautiful". He made a entire generation of girls want to look like something they're not. I also think he's the reason why black men have been so colorist since that time. Also, from my understanding, Spike Lee called him out on the colorism. That's when he pivoted around his Musicology era to add more black women to videos and collaborators.
I agree with and most light skinned people they want their kids to have good features like them I think it was part of his upbringing and u on side note u noticed none of the Jacksons married black women/men I believe Joe taught his kids about colorism I mean Michael even said Joe used to say to him "oh you too black to be my child" I mean that can have an affect on child I always said that the future of The Jacksons will no longer be black I mean not that it matters but if u think its gonna have a case of strange circumstances and the same goes for Lionel Richie and Diana Ross none of their grandchildren are black
@@sundiatasulyman3607 that is not the point…. See y’all will only ever address external issues like racism but our community seems to have an issue addressing our internal issues that is deep rooted white supremacy.. the dude was colors-truck just like alot of ppl in our community, and it’s so bad that down south in the 60s and 70s, there would be a blk southern belle contest which promoted discrimination against darker ppl.. during the Harlem renaissance, there were private blk parties and gatherings that wouldn’t allow darker skinned women in… and this same shit is prevalent today yet it seems like the blk community, especially blk men ignore it
Great video, Jouelzy. I only liked one full-length Prince album and additional singles. I always knew he was a colorist. ALWAYS‼️Ignore the delusional fans in the comments defending him and not fully watching the video. It’s good to critique celebrities, influencers, and politicians in a constructive way. Whether dead or alive. Just saying🤷🏾♂️…
Being from Minnesota and having my own child with someone from his family, parts of his family were/are colorist I think he grew up that way and Minnesota in general, even if you grew up in the historical black area of Saint Paul Rondo, you don’t have a choice but to be surrounded by the influence of whiteness. This isn’t an excuse just some extra context.
Oh wow, that's so interesting! My mom used to tell us Prince was her cousin (bc they looked so much alike). Now I tell people that! 😅 (In jest, she passed away and so it's a fun anecdote.) I'm certain it's hard to try and escape white-colonialism in MN.
I’m glad you and a few others are including that fact. We’ve been on social for so long now some people forget that proximity and lack of options are two of the main traits people bring up when speaking on how social “improved their lives” as far as expanding their knowledge. I’m sure he was a product of his environment perpetuating his desire to be seen in a high regard like whites were most likely seen as in Minnesota.
@@Twan1985 The oldest daughter Rebi married a black man as did Jermaine, who married a black woman who was Berry Gordy's daughter. Janet almost married Jermaine Dupree, but he was a cheater.
@Beach Life I think it was his refuge tbqh. There is a sorta privacy here, there are a lot of parks, forests, lakes, ect so there are celebrities from here who always keep a home here or still live here.
As a GenXer who loves Prince’s music, it was always obvious that he had a preference for light-skinned women. It never bothered me as a darker skinned woman because his preference had no impact on how I visualized my own beauty and attractiveness. I just assumed he preferred women who looked similar to him in skin tone.
This is one way "preference" becomes harmful. Uplifting women outside of the community who don't look like you has lasting effects. Now I can barely turn on a show without the only poc in the cast looking like they MAYBE have 1 half-Black great-grandparent. Like who you want (except children, like the person of the hour 🤢), but hire and support Black women. 🙄 Self-hating Black men are so embarrassing at this point. Idc who it is.
Then black man want to get on social media and complain about the NBA and NFL becoming biracial and biracial men taking over. When the majority of biracial men are created by black men now the upcoming Generation generation Alpha definitely going to change some things. When they say America is going to be mixed in 2015 no they're saying the black community will do the window and numbers by the year 2050 because majority of the black population will be mixed. I have no dog in this fight black man created this by uplifting other women
Now that wouldnt be far from the truth. I mean if you trace it back alot of black americans are generationally mixed or has a great grand grand parent that doesnt look like they are all the way black due to slavery. I am a very dark skinned complected black woman but my grandmother looked a quarter black and my great grandmother was native marican mostly but oyu neve rwould guess by looking at me even though I look like her buts that would be uncommon for black people anyway just saying.
I always knew he was colorist just didn't have the term for it. But the rest of my community routinely endorsed some form of antiblackness ( and other isms) in many areas of our music. Calling it out (Especially before it was trendy) you would be seen as a "hater" or overly sensitive. This frequently happens when you call out hypocrisy or any other inequity from those in ...power. Loved his music but I could tell in my early childhood that he had alot of unresolved issues and something was wrong. Welp....and so does many of our BLACK Icons have the same issues. Oh well.
If you woulda told him this in the 80’s he’d just be like the men of today and say “it’s a preference”. So there’s no winning. But I’m glad many DS women like u and me call it out.
@@dejstoney What’s the point of calling him out when he wasn’t one? A colorist means someone who is prejudice towards darker skin tones, he never once publicly expressed his disdain for dark skin women nor did he degrade any. He’s employed, mentored and exclusively dated dark skin women throughout his career, stop making up deranged narratives to fit your agenda.
I had to click the minute I saw the title because I think it’s time that the community acknowledged this and made peace with it because prince was 100% a Colorist and when he wasn’t being a colorist he was engaging in quite predatory behavior against young women amongst a slew of other problematic behaviors
It’s a blessing in disguise in a way because he treated those non black and mixed preferences like trash. I’m not saying it was right, because no women deserves that but I’m happy he didn’t put dark and brown skin womb through that. We go through enough that we do not deserve.
@@belindauo Don't know how old you are to remember these things. I'm sorry you can not accept this, but he truly was that way. Back in the '80s that's all you heard about him and you could plainly see it. His own father even protested him not having a black woman portraying his mother in Purple Rain. But as much as we hated it, we always supported him. That 1st wife of his even said he never had black people at their house. I remember thinking, all those love songs which were beautiful, weren't about us. He did a few videos featuring black women after some backlash, One in particular was demeaning and one where he used a real black prostitute as a sexual prop. I liked the songs, but not how the black women were presented. Black Sweat and 'Sunshine' with Angie, great songs, seemed forced by a lot of people. It was only later into the late '90's, early 2000's that he seemed to change, then he flooded his image with blackness and he appeared happier. We still loved and always supported him and his genius. RIP Prince.
Yes we all know Prince 🤴🏽was colorist. He also had a type. Even Sheena Easton and Morris Day fit the mold. (No I’m not implying he was dating Morris Day) Funnily enough I was really shocked that he was supporting Lizzo. That is what made me pay attention to her. I figured her talent had to be insane for him to go outside the mold. As a matter of fact he was part of the reason we grew up so colorist. We were already getting it at home, then we had television and movies reiterating the points. I mean I’m pushing 50 and it’s only been in the past few years I’ve been ok with getting a tan. We need vitamin D.
Prince had collaborated with heavier Black women before with people like Rosie Gaines during that Diamonds and Pearls era but Rosie was definitely a background singer in the music videos. I do think that his colorism mellowed a bit with age.
@@mrh2821 I wouldn’t say with age but with being enlightened, no Pun intended. People who worked with him always said he made sure when he needed someone for employment he always wanted someone Black. Every city they toured he had his people find worthy Black causes to donate to. Sometimes when you know better you do better.
@@cocoa105 Alex was only a consideration he was never apart of the group. Also morris day’s entire persona is just another version of prince, If you did any research you’d know that. Ask yourself why a dark skinned man would portray prince?
Recovering lifelong Prince fan here 🙋🏿♂️. You nailed this one sistah! You hit every point I've been saying for years...including his questionable 'mentoring' relationships with underage girls
Yes Prince and light skin women go hand and hand. He stepped out a little as he got older. I do remember the video for “ Black Sweat” had a dark skin model in it. The video was noticeably outside his norm as was the lyrics. Lenny Kravitz is also a Prince like figure and he had had a similar video for his song “Black Velveteen” that showed a black model which is outside his norm. Love that video and song.
In one of his speeches in his later years he said he in so many words he was not proud of the person he was back then. He also did a lot of things in private for bp, including paying for Treyvon Martin's funeral. I know he was also very close to Tamron Hall. He spoke on and very different things and moved very differently shortly before his death.
@@kaysmith8787 I think Prince tried to redeem himself in his later years, but at that point, the damage was already done. It's simply disheartening to look at some of his biggest career peaks and see the lack of Black women.
@@ruthviolette497 His intimate life appears to have largely been devoid of Black women and that will continue to be off-putting for many. Not to mention that a lot of his early and most popular visuals exclude Black women (yet include Black men)...that's when it would've mattered most to see a darker-,skinned BW. It's nice that he (eventually) worked with exceptional and iconic Black woman artists, but I don't think that's "the real issue" here. Black women (especially darker-skinned BW) can "see" that they were an afterthought and it's an important conversation to be had.
@@ruthviolette497 It's not that uncommon for famous Black men to date Black women when they're at the beginning of their career, and then go after lighter, multiracial, and non-Black women at the height of the career and beyond. Prince wasn't unique in this dating pattern...and I do agree that this may have also been a sign of the times. But that's also why it's important for this conversation to be had in the Black community again and again. Colorism was and is industry standard (and the standards were especially racist in the '80s), so if you can, just try to push against them. At the end of the day, if Prince "wanted" Black women to be included in (early) visuals, he probably would've fought for it like he did for everything else in his life. I do think he came to see this "pattern" later on, but again, the damage is done. And this is just the beginning of people pointing out his faults (people are starting to discuss the ages of the young women he dated). It's unfortunate, but Prince made his bed and he made his choices. Let's hope that young artists will learn from this and be more cognizant of what their legacy may end up "looking" like.
I'm a Baby Boomer and while I did enjoy some of Prince's music, I wasn't into his lifestyle or videos. Perhaps I subconsciously noticed and was repulsed by his choice to exclude Brown skinned women. I don't know. I do know that in light of this commentary, I am very comfortable with my choice back then. Colorism is hurtful and destructive. I've felt its cuts over the years both personally and in my own family.
The thing is too, he never liked himself and tried really hard to not be seen as black when he first came into the scene...he just started embracing his blackness a few years before he died...I ain't surprised he was a colorists...sad to say, you're right, most BM artists are colorists!!
@@tbcreloaded7529 ...you think so?...I know there are bw that are colorists...I haven't really gotten those vibes from any of the bw artists I follow...they probably do exist though!!!
@Mimi ...prince was not mixed race, both of his parents were black...what was jimi hendrix mixed with?...prince used what he looked like to get the crowd he wanted...when did he wear an afro?...did he wear it when he became big...no, he didn't!!!...he always claimed to be half Italian at the beginning of his career, cause he wasn't proud to be all black...you can say whatever excuses you want for him, but he knew exactly what he was doing...he was a self hater and tried to embrace his blackness near the end of his life!!!
@Mimi ...generational mixed?...isnt everybody...at the end of the day, both his parents were black...I actually like prince, but does not mean I don't see shit...when I first remember prince, I was a child, and he did not have an afro...do not ever remember habpving an afro until, like I said a few years before he dipped...I stand by what said!!!
Prince was biracial. One drop rule was a farce. And I can't tell the difference between Prince and a person with a black and white parent. He may have been colorist but he was racially ambiguous himself.
The “diamonds and Pearl” video really did it for me. I was young and noticed his taste in women and I myself am bi racial. I was like why is he idealizing these fair skinned women when the black woman, singing, made the song. Also Carmen Electra is no musical talent, but he put her on too. In his later years I think he tried to change wearing Afros and feature a dark skinned model because as a black man the industry did him wrong.
@Miss McQueen Yes he did have dark skin women in he's videos. But they were always in the background, they never played he's love interest. In black sweat the woman was playing the role of a Jazebel. Also towards the end of life, the reason why he he decided to go back natural, was because he had a biracial girlfriend at time back in 2011 and she encouraged him go natural, because she had an Afro.
@@debbiedavid3151 Yup, Andy Allo inspired him to wear an afro again. I also think the perms were taking a toll on his edges...they were starting to look raggedy and sparse, LMAO. Anyway, if Prince had just included Black women in his art, we wouldn't have to cherry pick the few times that he prominently featured a Black woman. Meanwhile, there's no debate that he loved white and multiracial women because they were ALWAYS included. Prince put this blemish on his own career.
@@missanamarie While i agree with this, it’s not his job as a lightskin man to portray anything he didn’t want to. Most of his protégé’s in the 2000’s were dark skinned women, he dated, employed and kept BW in high regards professionally. Not sure why y’all been running up and down this comment section trying to fit the narrative that he was “colorist”. The literal definition means someone who’s prejudice towards darker skin tones.. he’s never once degraded BW publicly, he’s not chris brown.
Thank you for talking about this! Prince is a legend and left a huge legacy...it only makes sense to acknowledge *who* he loved and *how* he seemed to love them would leave an enduring blueprint as well. I remember Questlove in his moving personal essay about Prince and his passing wrote "I studied his taste in women -- closely." Thank you so much for this video and for touching on the weirdness in the dynamic with him and Mayte too!
I’ve met a number of older Black women, of Prince’s generation, that have shared that they just couldn’t “get into” Prince. This video certainly has shown the extent to which colorism and his minimal representation of Black women has something to do with that.
Music is subjective at the end of the day, i doubt his preference in women had anything to do with that. Not sure why black women look to lightskin ambiguous men to represent them. It’s unhinged behaviour.
They likely couldn’t get with him because they thought he was gay just based off how he presented himself. Also, Depends on the region where those black women you’re speaking on are from.
@@exquisite2185 Black women have long found representation to be useful in the choices they make about music, entertainers, sports, television, and beyond - this was a thing then, as it is now. Representation is the why behind a multitude of artists success stories.
thank you for being here. you keep me striving to be a thinking human. thank you for what you have contributed and are contributing to our healing and processing of our traumas. thank you, sis.
I didn’t grow up in the era of Prince but I do remember watching Purple Rain re-runs on VH1. It was my first entry into the Prince fandom and it made me interested in listening to more of his music and watching his music videos. Through his music videos, I quickly recognized his “preference” (a word I use lightly bc when this word comes up in the topic of dating, people are actually describing a pre-requisite/requirement lol). It was a little off putting for me bc this is a musician so revered in the black community and his music video didn’t reflect his (black) fan base at all. Ofc he had the right to like what he liked but you have to call a spade and spade. It was colorism plain and simple!
True! I noticed that too growing up as a kid in the 80's and 90's: He had an obvious inclination to feature light, bright, ambiguous and straight up white women in 99% of his music videos. I only recall "Black Sweat" featuring a beautiful, dark-skinned Black woman and it's my FAVORITE video by him and guess what? That video came out in his later years after becoming a Jehovah's Witness. I did notice that unlike his other videos, he wasn't all over her--she was all over him! He didn't make an effort to touch her! That speaks volumes. Dark skinned, unambiguous Black women were not what he desired. I heard that back in the day before he really blew up, he had a crush on Patrice Rushen and she friend-zoned him. Maybe that's the reason? He got butt hurt? LOL but anyway, RIP to the legend.
@@kristineilochi4615 The model in that music video wasn’t supposed to touch him, there’s a story on youtube about that music video and the directors wanted to get his reaction to the model “groping” prince. That’s why he looks caught off guard and confused lol. I will say he definitely had his “preference” but colorist is a strong word considering he didn’t degrade nor show any prejudice towards darker skin tones.
Love Prince. Yes I noticed that all his love interest, muses were white , bright or very light skinned. I was disappointed as a fair skinned girl because I couldn't understand why non of his ladies looked like my beautiful dark skinned mother who adored.
Majority of the 80s and 90s were colorist....movies and definitely music videos. Dark dudes weren't getting any love with the prominent display of light skinned "pretty boys". Then people started sweating chocolate men but women were still dragged. I always appreciated Heavy D who made the song Black Coffee which celebrated darker skinned women. Great video. 😁😁
It's so funny how black men have been whining about that one decade when pretty boys who were typically brown or light brown were getting attention. But they have promoted lighter skinned women more in every decade.
, it was the decade of the debarges LOL that was in. and there was nothing we can do about it that's why I have no idea why people are complaining about prince, who's a multi-generational mixed man himself.
You were spot on, Sis!! I remember seeing my dark skinned peers falling so much for Prince back in the 80's. I would ALWAYS comment about Prince's love of lighter skin, and my sistas would be mad at me. They didn't want to hear it. I NEVER saw that CherryMoon movie. Honestly, after Purple Rain, and the love interests, I was over it! I can listen to Prince's first album with love from my childhood. Purple Rain was my high school years. I had to leave his music alone. Colorism is real. He was no question a colorist. Brilliant musician, yes. An AfroPunk brother and I recently spent quite a bit of time talking about Prince being a colorist. Loved this video.
I stopped being a fan of prince in the 11th grade. I'm over 50 now. 😂 I peeped the girls he 'put on' and none looked like me so 🤷🏾♀️. I saw him in the Beverly Center once with his body guard. The mall had just opened for the day so hardly no one was there yet. I noticed his big burly blonde haired bodyguard before I noticed prince because he was so short. When I did recognize him just as our paths would cross, he quickly and abruptly averted his eyes and stared straight ahead. Guess he thought I was going to scream and fan out. Uh, NOT. lol His weirdness and white/ light skin girl obsession had lost me as a fan long ago.
You must not be a fan of 98% of the industry considering majority of the male artists from the 50’s until the 90’s, did what prince did as well. He wasn’t the first and he certainly won’t be the last, not sure why his preference bothers you. A man who’s skin tone is in close proximity to whiteness shouldn’t be someone you look to represent you..
@@exquisite2185 I don't know about that. Most black men had unambiguous black women in their music videos between the 50s and 80s, even in the 90s. Sure some were light, but most were brown or dark/medium brown-skinned. Prince was the only artist who continually had light/white women as his love interests.
As a brown skin girl that looooo💜es Prince this was painful truth was not missed on me and did not go unnoticed. He did have a colorist perception toward his muses and that relationship with Mayte was highly problematic. 😩😭😩😢🥺💔
Jouelzy this was a fantastic video! I'm an Asian American casual fan of Prince and I never realized how intentional his choices were of female collaborators and paramours until now. I still love his music but this is a fine critique in how he aided and abetted in widespread colorism. Thanks for highlighting all this. Good research here as well.
LOL but his parents obviously got white in them. C'mon now. He's not black like Wesley Snipes, or James Brown, or even the Jacksons (who are medium brown).
Thank you Jouelzy for this courageous dive into an icon . I had not thought about him being a colorist - probably because I never looked at his as my personal sex symbol . I was a teen in the 90s and he still was marketed as an adult contemporary artist - however - when you lay it out like that it seems absolutely true when you combine his insistence on creating the visuals he wanted and these were the choices he made . It seems harsh to call him a colorist but it so worth further examining - thank you for willing to do so
He had a thing for Chaka Khan, when he was young, she was brown skin. But she was a star before him, I remember she said he got her number, pretended to be Sly Stone and lured her to the studio, he wanted to meet her before he got famous.
I once heard that Prince had a huge crush on the lovely, chocolate & extremely talented Patrice Rushen...but she wasn't checking for him. I always wondered if this were true & maybe his bitterness turned him a different direction. I still love his music & sad I never got to see him perform live.. Colorism or being "color struck" as it used to be known, is definitely a problem that prevails...I don't know if we'll ever shake it.
It's like we all knew the deal with Prince but at that time is was every where, most Black artist did this. Prince was also getting perms too. I think during the mainstream rise of Prince that was the aesthetic being pushed heavily, you could see it with The Jackson's as well.
Yes, I agree. I grew up in the eighties and as a dark skinned child I remember watching all of the top black pop artists, and I noticed none of their love interests looked like me. I believe these artists featured light skinned/white women so that they could easily cross over, and be accepted by white fans. This was also a trend in early hip hop. Also, before Prince there was Rick James, who if I remember correctly accused Prince of stealing his style and sound 🤷🏾♀️
@@bagewr None of them. Like I'm not saying he isn't a colorist....because I think he was....but it was YEARS where all the love interests in any video where there was any crossover appeal it was a non black or ambiguous woman. I mean even in early rap videos. I just thought Prince like white women.....or women who looked like him. Which is fine, but the whole only ever featuring them in his visual art was like......ok girl.
@@kaylabey Mj never publicly dated or married any black women. The entire jackson family is basically non black right now because most of the brothers had children with white/racially ambiguous women. Lol this video should really he about that colorist family.
@@bagewr There’s a video on youtube about rick james bandmates stating rick stole prince’s keyboard that he kept his music on. Rick recorded his album “street songs” and gave prince the keyboard back, with a note that read “thank you”. That nigga was a thief at it’s finest lol
I know I’m in the extreme minority but I’ve never been a huge fan of Michael Jackson/Prince because they’ve always given big self-hate/struggling with internalized anti-blackness energy. Now do they have everlasting bops. Yes, sure. But I’ve just never understood how my fellow Black women cried real true tears of love for these men who very clearly did not feel that way towards us 🤷🏽♀️
Naw sib, I feel the same way. People will argue til their graves that Michael didn’t bleach their skin and it was his illness buuuuuttttttt ummmm that nose??? What’s the explanation for that??
I’m a massive MJ and Prince stan and will continue to be for my rest of my life and I will million percent agree with your statement this is actually a very taboo discussion within the MJ fanbase especially when majority of MJ Stan’s are white and don’t get the understanding of the internalized anti blackness Michael had in his life especially in his childhood where he was the darkest among his siblings and made fun by of course his dad, as well as even his mom, and all the siblings for it, and the anti black colorism further effected Michael when he reached adulthood and started his solo career that was the underlying reason to why it wasn’t taken seriously and why he was doubted and dismissed by the industry even in the mindset of the blockbuster success of thriller. That’s the taboo part of the discourse
Tbh, I don't agree with the MJ take. He had a lot of Black people/women in his vids even after he was lightskinned. He showed he cared not only about Black people in the US, but also abroad (They Don't Care About US had a US and Brazilian version and Liberian girl is the only US song I know about Liberia) He also got *pissed* when he was portrayed by a white guy in a commercial He struggled with self hate because of his dad fs, but the man didn't hate Black people like that
He definitely did have a type. Who knows what was really behind that? As you said, more saleable, socially acceptable, fashionable. I think it's important to mention that he always remained true to his African American roots; AAVE use, musical inspiration, personal idols. He was unapologetically black. As an influencer he has a responsibility to embrace all colours of People but maybe he just found those women beautiful? Maybe it was just personal preference.
Don’t you find it funny how the majority of ppl seem to find black ppl more beautiful the closer their features are to whiteness…. That is called colorism!
Back in the day I loved loved me some Prince. As a little brown girl I dreamed of someday meeting him in person. To now discover that he wouldn't have even looked at a woman who looked like me. So sad. I still like his music though.
Jeez here we go!!! Even though Prince literally created some of the most impactful songs and album for a majority of dark skinned women !! Chaka Khan , Aretha Franklin , Whitney Huston etc. Oh yea he's colorist because he's light-skinned ,this subject is becoming a dead-end , it's strictly being a nitpicking marathon
Also I never had a crush on him like my aunts and cousins did. Not because of the soft light skin/mixed male trope. But because I knew that he wasn't into girls that looked like me. I just didn't have the language to express it the way I do now.
I’ve always said this. Idk why this isn’t more spoken about? I mean the man endorsed danileigh. He only had two requirements. Light skin and wavy hair chyle
I am not old enough to be aware of Prince at the height of his career. I liked his music through my parents but I 100% noticed his colourist visuals when I was in my teens, I didn’t have the language for it but in my mind it was something that didn’t sit right for me. I questioned and kinda gaslit myself because I thought how could a man be so spiritual, who expressed his love for women so much cut out dark skinned, racially unambiguous black women. This also reminds me of a article I read years ago about spike lee and Prince having a conversation about dating non black women which neither part disclosed details but it was insinuated that they both recognised their colourist ideologies. I really wished we could find out what they discussed.
I’ve been peep that even as a kid growing up in the late 90’s and early 2000’s I seen colorism all over but Prince was definitely no exception lol my main issue with him that gave me resentment was that he had queer feminine ways in his style and could still be seen as Straight and acceptable and everyone made it seem like the only reason why he’s able to gender bend is because he’s an artist. I call BS because if he was dark skinned showing his ass cheeks I don’t think he’d be that big and that speaks to black pplz colorism as a whole. All I had was a high voice and rhythm in my walk and the hell I had to go through but Prince could get away with it. The double standard caused me not to rock with his music for a long time but I appreciate it now for what it was
You clearly haven’t researched much about him, the man got hate and rumours spread about his sexuality throughout his entire career. Hell even until now people still think he was gay and down low. I can’t believe your minimizing his talents by saying his skin tone made him who he was, he wasn’t even taken seriously as a rock artist or a guitarist for years because of his skin color. The rock genre is over saturated with white artists fyi. You sound upset that you haven’t amounted up too much and you’ve decided to take all this misplaced anger out on a dead man, how unfortunate.
@@exquisite2185 Um the industry still kept him around and because of the women he dated he got a pass. And u don’t know what I amounted to in my life thus far and I hope u remember saying that when u start seeing me on TV soon
@@pyscez93 “The industry still kept him around”.. i can tell you know nothing about his career lmao. A man of his talent isn’t going anywhere just because tabloids and blogs questioned his sexuality. He was very androgynous as was james brown, little richard, rick james etc These are dark skin men who got away with wearing makeup, feminine attire and perms/wigs. So your statement is redundant and greatly reflects your ability to connect any brain cells.
I agree Prince chose a certain look of woman. I suppose that is colorism. I also know that humans gravitate toward people who are similar to themselves. His choices worry me less than when I see someone who is not light skinned showing disdain for dark skin. Such a complex issue.
I think it could’ve been an expression of narcissism. I recall his whole group simultaneously wearing his signature hair cut. The group didn’t coordinate with him like most background artist ; they appeared like him including with cloths. It looked a little silly but it was Prince so we rocked with it.
I think the problem lies in possibly mistreating darker-skinned people or having different standards for them than he did for others. As for who he was attracted to, it doesn't matter. I have my own preferences too.
I sort of accepted Prince's colorism because I, like so many other people, believed that his mother was white and how could I blame him for wanting and pedestalizing women in his mother's image. Now that I know that both his parents were Black and that his mother was a lightskin Black woman, I'd be lying if I said his choices to always showcase white women as opposed to Black women is very hurtful.💯
Im so happy you brought this up. I was thinking this, especially being a product of north minneapolis myself. His name is brought up alot from those who were influenced by his music as well as grew up with him and knew him on a personal level. We dont want to bring up negative references about him but at the same time this isnt his fault alone. We are all a product of our society. Twincities is a melting pot of biracial and multi-racial culture. I want to praise him but I also want to educate why some images are harmful to us as a whole . Thank you Jouelzy. Thank you.
So so so good! I feel terrible for not knowing who Tamara is! I will be looking her up! You're so right about his influence on men...especially dark-skinned men. I really love Prince's song "Black Sweat". The music video always made me wonder why he came off annoyed with the dark-skinned featured dancer 🤷🏾♀️...maybe I'm making things up.
The music video for black sweat encapsulates the image a jazebel perfectly. If you look at the vido again, you will see what I mean. It was through him I understand what the jazebel was.
@@debbiedavid3151 absolutely not what Blck Sweat was abt. Shot where he gives Celina an off look - cameras were rolling and director told her to do something off script. It was captured while cameras were rolling.
The "Black Sweat" video is different. The dancer Celestina was instructed to touch Prince KNOWING that Prince wouldn't expect it. The director did that to get Prince's natural reaction.
Totally agree it’s been like that for Ancients and that will never go away… Not all black people are not gonna agree with everything with another black person decision, but respect all different opinions. That’s what’s makes the world go around. The good, the bad, and the ugly and the pretty.
Prince is one of my top favorite artists but as a dark skinned woman, I always saw how colorist showed up. Tired of how we still ignore how colorism rules our lives today.... especially amongst black media, artists, etc.
@@BelAge Light to tanned men usually DO date within their phenotype. It's the dark skinned guys that usually go lighter. They don't seem to want a woman or kids with their same features.
Prince was not a colorist! His first two known girlfriends were brown-skinned black women Kim Upsher and Susan Moonsie. He also had a crush on keyboardist Patrice Rushin and wrote I Wanna Be Your Lover about her, but she rejected him! He didn't briefly date Nona Gaye, they dated for 3 years and this is according to her! Prince had black women working for him as lawyers and managers. He has a black female drummer Cora Coleman-Dunham, black female guitarist Kat Dyson, dancers Damaris Lewis and Cat Glover. He was heavily flirting with Tamarion Hall a few years before his death. Not to mention his hair dresser of nearly 30 years Kim Berry said in her book that Prince dated alot of black women over the years that were all shades. He supported and loved singers like Lauren Hill, who while she was incarcerated made sure her children we're taking care of. Back up singers Shelby J and Liv Warfield said Prince treated them with nothing but kindness, love, and respect. He took the singer Tamar Davis under his wing, wrote songs for her album and promoted her career. Why her album never came out I don't know. He didn't groom Mayte if anyone could be accused of that it would be Nell her mother because she was the one that encouraged Mayte to try to get hired as a dancer, by constantly showing up to concerts trying to get Mayte's belling dancing tape pass Prince's security. She also encouraged her daughter to lie about her age. So who's really doing the grooming? Mayte stated in her book several times that her early relationship with Prince was strictly platonic, and they didn't get intimate into a few months after her 19th birthday. Stop with all the bashing of this man who's no longer here to defend himself against this SLANDER! And yes I am a HUGE Prince fan and will continue to be. Yes he had a type all men do, but that doesn't make him a villain. PRINCE LOVED BLACK WOMEN, and any black woman that was ever around him would tell you that.
Even with the facts, the person who made this video has issues with black men and will ignore your post. She created this video to start something she can’t finished. It is embarrassing to be honest. She acts as though Prince can’t have a preference. The man is not alive and this video is highly disrespectful.
@@belindauo completely disrespectful! And you're right she will ignore my comment. She's needs to go get some therapy and figure out what she has against black men. Dead black men at that....this whole video is pathetic.
Girl! These disrespectful folks have no idea who Prince was, it seems like half of them thought he was mixed! They don't know and they don't know what they're talking about. Prince loved Women...period. I would advise them to watch The Most Beautiful Girl in the World video and see what Prince was talking about. I will always love him, may he rest in heaven.
exactly they never mention Marvin Gaye's daughter at all, they're looking at a few examples in the 1980s and they're running with it. and not to mention. those beautiful dark complected women that Prince work with towards the end of his life in the early 2000s. and he put a lot of dark complected black women on his shows in the last years of his life. I forget about that great video he did, it was a very soulful video. he was surrounded by dark complected black women. I forgot the name of that video maybe you can remind me of what that video was.
Prince, later in his life, really became one with his blackness. He returned to his natural hair and started dating more dark-skinned women. I’m a massive fan, and his colorism always bothered me, even when I was a little girl coming into adulthood in the 1980s. It bothered me then. It bothers me now when I revisit his visuals and how many of his love interests look. However, I do believe that people can change, and there have been many times when P gave dark-skinned black women a shot in the business: whether Nona Gaye or Shelby. Bonnie Boyer and browner sisters like Rosie Gaines. He helped introduce the world to Lizzo as well. At any rate, I think people can change, and for what it’s worth, I believe he made peace with his blackness and matured. I think most black men are colorist-to varying degrees. The hard part is doing the work to overcome internalized racism and self hatred.
I hear you and partially agree. Also a huge Prince fan going back to the 80s. He did become more mobilized in his blackness as he got older. Whether that came with age/wisdom/growth or bitterness and "returning home" out of frustration with the abuse/lack of support from his label & white music industry. Prince hadn't had a hit in 20+ years. Where I differ is in the suggestion that he had a robust cadre of dark/ black women he worked with. There were a few more as he got older (most notably Janelle Monae) but he only took interest in black women for their powerhouse vocals. The black women were asexual. The dark or even caramel brown women were never positioned as beautiful or persons of desire. Literally never. Its a similar formula today that these artists may collab with a sista but thats a different lane than who they choose or proclaim as beautiful. The beauty is its own currency & power.
@@alleyinn1 Your assessment is fair. I think that commonly happens in black entertainment: if she’s dark-skinned, she’s usually the best singer, but asexual, and often overweight. I hear you. Some of his darker-skinned love interests were not asexual. He apparently had a thing for Whitney Houston, Chilli, and Nia Long. Nona Gaye is/was a very sexy woman as was Mica Paris and Cat Glover, but other than that, you’re right.
I gave been a Prince fan for almost my whole life. My aunts let me listen to all of his music. His love of light skin or white wasn't really spoken of. At the start of career a lot of black people just saw him as weird and different. However when Purple Rain came out, his daddy did put him on blast for trying to portray himself as biracial. School Daze wasn't inspired by Prince. HBCUs and black sororities and fraternities were very colorist. It has always been said that AKAs used the paper bag test when deciding who they would let in. Basically with Prince it really wasn't really talked because he never outright insulted black women. Only the rappers did that.
Sadly I have to agree with you, I can only think of a few Women that were Black, Dark or Curvey, that he was involved with or was part of his roster of band members, Rosey Ganes Band Member, Nona Gaye an artist he was Romantically involved with, Boni Boyer Band Member, Liv Warfield Vocalist, Shelby J. Vocalist, Cassandra O'Neal Band Member, Cora Coleman Dunham Band Member, Tamar Vocalist, Rose Ann Dimalanta Band Member, Milenia Vocal Group, Geneva Dancer Member, Maria King Vocalist, Kat Dyson Guitarist, Jevetta Steele Vocalist,and Cat Glover Dancer. These folks are the few I kno of.
🧐 I don’t know if I agree. Yes, maybe the relationships the media covered were light and White women but I don’t know if that’s Prince’s fault. For ONE we have no idea who all Prince dated. Period. Just off the top of my head Susan from V6 wasn’t light, she was a deep brown. He dated Kim Upsher she was dark brown. He had a crush on Patrice Rushton, who didn’t want him. He dated Nona Gaye, Marvin’s daughter, she’s darker. Every time the press reports on the BEAUTIFUL women he dated they always go into Madonna and Kim Basinger, they barely even talk about any of the women of color. Also, I remember Jill Jones, a protégé said he had “relationships” for show. That the “plantation mistresses” were for show. Remember in slavery there was the Master and his wife would be considered the Mistress. Idk if she was saying they really didn’t have a relationship or if she was saying he was using the relationship for clout or what but especially in his later years, “Prince was a colorist,” doesn’t seem like a fair assessment. Also, one I forgot was Nia Long who said Prince tried to push up on her but she was too afraid to actually holler at him. 🤣 Can you imagine? She should’ve taken the chance!
Also, I heard he and Madonna didn’t really date. It was more publicity. But the media will report on them more than his wives. 🤷🏽♀️ And as a pale skinned Black man, who didn’t draw a line in the sand when it came to color- who dated different tones can we say he was colorist, even if there were more light skin girlfriends then dark? Serious question? Is a dark skinned man colorist if he dated most dark girl and some light skinned girls? I don’t know.
As a child in the 80's, I enjoyed Prince's early catalogue. Once Purple Rain hit theatres and air waves, Prince was solidified as a major talent. I never really thought about Prince's blatant colorism although it was on full display. I new that he was different than what most artists were doing back then, but I never thought much about what was being displayed. Thank you for taking a closer look at Prince's choices and calling a thing a thing. Also, I didn't know he had two black parents🤯. Thanks again.
I can’t believe that man said “he was around Rock music” to explain colorism… black women invented the genre so that just shows you how much it was taken over
I find this so interesting since so many of my elders adore prince. I never knew about this part of him and only knew about him endorsing Lizzo and Janelle Monae.
I’m glad that you’re speaking on this bc a lot of ppl like to brush these things under the rug bc “that’s just how things were at the time” and I’m sorry I don’t buy that . These are VERY conscious decisions by him and other artists from times before him , with him and even today . There’s no way you can be looking for actually talented dancers and protégés and completely exclude an entire segment of BLACK people … very eye opening as someone who is 25 and whose mother loves Prince’s music . (Also learning that he was tapped into DaniLeigh sounds and looks CRAZY in 2022 after all she’s said and done LMFAO !)
What’s interesting to me is that Jouelzy is a light skinned woman who is not afraid to call out colorism. The privileged are often defensive about what gives them an unfair advantage. Either it’s totally ignored or brushed off in our community - but it’s really EVERYWHERE in our community. Mad respect to Jouelzy!
Some Prince fams try to pretend like Prince was above colorism, but it's obvious that he had a type. I love Prince, but it's disheartening that we rarely saw (dark-skinned) Black women in the forefront (in his love life and his art). Lastly, I wish people wouldn't try to tell Black women what we are seeing or feeling...we've seen this OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Prince isn't the only one...and this "playing the game of colorism to get ahead" is a sad old song.
I used to think that Prince was only attracted to women with a light complexion until I watched an episode of the Prince Podcast featuring Robin Power. Robin, a Black woman, held nothing back about her romantic and professional relationship with Prince. The Prince Podcast also interviewed Cat (the dancer). Cat mentioned that she didn't feel confident, beautiful in comparison to the women in L.A. when she moved there and Prince kept telling her that she was beautiful. People came for Nia Long when she said Prince was attracted to her because she mentioned it after he passed away. Kenya from RHOA mentioned in an episode that Prince was attracted to her too. Prince was involved with/attracted to sooooo many beautiful women.
I listened to that podcast as well. It really humanized Prince. I think Prince truly was attracted to ALL colors of women, that's why I really don't take offense.
I feel you but he’s never married or had children by a Black women who is dark or brown. He was a colorist. I believe he pandered. Also I’ll check that podcast out.
@@shenyae4143 Definitely check out the podcast. It's here on youtube. They interview people from Prince's inner circle including family members. Prince was very black with mostly black friends at the beginning of his life and career. I think the real question to explore is why did he feel the need to put on this multiracial facade in order to be a superstar.
As someone who rarely watches music videos, I am very glad you pointed this out! It is something that would have never occurred to me unless I felt the need to watch his videos or dug a little deeper.
I think he was a product of the time that pushed the mixed women to the forefront however he did date Susan Moonsie who was brown skin and had dark features. Vanity was light but she tanned much darker and she kept that darker tone throughout her life. I guess everyone has a preference. I do not think he felt it was better just a preference. His second band was mostly black dark brown with strong features so I think he loved all shades. His idols were James Brown and Jimmie Hendrix and other black people. He dated Nona Gaye and another dark brown woman so he did branch out.
He did like Patrice Rushton and Nia Long but they didn’t return the affection. His first girlfriend was Kim Upsher she was the waitress that Morris was tripping with on Purple Rain. She was darker so I dunno. He didn’t seem colorist to me.
@@MaryLou913 Thank you. I've been up and down these comments. Prince had so many women throughout his career that one could hardly keep up but he definitely had black women sprinkled in the mix.
Your video is right on point. I grew in the 80s and listened to Prince. Yes, I noticed his, as well as other artists at the time, female band members, love interests and video models. They were ALL bi-racial (or mixed), non-black, racially ambiguous, or outright white. If one looks at the many (not all) of the rap videos as well as other black music videos that dominated the 80s, colorism AND texturism was permeated the industry. The leading lady or love interest was either bi-racial or at least light with straight or straight-ish long hair, while the darker hued sisters generally appeared as the "friend" or as background dancers. This type casting was present in movies, as well. Think both versions of the movie Sparkle. Unfortunately, both, "the brown paper bag" and "the comb" tests are still a thing in our culture. And while we pretend it's a relic of the past, several "black" male artists have said the quiet part out loud. One stated he only dates women with "---- hair." This thinking is not limited to brothers. We recently had a "black" female actress, make a statement about "nappy" hair. So, no. Sadly, we are not there yet 😎
Prince was a colorist. I tend to think of Prince in the context of his time. Black Americans collectively were colorist in the 70s and 80s, and expressed anti black sentiments. Black artists were also relegated to black radio, and rarely played on MTV. White rock radio wouldn’t play him for a time. Part of his choices had to do w/trying to escape the narrow confines that black artists were placed in in the music industry, to cross over and be heard on white radio. I tend to give grace to people trying to navigate an exceptionally racist power structure.
Black Americans and White Americans (and other folks too) have been colorists and brainwashed to be anti-Black since 1619. It's a learned behavior and people are not born with that flaw. It didn't just become a collective thing in the 70s & 80s. Nothing has changed since 1619. We're more vocal about it and have social media to flood the world with this fact, unlike the 70s and 80s when magazines and PR machines kept that talk in check throughout the industry. It is ingrained every day since day 1 of this country and EVERYONE upholds colorism in all industries and social settings. I love Prince (since he put out his first album back in the day) and own all his vinyl albums and some non-released deep cuts, but I did stop effing with him in the early 90s for a time when it was obvious that he only wanted to mess around with non-Black women that he elevated with no talent, and ignored more talented Black women who were on his level. Plus he talked mad ish about Hip Hop being trash (until he wanted to capitalize off of it with bad rappers he chose when Q-Tip and so many other talented rappers were right there to collaborate with) We can love Prince and call out his colorist behavior as a serious personal flaw. Like Michael Jackson, Prince had control of the images he put out, especially after the 1999 album was a huge hit in '82. Every movie he made starred non-BW, and darker BW played Mammy figures or comic relief for other characters and the same happened with his videos. The Diamonds and Pearls chicks were the most glaring example. Mediocre dancers, but he liked how they looked for himself. I later gave him grace only because I love his music so much, and I know it takes some people a lifetime to unlearn colorism and the damage it perpetuates in the culture at large. He did a lot better later in life, but he didn't live long enough to use that growth to help elevate the Black darker-skinned, and more talented artists he was keeping an eye on, like Janelle Monae and others.
@@lisabennettbolekaja8556 I agree. I just don’t believe that we can ignore the real economic and career pressures that were at work during that time. It doesn’t excuse the behavior or the internalized self hatred but I don’t want to ignore the system that was explicitly working. If you were considered too black, you weren’t played on MTV, ex: Rick James, or white radio. That had to be part of his choice to use his protégés to elevate his own proximity to whiteness. He wanted the economic and professional advantages that came w/ it.
It’s sad to see people so accepting to self hate and colorism. (Then cry when not chosen). Also, I see the comments from women of HIS generation, who are validating his colorism. If anything I’m listening to them and their experiences.. not projected attachments to a celebrity.
Validity his supposed colorist based on the msm and not actual facts. If they were actual fans, they would know that he been with black women but stay ignorant.
@@belindauo People of his generation would know he employed, mentored and dated black women throughout his career. They don’t want to admit it because it doesn’t fit their narratives.
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Prince was mixed himself. He was multigenerational mixed. So, many mixed race men prefer mixed or white mates…so this does not surprise me.
Sorry you are wrong about one thing. His parents were multigenerational mixed. The first black enslaved Africans were never light skinned by any measure. His parents were mixed race…just multigenerational mixed like Vanessa Williams parents. She had her sidestep test and is 44% white. Both of her parents were multigenerational mixed race. Same concept about Prince.
We didn't need this video.
@@suzygirl1843 some of us did, we want to know how "those people" operate. Eye opener.
With all respect intended to Jouelzy Sports Actuary in the comment section of various channels was the first person to point out that Prince was a colorist. His choices worked a head job on dark skin woman. In my judgment I place him second on the colorism hall of shame. First place would be Oscar Micheaux. Michael Jackson, whom I otherwise liked, would be third on my list. Prince was supremely skilled but a piece of S. Guys with whom he grew up he stiffed for money. Who does that that is not down-and-out?
The last recent time I saw black people collectively praise dark skinned talent/ performers was during the Lauryn, India Arie, Missy, Foxy Brown Era ..haven't seen it since sadly
I want to add brandy in there too, especially since she was the only dark skin black girl that thrived in a pop space. Unfortunately she was negatively compared to someone more lighter who couldn’t compare vocally in no way.
But I think it’s very sad that after Brandy…. Has there been any dark skin black woman that was mainstream? This is why I think girls like Normani have so much pressure, because even she is being negatively compared to chloe, again, like Monica someone more lighter skinned. I feel so bad for her…
@@Premonition_333 yes indeed!!
@@Premonition_333 black people collectively praise ari Lennox and Normani though. Justine skye,tems, summer walker, etc there are many liked brown / dark skinned singers they’re just not super mainstream
@@Myaccount923 from what I’ve seen black people collectively trash normani and ari where you been? They get dragged all the time for their looks and career not being where it should. And ironically both of them got negatively compared to chloe Bailey, not just normani.
@@Premonition_333 I’m not on twitter and twitter doesn’t determine shit, if those are the draggings you’re referring to. I’ve yet to see Normani even from twitter be dragged for her looks, only ari. And there will always be haters
Yea…. I noticed lol but as a darker skinned girl I have learned that black people don’t want to ever address colorism they just label me as bitter. So I stopped talking about it.
I just peep and move on.
This! And they'll accuse you of being jealous, while...denying that colorism exists.
That's what they want you to do. I use to just keep quiet about it, now I call shit out 🔊🗣️ . Call me bitter if you want 🤷🏾♀️
I'm tired of people trying to gaslight Black women as if our eyes don't work, LOL! We can see and FEEL it when Black men don't love us in the way that we love them. We aren't delusional or bitter...if anything, we are just RIGHTFULLY tired of being put to the side.
Yep and don’t forget divisive 😒
all i can say is disappointed but not surprised. the entertainment industry always gives lighter skin women a leg up before they gave a darker skin woman a chance.
Straight 100 😩😩😩!
Sadly that's just about any industry but sports.
@@Divine_Beauty-uh9xi That's changing too. Lots of mixed kids for the basketball draft
Why are we as black women sad the demonic, sexually deviant entertainment industry don't want to use us as pawns like everybody eles! It's run by white folks of course they want to use their own or a equivalent to represent them! Duh, they own it!
But prince himself is mixed its is not mixed people job to promote full black people its black people job to do that
As a dark skinned GenXer who loved Prince and his music, I recognized he was a colorist in the 80s as a pre teen (especially after seeing Under the Cherry Moon). Honestly, this was the case of the vast majority of famous Black men at the time; most partnered with white, multi racial, or the lightest Black women. Purple Rain had ethnic looking Apollonia but Under the Cherry Moon had a tired looking white woman, who he died for! I learned real quick to not idol worship and just enjoy the gift the artist shares. I swoon sometimes but over the performance of the art not the artist.
👩🏾🍳💋
I can't even watch UTCM because it is devoid of Black women. Prince seemed to always find Black men to include in his visual projects, but where were the Black women?!
Same!💐💐💐
Exactly. He died for that woman from the English patient. The older spicy white woman looked better than her. Even the side kick had a white woman. A mess. I still love that stupid movie because it was campy at hell. But I was like oh we ll moved on to just white women huh?
I'm so glad to see this comment. I stated similar awhile back. This despite hearing about this so called crush on Patrice Rushen and a poster of Chaka Khan upon his debut.
I’m a Gen Xer who experienced Prince’s rise in real time. I was and am a fan but yes, he was a colorist. I really peeped it by the late 80s but I personally didn’t have the language to vocalize it. I must say the 80s itself was a HIGHLY colorist time to grow up in as a dark skinned girl. The women whom Black America found attractive (Jayne Kennedy, Vanity, Lisa Bonet…etc) fit a specific look.
I find that weird. Self-hating blacks really ruled the 80’s. While in the 70’s, being darker and having a nappy Afro was the trend. Bad transition. I don’t get it....🤨
@@dejstoney crazy how you say that it was a weird switch
@@dejstoney it went from the Afro to the Jherri Curl....a very weird transition
The "MTV-friendly" look where they wanted Black women to look like tanned versions of Madonna or like one on those hair metal vixens.
I
I'm Gen X and I grew up with Prince in the USA but moved to The U.K and sadly don't see it that way at all now. He was promoting Multiculturalism and being inclusive. Prince didn't want to be put in a stereotypical box like every other black artist. His music wasn't like any other black artist and he pushed many boundaries that black audiences didn't always understand either. It's sad that Art and music always has to be politicized with identity politics. I have to disagree with you but glad we all still are connected with his music. 😀
I agree, I have always felt this way about Prince while still enjoying his music and how complex he was . As a dark skin little girl growing up and now full grown black woman, I never could crush on him nor did I bother to go crazy fan over him bc clearly he did not have an infinity towards my kind!
True! He did not even hide it!
Which celebrities have an affinity toward your kind?
Same here. It was never about his look. It was always and forever about the music.
“Affinity” not “infinity”
WTF.....You sound like a TROLL. Prince's idols and influences where 'BLACK' musicians and artists e.g James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Chaka Khan etc. Prince was very pride of his blackness.
I'm 56 years old so I'm familiar with how Prince moved in real time. I was a big fan of his music too. However, I noticed how Prince sometimes would play down his blackness. He even played biracial in the movie Purple Rain. His protegees for the most part were biracial, Latino, Asian or plan white. I still enjoy his music today but I sense that he had some self hate. RIP Prince Rogers Nelson.
He was plainly never into black or dark skinned women! So was Micheal Jackson! It is a big shame! But black people were his consumers where he had his big break before the mainstream media discovered him!
Most black artists are not attracted to black and wants to be accepted by white
Micheal Jackson in his last years , with all his allegations, black men and women were his defenders whilst the white community crucified him
The same with Meghan markle! Black people are her die hard fans but Meghan friends were all white unless you are the Serena Williams or the Oprah Winfrey’s of the world, Meghan markle wouldn’t be your friend
100%
Prince had his mother portrayed as Italian on Purple Rain. Both of his parents were black. His mother was a lightskin black woman and his father was light brown skin. He was not biracial. His admixture was there but just like the majority of AA ancestral.
@@kaysmith8787 I agree. When he first appeared on the scene as rising star, before Purple rain. He stated that he wanted to be viewed as a artist, not a black artist, that's why he wouldn't perform on shows like Soul train in he's early years.
He's Biracial
I'll provide some perspective as a Black woman born and raised in super white Minneapolis, MN: the Black men ain't checking for Black women in MN. Point blank, period. Prince was a product of his environment and it's as basic and simple as that. There aren't a ton of us in Minneapolis and there isn't the same socioeconomic diversity among Black people in MN as there is in more racially-mixed metro areas. I made the decision to leave MN in large part because of what you point out with Prince - I wanted a range of dating options than just white men, because that was all I attracted. And now that I left, I will never return to that. It is what it is.
I had a friend who lived in Minneapolis with his father and he said he seen alot of biracial ppl there so that goes to show Prince was definitely a product of the environment I read back then Minneapolis was only like 20% black most of the blacks were living on the Northside I remember Morris Day said on a interview one time that Minneapolis didn't even have a black radio station lol
That's what I've heard about Minneapolis. George Floyd's fiance was White; Duante Wright has a Black father and white mother.
@@Twan1985 Wow.
It’s not even noon yet and you already shaking the table! You 🤝 Violence…Love your new intro btw. 😍
Right! 🤣🤣🤣
Facts, but she’s right🤣‼️
I love a good table-shake!
Yassssssss
Somebody finally said it. While I enjoyed his music, he had a weird obsession with teen/young adult ambiguous girls. Danileigh isn’t talented at all I saw that interview and was very confused but it was evident. He made sure they were just at a legal age. None the less he was a timeless talent. I’ll still listen to his music.
Yes, Prince definitely had an affinity for young ladies and it was concerning. He was 57 and still dating women decades younger than him.
Thank you for pointing this out. And I believe Mayte was only 16 when he began his late-night phone calls…these days we call that “grooming.”
@@aimaydarling Anna Fantastic said that she slept in the bed with Prince for months before they "finally" consummated the relationship on her 18th birthday. I know dating "standards" were different back then and this might've been acceptable, but IMO, this is grooming. He was in his 30's. 🥴
@@aimaydarling I don’t think I ever heard that term or maybe I forgot. What does “grooming” mean?🤔
@@lynej2011 Grooming is when an adult uses manipulation to indoctrinate a child into normalizing a sexual relationship pretty much and it's disgusting.
I'm at the point where I actually despise the cult of celebrity bc it largely just attacks people who aren't overt or mindless fans of artists. If someone is considered an 'icon or genius' (which are such gendered terms, women entertainers are rarely called geniuses), then their "fans" will show up to call you a hater, miserable, liar, bitter, etc. if you have a single word of critique. And specifically annoying is how as a BW, you get called these names when you decide 'Eh, if someone is colorist or anti-Black, I don't really care too much about them. Nice talent sure but not for me .' I'm going to side eye anyone who gets mad at me for being uncomfortable or for not being an overt fan of someone they have a parasocial relationship with. Period.
This was a great video.
‼️‼️‼️‼️
YES. Once I learned the most popular women in music business right now was Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, it explained why their fanbase was mean spirited and anti-black. They are literally two light skin thin women that are overpraised and I had to revoke my parasocial relationship card with these two women and just appreciate their music from afar. Idc how much a “bad bItch” and empowerment figure they are put on a pedestal as. I am not worshipping ANYONE that doesn’t go out their way to worship me and I’m a dark skin plus size woman. So I know what I’m up against in this life.
You said it all! I fan out for NO one.
CULT of celebrity indeed.
@@dejstoney You used so many key words. Bad bitch (which is only a term afforded to certain people), worship, pedestal, overpraised.....it makes it so that even if i still enjoy Beyonce or Nicki Minaj music, I'm seen as a terrible person for not treating them as gods. I'm a sensitive person and I really resent being told that my casual enjoyment AND simultaneous critique of artists is equivalent to me being a bitter and miserable person or less Black.
As a older teen I absolutely loved Prince. I went to see him in concert, had all his albums and even wanted his music to be played at my funeral. But as I began to educate myself on black women's journeys through feminism, misogynoir etc. I fell deeply out of love with Prince. I read the article you mentioned and the pain washed over me, that I chose Prince but he would never chose me. His idea of feminine beauty was not me or my non-ambiguous black friends, who spent all our money on his albums, waited tables to buy tickets to see him live. We were no where in his heart or mind. My Prince albums are gathering dust under my son's wardrobe, what do you do when you are in a non reciprocal relationship? You cut your loses and move away with dignity. Thank goodness for Google. If I see a black male in the public eye, before I jump in to support him, I check out his politics, relationships and values. If I had Google and today's language, Prince would have received not one penny of my money and not a space in my heart. It was so normalised that white tanned women with long dark hair were the epitome of beauty and as a young girl I bought into too.
I'm the same as you. I don't understand why DSW buying Prince's music when the majority of he's songs weren't speaking to women that look like us. He was uplifting Biracial and WW and what made it worse was, he was making biracial women the face of blackness. I know waching he"s videos I felt invisible.
@@debbiedavid3151 By that logic, tan, white, and yellow skinned women shouldn't be buying records from artists who don't look like them either.
@@rockssolid2543 I'm not saying W, biracial or Asian people can't buy B Artists music. I'm Just saying that Prince was a BM and showing affection to every other group ofwomen but BW it looked odd . Look. he wasn't attracted to BW especially DSW. There no other group of Women W or Asian oh and by the way, Asian isn't a race, who would continue support a group of men that are uplifting every other group but there own. I'm pretty sure other groups of women would withdraw their support from that Artist Only BW are stupid enough to support a group of men that treat their women as if their invisible. Prince wasn't any different from the majority of BM who are colourist. And think that BW are dumb dumbs who will continue supporting them. Prince did an interview on BET in the late 90s, he said that he always felt that BP were always going to support him no matter what. Well theso days of BW support BM no matter what is ending, BW are beinging to know their self worth.
@@debbiedavid3151 i dont believe Prince is intentionally colorist bcoz he did feature dark skinned black women (for example in MV black sweat, u make my sun shine) and he actually dated all colours of women. knowing him, i think his preference goes toward light skinned but ambiguous women bcoz he himself is a light skin black man who but can be mistaken as another racial group. its kinda like you love who you are so you kinda pick someone beautiful that reflects that ambiguity in yourself. he dated nona gaye who was dark skinned but mostly the black women he went with are typically mixed girls. if you know prince, one of the intentions he had when he started writing his autobiography is that he wanted it to end racism once and for all, which is an impossible goal. he has used this 'ambiguity' to his advantage bcoz he wouldnt reach a wider audience otherwise. he was raised thru the 60s and 70s after all when black pride was empowering the ppl. He believes in his original core audience eventho sometimes he makes stuff that perplexed them. you can look back at his work and how he acts to see all this plain as day along with the way ppl keep coming back to him and showed him so much respect also says much of his character as a person. also i think the only person who was even remotely asian was miss judith hill who is a black and asian person who is dark skinned in general asian standards (trust me).
the only good thing that came from his indiscriminate womanizing was that despite the mainstream image, he didnt just get with white or light skin ambiguous women.
@@raggedyhaggity250 I'm not disputing that Prince wasn't a talented musician. My point is, that, Prince came over very anti black to me. He was uplifting biracial women and the standard of beauty in black community. saying that these women are the face of blackness. His anbiguaus look he was trying to achieve, was in partly because he was relaxing he's hair, so it would give him a loser curl texture. He was light skin, but there are lot of light skin BP out there, I have them in my family as well. I have two Aunties who have natural red hair, and freckles, but there not call themselves biracial. Using skin tone, hair texture and eye colour is just another way of BP distancing themselves from their blackness. As for him dating and working with DSW. Prince was doing what most colourist BM do, which is to throw a few bread crumbs to DSW in the hopes that they would get happy and be quiet. Unfortunately it worked, due to DSW lack of self confidences. Yes you're correct Prince did date Nona Gaye and may of dated other DSW. However, DWS like None was seen as a bit on the side, he had no intentions of dating them publicly, proposing or marrying them. He's main squeezes were none BW. And yes you can argue that he had private relationships with none BW as well but, he went on to marry two none BW. I would have to disagree with you Judith Hill is not dark skin. and once more she's blasian. Oh and the music video for black sweat the DSW who was dancing came of very Jazebel like, that's another way colourist BM like to portray DSW in negative light.
Janelle Monae is the only person I can think of as a prince protege who is brown and non ambiguous looking. And Miguel is definitely someone who has taken on those fashion/love interest characteristics that echos Prince
yep and Laura Mvula are the only two dark skinned women I think about and they had they success before they met him.
That’s cause he knew he was about to kick the bucket.. Just like all the women towards the end he would hang out with darker models and singers..Black men always surround themselves with the “darkies”towards the end! Lol That’s why I can’t understand why darkskin women keep fighting to be apart of the black community..
Miguel is mixed so I can understand it but Prince wasn’t. Still, that’s no excuse but it starts to make sense from someone’s upbringing.
@@dejstoney agreed. I definitely understand . But also his mom is the Black person… also Miguel has a brother who is an artist, Nonchalant Savant, and he leans more to non ambiguous Black women in his videos and real life love interest. In no way saying Miguel is as bad as Prince was, but he definitely has Prince’s influence
Ashley Tamar as well
I always thought Prince was self obsessed. I never noticed his colorism until now, but I always thought the women in his videos looked like they could be Prince’s sibling. I still think, perhaps, Prince was a bit narcissistic and loved to see his own face more than he was a colorist. Of course, I could absolutely be wrong.
Interesting. I so disagree. Most of the women he pursued did NOT look like him. Prince is a lightskin black man with a perm. His facial features were black. He frequently referred to himself as not being black. His female equivalent phenotypically would have been Beyoncé. His protégés and love interests did not look like Beyoncé. They looked like very petite version of Kim Kardashian. He is the one that developed that template. Altho Beyonce does things to whiten herself and Kim does things to darken herself they still do not share a natural phenotype.
When I was a teenager in the 80s, my cousin said, “He never dates any black women.” That was the first time I noticed and I never really liked him after that.
Yeah, I know we all loved Prince but I doubt if any of us would have liked him...
Oh stop it. You guys are reaching.
@@nicolelewis6312 real shit
Michael Jackson too…but by the time it was very obvious what he wanted (post Black or white) it was also obvious that someone on his team told him to start hiring black models in the music videos. That still didn’t change the fact that he never publicly dated a bw even for show. But name one black man in media who hasn’t done this…especially when they’ve touched a level that Prince and MJ reached…sad but it’s the truth
I realized that almost all or probably all of the bm artists, actors, celebrities, athletes, etc were and are colorist...I used to sit and wonder why I ever supported them, when the reality was that they never liked women that looked like me for horrible reasons...so, I stopped buying their music, watching their movies, etc...I haven't supported in years...I had to find my peace of mind with them!!!
Do you have artists that have similar sounds that aren't colorist?
@@P0k3D0nd3M4cG ...No!
This! I just can't support Black male artists anymore...they don't love us like we love them. Behind the scenes you learn that they don't even date Black women, LOL!
This is the way!
@@rickihosein so what music do you listen to then?
I am a HUGE fan of Prince AND Jouelzy is 100% correct! He didn't invent colorism but as a child growing up in the 80s and 90s, he created the blueprint of "modern day" colorism.
That is so true.🙏 🙏🙏
What is modern day colorism? It seems like a strange term. Why do we look for "identity politics" in artists when his music was inspired from legends like James Brown and George Clinton.
Modern day colorism 😭
You do know colorism means to have prejudice towards darker skin tones right? He’s never publicly done anything that warranted that kind of label. He definitely had his preferences no doubt but his protégés, back singers, video vixens etc were dark skinned women. The man even dated a few and wrote his hit “i wanna be your lover” about patrice rushen, a dark skin queen.
@@exquisite2185 Your right. He never went public about he's colourism, that's because he was smart, Prince moved silently. It was through he's actions I noticed he"s was colourist.
@@debbiedavid3151 You sound unhinged, he employed more black women in the 2000’s than any other male celebrity. Y’all love throwing labels around when it suits your narratives, stay bitter.
He was a colorist. I can recall an interview in which singer Alexander O'Neal said that Prince said he was too dark to join the group The Tymes with Morris Day.
I did not know he did that shit. That’s gross and not surprising🤦🏾♂️💯
Yes I remember that as well
Alexander O'Neal has his own preferences too, I bet. I wonder if Alexander himself thought that it's different standards with women because he was 🎶looking for a girl who's innocent🎵 and then some?
I remember that Interview.
@Miss McQueen Jimmy & Terry tried to bri.g Alex in the group as lead. Prince told him he was too dark. Morris got the job. I remember that interview well.
It’s wild that for so long I thought Prince was mixed. I was introduced to Prince through Purple Rain and since it was supposed to be semi-autobiographical (at least that’s what I was told) I thought he was just a mixed light skinned black boy given his parents in the film and so his choice of romantic partner or muse made sense.
But since he’s just Black it shifts my mind to how light skinned Black folk (especially back then) were anti-black towards darker skin and still are. Their complex about skin color mimicked whites and since he’s from an earlier time, I wonder if he learned that through his parents?
I think Prince played into the mixed look. His clothes were a European style and he straightened his hair.
Given his stature and skin tone, he could get away with that look while darker and more masculine or larger built men could not. All this played into the stereotypes about light skinned black men, being soft sensitive feminine and sexual even in a feminine way. So it worked in his favor
It’s sad that all these women have to do is look the way they do and men like prince give them opportunities brown skinned women would have the skills to be qualified for.
Unfortunately by the time he started uplifting artists like Janelle Monae and Lizzo, he was pass his prime. He may have been genuine about it I’m sure but much too late.
And let’s be real, both Janelle Monae and Lizzo have button little features, small noses and tiny lips. It’s not like he collaborated with chicks who looked like Nina Simone. Also, he infamously had a video directed by Dani “YELLOWBONE is what he want” Leigh
His family is from Louisiana.
@@CM-fe3qc ok hes black both his mom and dad come from black
You've got to consider a few things: in the era Prince was coming up through the music industry, he was one of few who "crossed over" at the time. He specifically promoted people who were palatable to white audiences - Vanity, Apollonia, Morris Day, etc. Another thing to consider is his narcissism - yeah, I hate to say it but Prince seemed to prefer women who looked like him. Perhaps it was the Gemini in him that wanted a "feminine twin" around him I dunno. Professionally, however he supported and worked with a multitude of dark skinned women like Ashley Tamar, Shelby J., Liv Warfield, Nona Gaye (almost married her), Ledisi, Rosie Gaines, Boni Boyer, and more.
Thank you! Someone who remembers these women, whom are not light skinned black women but women of a darker hue.
True...but he had a habit of putting non talented non black women on but he definitely had a higher standard for the fully black/brown women.
This is the one 🎯
Finally, someone is talking about this. I luv Prince. But even as a small child, I noticed his preferences. I even dressed up as Apolonia for Halloween as a kid. I asked my stylist to make my hair like hers. She said, "baby, your hair is different and beautiful". He made a entire generation of girls want to look like something they're not. I also think he's the reason why black men have been so colorist since that time. Also, from my understanding, Spike Lee called him out on the colorism. That's when he pivoted around his Musicology era to add more black women to videos and collaborators.
Spike Lee is married to a light skinned woman
So Prince was supposed to put aside his own personal likes and dislikes to make you feel better?
I agree with and most light skinned people they want their kids to have good features like them I think it was part of his upbringing and u on side note u noticed none of the Jacksons married black women/men I believe Joe taught his kids about colorism I mean Michael even said Joe used to say to him "oh you too black to be my child" I mean that can have an affect on child I always said that the future of The Jacksons will no longer be black I mean not that it matters but if u think its gonna have a case of strange circumstances and the same goes for Lionel Richie and Diana Ross none of their grandchildren are black
@@karinec.2131 that is true but I don’t think spike is colorist.. he’s son on the other hand is
@@sundiatasulyman3607 that is not the point…. See y’all will only ever address external issues like racism but our community seems to have an issue addressing our internal issues that is deep rooted white supremacy.. the dude was colors-truck just like alot of ppl in our community, and it’s so bad that down south in the 60s and 70s, there would be a blk southern belle contest which promoted discrimination against darker ppl.. during the Harlem renaissance, there were private blk parties and gatherings that wouldn’t allow darker skinned women in… and this same shit is prevalent today yet it seems like the blk community, especially blk men ignore it
Great video, Jouelzy. I only liked one full-length Prince album and additional singles. I always knew he was a colorist. ALWAYS‼️Ignore the delusional fans in the comments defending him and not fully watching the video. It’s good to critique celebrities, influencers, and politicians in a constructive way. Whether dead or alive. Just saying🤷🏾♂️…
Being from Minnesota and having my own child with someone from his family, parts of his family were/are colorist I think he grew up that way and Minnesota in general, even if you grew up in the historical black area of Saint Paul Rondo, you don’t have a choice but to be surrounded by the influence of whiteness. This isn’t an excuse just some extra context.
Oh wow, that's so interesting!
My mom used to tell us Prince was her cousin (bc they looked so much alike). Now I tell people that! 😅 (In jest, she passed away and so it's a fun anecdote.)
I'm certain it's hard to try and escape white-colonialism in MN.
I’m glad you and a few others are including that fact. We’ve been on social for so long now some people forget that proximity and lack of options are two of the main traits people bring up when speaking on how social “improved their lives” as far as expanding their knowledge. I’m sure he was a product of his environment perpetuating his desire to be seen in a high regard like whites were most likely seen as in Minnesota.
@@Twan1985 The oldest daughter Rebi married a black man as did Jermaine, who married a black woman who was Berry Gordy's daughter. Janet almost married Jermaine Dupree, but he was a cheater.
@Beach Life I think it was his refuge tbqh. There is a sorta privacy here, there are a lot of parks, forests, lakes, ect so there are celebrities from here who always keep a home here or still live here.
Wow you should’ve never had one by anyone in his family. Colorist men don’t need any children.
As a GenXer who loves Prince’s music, it was always obvious that he had a preference for light-skinned women. It never bothered me as a darker skinned woman because his preference had no impact on how I visualized my own beauty and attractiveness. I just assumed he preferred women who looked similar to him in skin tone.
Prince actually had a racially "ambiguous" or "mixed" look so to my observation he was choosing women who looked like him racially
This is one way "preference" becomes harmful. Uplifting women outside of the community who don't look like you has lasting effects. Now I can barely turn on a show without the only poc in the cast looking like they MAYBE have 1 half-Black great-grandparent. Like who you want (except children, like the person of the hour 🤢), but hire and support Black women. 🙄 Self-hating Black men are so embarrassing at this point. Idc who it is.
@Sonya took me out too 😭
NOT ONE HALF BLACK GREAT GRAND PARENT!🤣🤣🤣💀
Then black man want to get on social media and complain about the NBA and NFL becoming biracial and biracial men taking over. When the majority of biracial men are created by black men now the upcoming Generation generation Alpha definitely going to change some things. When they say America is going to be mixed in 2015 no they're saying the black community will do the window and numbers by the year 2050 because majority of the black population will be mixed. I have no dog in this fight black man created this by uplifting other women
Now that wouldnt be far from the truth. I mean if you trace it back alot of black americans are generationally mixed or has a great grand grand parent that doesnt look like they are all the way black due to slavery. I am a very dark skinned complected black woman but my grandmother looked a quarter black and my great grandmother was native marican mostly but oyu neve rwould guess by looking at me even though I look like her buts that would be uncommon for black people anyway just saying.
Those women did look like prince.
I always knew he was colorist just didn't have the term for it. But the rest of my community routinely endorsed some form of antiblackness ( and other isms) in many areas of our music. Calling it out (Especially before it was trendy) you would be seen as a "hater" or overly sensitive. This frequently happens when you call out hypocrisy or any other inequity from those in ...power. Loved his music but I could tell in my early childhood that he had alot of unresolved issues and something was wrong. Welp....and so does many of our BLACK Icons have the same issues. Oh well.
Yup, it's so disappointing.
Indeed!💯
If you woulda told him this in the 80’s he’d just be like the men of today and say “it’s a preference”. So there’s no winning. But I’m glad many DS women like u and me call it out.
@@dejstoney What’s the point of calling him out when he wasn’t one? A colorist means someone who is prejudice towards darker skin tones, he never once publicly expressed his disdain for dark skin women nor did he degrade any. He’s employed, mentored and exclusively dated dark skin women throughout his career, stop making up deranged narratives to fit your agenda.
@@exquisite2185 the fact u replied arguing under EVERY comment is actually sad
I had to click the minute I saw the title because I think it’s time that the community acknowledged this and made peace with it because prince was 100% a Colorist and when he wasn’t being a colorist he was engaging in quite predatory behavior against young women amongst a slew of other problematic behaviors
It’s a blessing in disguise in a way because he treated those non black and mixed preferences like trash. I’m not saying it was right, because no women deserves that but I’m happy he didn’t put dark and brown skin womb through that. We go through enough that we do not deserve.
LOL. Please do some growing up. The man was not a colorist.
Exactly
@@belindauo Don't know how old you are to remember these things. I'm sorry you can not accept this, but he truly was that way. Back in the '80s that's all you heard about him and you could plainly see it. His own father even protested him not having a black woman portraying his mother in Purple Rain. But as much as we hated it, we always supported him. That 1st wife of his even said he never had black people at their house. I remember thinking, all those love songs which were beautiful, weren't about us. He did a few videos featuring black women after some backlash, One in particular was demeaning and one where he used a real black prostitute as a sexual prop. I liked the songs, but not how the black women were presented. Black Sweat and 'Sunshine' with Angie, great songs, seemed forced by a lot of people. It was only later into the late '90's, early 2000's that he seemed to change, then he flooded his image with blackness and he appeared happier. We still loved and always supported him and his genius. RIP Prince.
He's a lightskin man with 2 lightskin parents. Why would he like someone darker than his mom? He is only copying his dad's dating preference.
Yes we all know Prince 🤴🏽was colorist. He also had a type. Even Sheena Easton and Morris Day fit the mold. (No I’m not implying he was dating Morris Day) Funnily enough I was really shocked that he was supporting Lizzo. That is what made me pay attention to her. I figured her talent had to be insane for him to go outside the mold.
As a matter of fact he was part of the reason we grew up so colorist. We were already getting it at home, then we had television and movies reiterating the points. I mean I’m pushing 50 and it’s only been in the past few years I’ve been ok with getting a tan. We need vitamin D.
Alexander O'Neil was the original front man for The Time. Morris was better for the comedic timing but he wasn't a better singer.
Prince had collaborated with heavier Black women before with people like Rosie Gaines during that Diamonds and Pearls era but Rosie was definitely a background singer in the music videos. I do think that his colorism mellowed a bit with age.
@@mrh2821 I wouldn’t say with age but with being enlightened, no
Pun intended. People who worked with him always said he made sure when he needed someone for employment he always wanted someone Black. Every city they toured he had his people find worthy Black causes to donate to. Sometimes when you know better you do better.
@@cocoa105 Alex was only a consideration he was never apart of the group. Also morris day’s entire persona is just another version of prince, If you did any research you’d know that. Ask yourself why a dark skinned man would portray prince?
@@exquisite2185 You must have felt like you needed to make some point. Nothing you said contradicts what I said. Bless your heart.
I am a huge Prince fan and Janet Jackson fan and both are colourist af. I even find MJ was colourist as well.
Recovering lifelong Prince fan here 🙋🏿♂️. You nailed this one sistah! You hit every point I've been saying for years...including his questionable 'mentoring' relationships with underage girls
Yes Prince and light skin women go hand and hand. He stepped out a little as he got older. I do remember the video for “ Black Sweat” had a dark skin model in it. The video was noticeably outside his norm as was the lyrics.
Lenny Kravitz is also a Prince like figure and he had had a similar video for his song “Black Velveteen” that showed a black model which is outside his norm. Love that video and song.
In one of his speeches in his later years he said he in so many words he was not proud of the person he was back then. He also did a lot of things in private for bp, including paying for Treyvon Martin's funeral. I know he was also very close to Tamron Hall. He spoke on and very different things and moved very differently shortly before his death.
@@kaysmith8787 I think Prince tried to redeem himself in his later years, but at that point, the damage was already done. It's simply disheartening to look at some of his biggest career peaks and see the lack of Black women.
@@missanamarie I agree, but I am glad he got his heart right and did right by a lot of people before he left this world.
@@ruthviolette497 His intimate life appears to have largely been devoid of Black women and that will continue to be off-putting for many. Not to mention that a lot of his early and most popular visuals exclude Black women (yet include Black men)...that's when it would've mattered most to see a darker-,skinned BW.
It's nice that he (eventually) worked with exceptional and iconic Black woman artists, but I don't think that's "the real issue" here. Black women (especially darker-skinned BW) can "see" that they were an afterthought and it's an important conversation to be had.
@@ruthviolette497 It's not that uncommon for famous Black men to date Black women when they're at the beginning of their career, and then go after lighter, multiracial, and non-Black women at the height of the career and beyond.
Prince wasn't unique in this dating pattern...and I do agree that this may have also been a sign of the times. But that's also why it's important for this conversation to be had in the Black community again and again. Colorism was and is industry standard (and the standards were especially racist in the '80s), so if you can, just try to push against them.
At the end of the day, if Prince "wanted" Black women to be included in (early) visuals, he probably would've fought for it like he did for everything else in his life.
I do think he came to see this "pattern" later on, but again, the damage is done.
And this is just the beginning of people pointing out his faults (people are starting to discuss the ages of the young women he dated).
It's unfortunate, but Prince made his bed and he made his choices. Let's hope that young artists will learn from this and be more cognizant of what their legacy may end up "looking" like.
Incredibly Creative & also Incredibly Colorist...both things can be true!
I'm a Baby Boomer and while I did enjoy some of Prince's music, I wasn't into his lifestyle or videos. Perhaps I subconsciously noticed and was repulsed by his choice to exclude Brown skinned women. I don't know. I do know that in light of this commentary, I am very comfortable with my choice back then. Colorism is hurtful and destructive. I've felt its cuts over the years both personally and in my own family.
The thing is too, he never liked himself and tried really hard to not be seen as black when he first came into the scene...he just started embracing his blackness a few years before he died...I ain't surprised he was a colorists...sad to say, you're right, most BM artists are colorists!!
@@rickihosein most BW artists are colorist.
@@tbcreloaded7529 ...you think so?...I know there are bw that are colorists...I haven't really gotten those vibes from any of the bw artists I follow...they probably do exist though!!!
@Mimi ...prince was not mixed race, both of his parents were black...what was jimi hendrix mixed with?...prince used what he looked like to get the crowd he wanted...when did he wear an afro?...did he wear it when he became big...no, he didn't!!!...he always claimed to be half Italian at the beginning of his career, cause he wasn't proud to be all black...you can say whatever excuses you want for him, but he knew exactly what he was doing...he was a self hater and tried to embrace his blackness near the end of his life!!!
@Mimi ...generational mixed?...isnt everybody...at the end of the day, both his parents were black...I actually like prince, but does not mean I don't see shit...when I first remember prince, I was a child, and he did not have an afro...do not ever remember habpving an afro until, like I said a few years before he dipped...I stand by what said!!!
All this time, I thought he was biracial. That's why I didn't think anything of his "preferences." That man hated himself.
I thought so, too 😬
That's because Prince is biracial
I never thought he was biracial. I just thought he was a light brown skinned man especially from his earlier photos.
Bingo. He looked in the mirror and saw something exotic, but he knew he was "just" Black and hated it.
Prince was biracial. One drop rule was a farce. And I can't tell the difference between Prince and a person with a black and white parent. He may have been colorist but he was racially ambiguous himself.
The “diamonds and Pearl” video really did it for me. I was young and noticed his taste in women and I myself am bi racial. I was like why is he idealizing these fair skinned women when the black woman, singing, made the song. Also Carmen Electra is no musical talent, but he put her on too. In his later years I think he tried to change wearing Afros and feature a dark skinned model because as a black man the industry did him wrong.
@Miss McQueen Yes he did have dark skin women in he's videos. But they were always in the background, they never played he's love interest. In black sweat the woman was playing the role of a Jazebel. Also towards the end of life, the reason why he he decided to go back natural, was because he had a biracial girlfriend at time back in 2011 and she encouraged him go natural, because she had an Afro.
@@debbiedavid3151 Yup, Andy Allo inspired him to wear an afro again. I also think the perms were taking a toll on his edges...they were starting to look raggedy and sparse, LMAO.
Anyway, if Prince had just included Black women in his art, we wouldn't have to cherry pick the few times that he prominently featured a Black woman. Meanwhile, there's no debate that he loved white and multiracial women because they were ALWAYS included. Prince put this blemish on his own career.
Yep! He felt how it was to really be black!
It's nice that as a biracial woman you noticed he"s was anti blackness and his love for anything W or closest to W.
@@missanamarie While i agree with this, it’s not his job as a lightskin man to portray anything he didn’t want to. Most of his protégé’s in the 2000’s were dark skinned women, he dated, employed and kept BW in high regards professionally. Not sure why y’all been running up and down this comment section trying to fit the narrative that he was “colorist”. The literal definition means someone who’s prejudice towards darker skin tones.. he’s never once degraded BW publicly, he’s not chris brown.
Thank you for talking about this!
Prince is a legend and left a huge legacy...it only makes sense to acknowledge *who* he loved and *how* he seemed to love them would leave an enduring blueprint as well. I remember Questlove in his moving personal essay about Prince and his passing wrote "I studied his taste in women -- closely."
Thank you so much for this video and for touching on the weirdness in the dynamic with him and Mayte too!
Yes! The conversation a lot of folks don’t want to have! Wonderful artist and musician and still very noticeably a colorist
I’ve met a number of older Black women, of Prince’s generation, that have shared that they just couldn’t “get into” Prince. This video certainly has shown the extent to which colorism and his minimal representation of Black women has something to do with that.
Music is subjective at the end of the day, i doubt his preference in women had anything to do with that. Not sure why black women look to lightskin ambiguous men to represent them. It’s unhinged behaviour.
They likely couldn’t get with him because they thought he was gay just based off how he presented himself. Also, Depends on the region where those black women you’re speaking on are from.
@@exquisite2185 Black women have long found representation to be useful in the choices they make about music, entertainers, sports, television, and beyond - this was a thing then, as it is now. Representation is the why behind a multitude of artists success stories.
@@missekevu33 The way in which he presented, could be a consideration for many too - sure.
@@missekevu33 I thought that he was gay.
thank you for being here. you keep me striving to be a thinking human. thank you for what you have contributed and are contributing to our healing and processing of our traumas. thank you, sis.
The way I’ve been needing someone to really break this down thank you!
I didn’t grow up in the era of Prince but I do remember watching Purple Rain re-runs on VH1. It was my first entry into the Prince fandom and it made me interested in listening to more of his music and watching his music videos. Through his music videos, I quickly recognized his “preference” (a word I use lightly bc when this word comes up in the topic of dating, people are actually describing a pre-requisite/requirement lol). It was a little off putting for me bc this is a musician so revered in the black community and his music video didn’t reflect his (black) fan base at all. Ofc he had the right to like what he liked but you have to call a spade and spade. It was colorism plain and simple!
True! I noticed that too growing up as a kid in the 80's and 90's: He had an obvious inclination to feature light, bright, ambiguous and straight up white women in 99% of his music videos. I only recall "Black Sweat" featuring a beautiful, dark-skinned Black woman and it's my FAVORITE video by him and guess what? That video came out in his later years after becoming a Jehovah's Witness. I did notice that unlike his other videos, he wasn't all over her--she was all over him! He didn't make an effort to touch her! That speaks volumes. Dark skinned, unambiguous Black women were not what he desired. I heard that back in the day before he really blew up, he had a crush on Patrice Rushen and she friend-zoned him. Maybe that's the reason? He got butt hurt? LOL but anyway, RIP to the legend.
@@kristineilochi4615 The model in that music video wasn’t supposed to touch him, there’s a story on youtube about that music video and the directors wanted to get his reaction to the model “groping” prince. That’s why he looks caught off guard and confused lol. I will say he definitely had his “preference” but colorist is a strong word considering he didn’t degrade nor show any prejudice towards darker skin tones.
Prince has always had a multicultural and a large white fan base from the very beginning what are you talking about.
As a black dark skin woman allow me to sit down & learn 😶🌫️. FYI definitely love to see preferences win. As long as BW are not a part of their mess.
Love Prince. Yes I noticed that all his love interest, muses were white , bright or very light skinned. I was disappointed as a fair skinned girl because I couldn't understand why non of his ladies looked like my beautiful dark skinned mother who adored.
Majority of the 80s and 90s were colorist....movies and definitely music videos. Dark dudes weren't getting any love with the prominent display of light skinned "pretty boys". Then people started sweating chocolate men but women were still dragged. I always appreciated Heavy D who made the song Black Coffee which celebrated darker skinned women. Great video. 😁😁
Chile it was many dark skin male leads
But then when dark skin me and had they turn to take over they still promoted colorism so I just can't
@@lacecocoa6272 💯
It's so funny how black men have been whining about that one decade when pretty boys who were typically brown or light brown were getting attention. But they have promoted lighter skinned women more in every decade.
, it was the decade of the debarges LOL
that was in. and there was nothing we can do about it that's why I have no idea why people are complaining about prince, who's a multi-generational mixed man himself.
You were spot on, Sis!! I remember seeing my dark skinned peers falling so much for Prince back in the 80's. I would ALWAYS comment about Prince's love of lighter skin, and my sistas would be mad at me. They didn't want to hear it. I NEVER saw that CherryMoon movie. Honestly, after Purple Rain, and the love interests, I was over it! I can listen to Prince's first album with love from my childhood. Purple Rain was my high school years. I had to leave his music alone. Colorism is real. He was no question a colorist. Brilliant musician, yes. An AfroPunk brother and I recently spent quite a bit of time talking about Prince being a colorist.
Loved this video.
I stopped being a fan of prince in the 11th grade. I'm over 50 now. 😂 I peeped the girls he 'put on' and none looked like me so 🤷🏾♀️. I saw him in the Beverly Center once with his body guard. The mall had just opened for the day so hardly no one was there yet. I noticed his big burly blonde haired bodyguard before I noticed prince because he was so short. When I did recognize him just as our paths would cross, he quickly and abruptly averted his eyes and stared straight ahead. Guess he thought I was going to scream and fan out. Uh, NOT. lol His weirdness and white/ light skin girl obsession had lost me as a fan long ago.
You must not be a fan of 98% of the industry considering majority of the male artists from the 50’s until the 90’s, did what prince did as well. He wasn’t the first and he certainly won’t be the last, not sure why his preference bothers you. A man who’s skin tone is in close proximity to whiteness shouldn’t be someone you look to represent you..
Wow was he trying to avoid eye contact with you? Sounds like he was being a bit rude. I love him dearly but I don’t appreciate those colorist ways.
@@shenyae4143 Prince did have a reputation for being rude at times.
@@exquisite2185 I don't know about that. Most black men had unambiguous black women in their music videos between the 50s and 80s, even in the 90s. Sure some were light, but most were brown or dark/medium brown-skinned. Prince was the only artist who continually had light/white women as his love interests.
@@faa1412 Yup I know XX
As a brown skin girl that looooo💜es Prince this was painful truth was not missed on me and did not go unnoticed. He did have a colorist perception toward his muses and that relationship with Mayte was highly problematic. 😩😭😩😢🥺💔
It was and ended badly also
Somebody done figured it out huh? Lets go!!!?
Its 8am in CA...I woke up to what I thought was an earthquake but its just Jouelzy shaking the MF table🤣
Jouelzy this was a fantastic video! I'm an Asian American casual fan of Prince and I never realized how intentional his choices were of female collaborators and paramours until now. I still love his music but this is a fine critique in how he aided and abetted in widespread colorism. Thanks for highlighting all this. Good research here as well.
To all of the folks who keep saying that Prince is mixed, no he’s not. He is light skinned with two light skinned black parents. End of story.
Thank u sis 💯
Pretty sure his parents became lightskinned from some mixing down the line.
That simple
LOL but his parents obviously got white in them. C'mon now. He's not black like Wesley Snipes, or James Brown, or even the Jacksons (who are medium brown).
@@faa1412 the average African American does genius
Thank you Jouelzy for this courageous dive into an icon . I had not thought about him being a colorist - probably because I never looked at his as my personal sex symbol . I was a teen in the 90s and he still was marketed as an adult contemporary artist - however - when you lay it out like that it seems absolutely true when you combine his insistence on creating the visuals he wanted and these were the choices he made . It seems harsh to call him a colorist but it so worth further examining - thank you for willing to do so
A dive not well researched.
The weekend is the same way let’s talk about it, great video btw!
But why aren’t black female singers doing the same?
I never saw him with black women.
@@minnie3906 black females in the general public more than make up for it!
He had a thing for Chaka Khan, when he was young, she was brown skin. But she was a star before him, I remember she said he got her number, pretended to be Sly Stone and lured her to the studio, he wanted to meet her before he got famous.
I once heard that Prince had a huge crush on the lovely, chocolate & extremely talented Patrice Rushen...but she wasn't checking for him. I always wondered if this were true & maybe his bitterness turned him a different direction. I still love his music & sad I never got to see him perform live.. Colorism or being "color struck" as it used to be known, is definitely a problem that prevails...I don't know if we'll ever shake it.
It's like we all knew the deal with Prince but at that time is was every where, most Black artist did this. Prince was also getting perms too. I think during the mainstream rise of Prince that was the aesthetic being pushed heavily, you could see it with The Jackson's as well.
Yes, I agree. I grew up in the eighties and as a dark skinned child I remember watching all of the top black pop artists, and I noticed none of their love interests looked like me. I believe these artists featured light skinned/white women so that they could easily cross over, and be accepted by white fans. This was also a trend in early hip hop. Also, before Prince there was Rick James, who if I remember correctly accused Prince of stealing his style and sound 🤷🏾♀️
@@bagewr None of them. Like I'm not saying he isn't a colorist....because I think he was....but it was YEARS where all the love interests in any video where there was any crossover appeal it was a non black or ambiguous woman. I mean even in early rap videos. I just thought Prince like white women.....or women who looked like him. Which is fine, but the whole only ever featuring them in his visual art was like......ok girl.
ehh idk about michael. he had a few dark skinned women as love interests. never really noticed that until now.
@@kaylabey Mj never publicly dated or married any black women. The entire jackson family is basically non black right now because most of the brothers had children with white/racially ambiguous women. Lol this video should really he about that colorist family.
@@bagewr There’s a video on youtube about rick james bandmates stating rick stole prince’s keyboard that he kept his music on. Rick recorded his album “street songs” and gave prince the keyboard back, with a note that read “thank you”. That nigga was a thief at it’s finest lol
I know I’m in the extreme minority but I’ve never been a huge fan of Michael Jackson/Prince because they’ve always given big self-hate/struggling with internalized anti-blackness energy. Now do they have everlasting bops. Yes, sure. But I’ve just never understood how my fellow Black women cried real true tears of love for these men who very clearly did not feel that way towards us 🤷🏽♀️
Naw sib, I feel the same way. People will argue til their graves that Michael didn’t bleach their skin and it was his illness buuuuuttttttt ummmm that nose??? What’s the explanation for that??
Ditto.
@@iamgooberz he broke his nose during a performance practice if I’m not mistaken and thought it looked off so had a rhinoplasty to fix it
I’m a massive MJ and Prince stan and will continue to be for my rest of my life and I will million percent agree with your statement this is actually a very taboo discussion within the MJ fanbase especially when majority of MJ Stan’s are white and don’t get the understanding of the internalized anti blackness Michael had in his life especially in his childhood where he was the darkest among his siblings and made fun by of course his dad, as well as even his mom, and all the siblings for it, and the anti black colorism further effected Michael when he reached adulthood and started his solo career that was the underlying reason to why it wasn’t taken seriously and why he was doubted and dismissed by the industry even in the mindset of the blockbuster success of thriller. That’s the taboo part of the discourse
Tbh, I don't agree with the MJ take. He had a lot of Black people/women in his vids even after he was lightskinned. He showed he cared not only about Black people in the US, but also abroad (They Don't Care About US had a US and Brazilian version and Liberian girl is the only US song I know about Liberia)
He also got *pissed* when he was portrayed by a white guy in a commercial
He struggled with self hate because of his dad fs, but the man didn't hate Black people like that
He definitely did have a type. Who knows what was really behind that? As you said, more saleable, socially acceptable, fashionable. I think it's important to mention that he always remained true to his African American roots; AAVE use, musical inspiration, personal idols. He was unapologetically black. As an influencer he has a responsibility to embrace all colours of People but maybe he just found those women beautiful? Maybe it was just personal preference.
Don’t you find it funny how the majority of ppl seem to find black ppl more beautiful the closer their features are to whiteness…. That is called colorism!
Back in the day I loved loved me some Prince. As a little brown girl I dreamed of someday meeting him in person. To now discover that he wouldn't have even looked at a woman who looked like me. So sad. I still like his music though.
Jeez here we go!!! Even though Prince literally created some of the most impactful songs and album for a majority of dark skinned women !! Chaka Khan , Aretha Franklin , Whitney Huston etc. Oh yea he's colorist because he's light-skinned ,this subject is becoming a dead-end , it's strictly being a nitpicking marathon
Also I never had a crush on him like my aunts and cousins did. Not because of the soft light skin/mixed male trope. But because I knew that he wasn't into girls that looked like me. I just didn't have the language to express it the way I do now.
He just honestly was never handsome to me. He didn’t fit the description of tall, dark, and handsome and he looked fruity.
@@dejstoney so he wasn’t tall and dark enough for your preference?
I’ve always said this. Idk why this isn’t more spoken about? I mean the man endorsed danileigh. He only had two requirements. Light skin and wavy hair chyle
Please rewatch the video "Diamond and Pearls". The love interest in the video was a Black woman. And watch the video "U make my Sun Shine".
The love interest was not a black
Women. A black women did backing vocals.
I am not old enough to be aware of Prince at the height of his career. I liked his music through my parents but I 100% noticed his colourist visuals when I was in my teens, I didn’t have the language for it but in my mind it was something that didn’t sit right for me. I questioned and kinda gaslit myself because I thought how could a man be so spiritual, who expressed his love for women so much cut out dark skinned, racially unambiguous black women.
This also reminds me of a article I read years ago about spike lee and Prince having a conversation about dating non black women which neither part disclosed details but it was insinuated that they both recognised their colourist ideologies. I really wished we could find out what they discussed.
I’ve been peep that even as a kid growing up in the late 90’s and early 2000’s I seen colorism all over but Prince was definitely no exception lol my main issue with him that gave me resentment was that he had queer feminine ways in his style and could still be seen as Straight and acceptable and everyone made it seem like the only reason why he’s able to gender bend is because he’s an artist. I call BS because if he was dark skinned showing his ass cheeks I don’t think he’d be that big and that speaks to black pplz colorism as a whole. All I had was a high voice and rhythm in my walk and the hell I had to go through but Prince could get away with it. The double standard caused me not to rock with his music for a long time but I appreciate it now for what it was
You clearly haven’t researched much about him, the man got hate and rumours spread about his sexuality throughout his entire career. Hell even until now people still think he was gay and down low. I can’t believe your minimizing his talents by saying his skin tone made him who he was, he wasn’t even taken seriously as a rock artist or a guitarist for years because of his skin color. The rock genre is over saturated with white artists fyi. You sound upset that you haven’t amounted up too much and you’ve decided to take all this misplaced anger out on a dead man, how unfortunate.
@@exquisite2185 Um the industry still kept him around and because of the women he dated he got a pass. And u don’t know what I amounted to in my life thus far and I hope u remember saying that when u start seeing me on TV soon
@@pyscez93 “The industry still kept him around”.. i can tell you know nothing about his career lmao. A man of his talent isn’t going anywhere just because tabloids and blogs questioned his sexuality. He was very androgynous as was james brown, little richard, rick james etc These are dark skin men who got away with wearing makeup, feminine attire and perms/wigs. So your statement is redundant and greatly reflects your ability to connect any brain cells.
I agree Prince chose a certain look of woman. I suppose that is colorism. I also know that humans gravitate toward people who are similar to themselves. His choices worry me less than when I see someone who is not light skinned showing disdain for dark skin. Such a complex issue.
I think it could’ve been an expression of narcissism. I recall his whole group simultaneously wearing his signature hair cut. The group didn’t coordinate with him like most background artist ; they appeared like him including with cloths. It looked a little silly but it was Prince so we rocked with it.
I think the problem lies in possibly mistreating darker-skinned people or having different standards for them than he did for others. As for who he was attracted to, it doesn't matter. I have my own preferences too.
Love Prince and his musical ability. His videos were always awesome!
Nah he’s a colorist but has a great voice.
Nothing lovable abt that
@@iLikeCok He was a creative genius. Being a colorist, whatever that means, is an inconsequential tag that no one cares about
@@iLikeCok I dunno, when he passed there was a lot of tears shed and love shown for him, and till this day. A legend and more!
Thank you for taking the time and energy to record this even though you weren't feeling your best ♥️
I sort of accepted Prince's colorism because I, like so many other people, believed that his mother was white and how could I blame him for wanting and pedestalizing women in his mother's image. Now that I know that both his parents were Black and that his mother was a lightskin Black woman, I'd be lying if I said his choices to always showcase white women as opposed to Black women is very hurtful.💯
It literally hurts your personal feelings?
Im so happy you brought this up. I was thinking this, especially being a product of north minneapolis myself. His name is brought up alot from those who were influenced by his music as well as grew up with him and knew him on a personal level. We dont want to bring up negative references about him but at the same time this isnt his fault alone. We are all a product of our society. Twincities is a melting pot of biracial and multi-racial culture. I want to praise him but I also want to educate why some images are harmful to us as a whole . Thank you Jouelzy. Thank you.
I agree. Celebrities should NOT be above criticism.
So so so good! I feel terrible for not knowing who Tamara is! I will be looking her up! You're so right about his influence on men...especially dark-skinned men. I really love Prince's song "Black Sweat". The music video always made me wonder why he came off annoyed with the dark-skinned featured dancer 🤷🏾♀️...maybe I'm making things up.
I remember how surprised I was to see a dark skinned woman in that video!
The music video for black sweat encapsulates the image a jazebel perfectly. If you look at the vido again, you will see what I mean. It was through him I understand what the jazebel was.
@@debbiedavid3151 I don't get that out of the video at all . No disrespect, can you elaborate more? I'm genuinely interested.
@@debbiedavid3151 absolutely not what Blck Sweat was abt. Shot where he gives Celina an off look - cameras were rolling and director told her to do something off script. It was captured while cameras were rolling.
The "Black Sweat" video is different. The dancer Celestina was instructed to touch Prince KNOWING that Prince wouldn't expect it. The director did that to get Prince's natural reaction.
great video! very entertaining :) -i don’t have much discourse to add to the conversation, i just wanted to leave a comment💗
Colorism WILL NEVA go away, PERIOD!!
Totally agree it’s been like that for Ancients and that will never go away… Not all black people are not gonna agree with everything with another black person decision, but respect all different opinions. That’s what’s makes the world go around. The good, the bad, and the ugly and the pretty.
Prince is one of my top favorite artists but as a dark skinned woman, I always saw how colorist showed up. Tired of how we still ignore how colorism rules our lives today.... especially amongst black media, artists, etc.
Prince was light skin. He liked women who looked similar to him.
Yes!! I don’t see what’s wrong with that! He dated within his phenotype! 🤷🏽♂️
Thank you! 💯💯
@@harlemw651 Can you imagine if most black men did the same, date within his phenotype?? Lawd!
Yeah, he liked women who looked similar to him, unlike 99% of black males.
@@BelAge Light to tanned men usually DO date within their phenotype. It's the dark skinned guys that usually go lighter. They don't seem to want a woman or kids with their same features.
Prince was not a colorist! His first two known girlfriends were brown-skinned black women Kim Upsher and Susan Moonsie. He also had a crush on keyboardist Patrice Rushin and wrote I Wanna Be Your Lover about her, but she rejected him! He didn't briefly date Nona Gaye, they dated for 3 years and this is according to her! Prince had black women working for him as lawyers and managers. He has a black female drummer Cora Coleman-Dunham, black female guitarist Kat Dyson, dancers Damaris Lewis and Cat Glover. He was heavily flirting with Tamarion Hall a few years before his death. Not to mention his hair dresser of nearly 30 years Kim Berry said in her book that Prince dated alot of black women over the years that were all shades. He supported and loved singers like Lauren Hill, who while she was incarcerated made sure her children we're taking care of. Back up singers Shelby J and Liv Warfield said Prince treated them with nothing but kindness, love, and respect. He took the singer Tamar Davis under his wing, wrote songs for her album and promoted her career. Why her album never came out I don't know. He didn't groom Mayte if anyone could be accused of that it would be Nell her mother because she was the one that encouraged Mayte to try to get hired as a dancer, by constantly showing up to concerts trying to get Mayte's belling dancing tape pass Prince's security. She also encouraged her daughter to lie about her age. So who's really doing the grooming? Mayte stated in her book several times that her early relationship with Prince was strictly platonic, and they didn't get intimate into a few months after her 19th birthday. Stop with all the bashing of this man who's no longer here to defend himself against this SLANDER! And yes I am a HUGE Prince fan and will continue to be. Yes he had a type all men do, but that doesn't make him a villain. PRINCE LOVED BLACK WOMEN, and any black woman that was ever around him would tell you that.
Even with the facts, the person who made this video has issues with black men and will ignore your post. She created this video to start something she can’t finished. It is embarrassing to be honest. She acts as though Prince can’t have a preference. The man is not alive and this video is highly disrespectful.
Can light skinned men like light skinned women?
@@belindauo completely disrespectful! And you're right she will ignore my comment. She's needs to go get some therapy and figure out what she has against black men. Dead black men at that....this whole video is pathetic.
Girl! These disrespectful folks have no idea who Prince was, it seems like half of them thought he was mixed! They don't know and they don't know what they're talking about. Prince loved Women...period. I would advise them to watch The Most Beautiful Girl in the World video and see what Prince was talking about. I will always love him, may he rest in heaven.
exactly they never mention Marvin Gaye's daughter at all, they're looking at a few examples in the 1980s and they're running with it.
and not to mention.
those beautiful dark complected women that Prince work with towards the end of his life in the early 2000s. and he put a lot of dark complected black women on his shows
in the last years of his life.
I forget about that great video he did,
it was a very soulful video.
he was surrounded by dark complected black women.
I forgot the name of that video maybe you can remind me of what that video was.
He had a brown skinned black woman before he died.
Prince, later in his life, really became one with his blackness. He returned to his natural hair and started dating more dark-skinned women. I’m a massive fan, and his colorism always bothered me, even when I was a little girl coming into adulthood in the 1980s. It bothered me then. It bothers me now when I revisit his visuals and how many of his love interests look. However, I do believe that people can change, and there have been many times when P gave dark-skinned black women a shot in the business: whether Nona Gaye or Shelby. Bonnie Boyer and browner sisters like Rosie Gaines. He helped introduce the world to Lizzo as well. At any rate, I think people can change, and for what it’s worth, I believe he made peace with his blackness and matured. I think most black men are colorist-to varying degrees. The hard part is doing the work to overcome internalized racism and self hatred.
Don’t forget about Janelle Monet and he did date dark girls. Don’t believe the hype.
I hear you and partially agree. Also a huge Prince fan going back to the 80s.
He did become more mobilized in his blackness as he got older. Whether that came with age/wisdom/growth or bitterness and "returning home" out of frustration with the abuse/lack of support from his label & white music industry. Prince hadn't had a hit in 20+ years.
Where I differ is in the suggestion that he had a robust cadre of dark/ black women he worked with. There were a few more as he got older (most notably Janelle Monae) but he only took interest in black women for their powerhouse vocals. The black women were asexual.
The dark or even caramel brown women were never positioned as beautiful or persons of desire. Literally never. Its a similar formula today that these artists may collab with a sista but thats a different lane than who they choose or proclaim as beautiful.
The beauty is its own currency & power.
@@alleyinn1 Your assessment is fair. I think that commonly happens in black entertainment: if she’s dark-skinned, she’s usually the best singer, but asexual, and often overweight. I hear you. Some of his darker-skinned love interests were not asexual. He apparently had a thing for Whitney Houston, Chilli, and Nia Long. Nona Gaye is/was a very sexy woman as was Mica Paris and Cat Glover, but other than that, you’re right.
@@EANDM71 Let’s not forget Tamron Hall, I think he had something going on with her beyond friendship. I was never buying the platonic thing.
@@EANDM71 Let’s not forget Tamron Hall, I think he had something going on with her beyond friendship. I was never buying the platonic thing.
YES, PRINCE WAS COLOR STRUCK!
If he’s a light toned man, why is he wrong for wanting a light toned woman?
I gave been a Prince fan for almost my whole life. My aunts let me listen to all of his music. His love of light skin or white wasn't really spoken of. At the start of career a lot of black people just saw him as weird and different. However when Purple Rain came out, his daddy did put him on blast for trying to portray himself as biracial. School Daze wasn't inspired by Prince. HBCUs and black sororities and fraternities were very colorist. It has always been said that AKAs used the paper bag test when deciding who they would let in. Basically with Prince it really wasn't really talked because he never outright insulted black women. Only the rappers did that.
Prince is racially ambiguous so why is it a problem for him to desire ppl that look like him? That doesn’t make him a colorist.
Sadly I have to agree with you, I can only think of a few Women that were Black, Dark or Curvey, that he was involved with or was part of his roster of band members, Rosey Ganes Band Member, Nona Gaye an artist he was Romantically involved with, Boni Boyer Band Member, Liv Warfield Vocalist, Shelby J. Vocalist, Cassandra O'Neal Band Member, Cora Coleman Dunham Band Member, Tamar Vocalist, Rose Ann Dimalanta Band Member, Milenia Vocal Group, Geneva Dancer Member, Maria King Vocalist, Kat Dyson Guitarist, Jevetta Steele Vocalist,and Cat Glover Dancer. These folks are the few I kno of.
🧐 I don’t know if I agree. Yes, maybe the relationships the media covered were light and White women but I don’t know if that’s Prince’s fault. For ONE we have no idea who all Prince dated. Period. Just off the top of my head Susan from V6 wasn’t light, she was a deep brown. He dated Kim Upsher she was dark brown. He had a crush on Patrice Rushton, who didn’t want him. He dated Nona Gaye, Marvin’s daughter, she’s darker. Every time the press reports on the BEAUTIFUL women he dated they always go into Madonna and Kim Basinger, they barely even talk about any of the women of color. Also, I remember Jill Jones, a protégé said he had “relationships” for show. That the “plantation mistresses” were for show. Remember in slavery there was the Master and his wife would be considered the Mistress. Idk if she was saying they really didn’t have a relationship or if she was saying he was using the relationship for clout or what but especially in his later years, “Prince was a colorist,” doesn’t seem like a fair assessment. Also, one I forgot was Nia Long who said Prince tried to push up on her but she was too afraid to actually holler at him. 🤣 Can you imagine? She should’ve taken the chance!
Also, I heard he and Madonna didn’t really date. It was more publicity. But the media will report on them more than his wives. 🤷🏽♀️
And as a pale skinned Black man, who didn’t draw a line in the sand when it came to color- who dated different tones can we say he was colorist, even if there were more light skin girlfriends then dark? Serious question? Is a dark skinned man colorist if he dated most dark girl and some light skinned girls? I don’t know.
As a child in the 80's, I enjoyed Prince's early catalogue. Once Purple Rain hit theatres and air waves, Prince was solidified as a major talent. I never really thought about Prince's blatant colorism although it was on full display. I new that he was different than what most artists were doing back then, but I never thought much about what was being displayed. Thank you for taking a closer look at Prince's choices and calling a thing a thing. Also, I didn't know he had two black parents🤯. Thanks again.
I can’t believe that man said “he was around Rock music” to explain colorism… black women invented the genre so that just shows you how much it was taken over
I find this so interesting since so many of my elders adore prince. I never knew about this part of him and only knew about him endorsing Lizzo and Janelle Monae.
I’m glad that you’re speaking on this bc a lot of ppl like to brush these things under the rug bc “that’s just how things were at the time” and I’m sorry I don’t buy that . These are VERY conscious decisions by him and other artists from times before him , with him and even today . There’s no way you can be looking for actually talented dancers and protégés and completely exclude an entire segment of BLACK people … very eye opening as someone who is 25 and whose mother loves Prince’s music . (Also learning that he was tapped into DaniLeigh sounds and looks CRAZY in 2022 after all she’s said and done LMFAO !)
What’s interesting to me is that Jouelzy is a light skinned woman who is not afraid to call out colorism. The privileged are often defensive about what gives them an unfair advantage. Either it’s totally ignored or brushed off in our community - but it’s really EVERYWHERE in our community. Mad respect to Jouelzy!
Some Prince fams try to pretend like Prince was above colorism, but it's obvious that he had a type.
I love Prince, but it's disheartening that we rarely saw (dark-skinned) Black women in the forefront (in his love life and his art).
Lastly, I wish people wouldn't try to tell Black women what we are seeing or feeling...we've seen this OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Prince isn't the only one...and this "playing the game of colorism to get ahead" is a sad old song.
I used to think that Prince was only attracted to women with a light complexion until I watched an episode of the Prince Podcast featuring Robin Power. Robin, a Black woman, held nothing back about her romantic and professional relationship with Prince. The Prince Podcast also interviewed Cat (the dancer). Cat mentioned that she didn't feel confident, beautiful in comparison to the women in L.A. when she moved there and Prince kept telling her that she was beautiful. People came for Nia Long when she said Prince was attracted to her because she mentioned it after he passed away. Kenya from RHOA mentioned in an episode that Prince was attracted to her too. Prince was involved with/attracted to sooooo many beautiful women.
I listened to that podcast as well. It really humanized Prince. I think Prince truly was attracted to ALL colors of women, that's why I really don't take offense.
I feel you but he’s never married or had children by a Black women who is dark or brown. He was a colorist. I believe he pandered. Also I’ll check that podcast out.
@@shenyae4143 Definitely check out the podcast. It's here on youtube. They interview people from Prince's inner circle including family members. Prince was very black with mostly black friends at the beginning of his life and career. I think the real question to explore is why did he feel the need to put on this multiracial facade in order to be a superstar.
Thank you. I can't believe the amount of misinformation being stated as facts by people who know very little about Prince.
@@sondraj816 to appeal to the masses who are white. It's a very common mindset in the marketing industry.
I’ve always had this feeling about Prince but you laid it out perfectly. It’s crystal clear that he was indeed a colorist smh. You nailed it! 💯
It’s not true tho. If you know anything about Prince you know it’s not true.
@@MaryLou913 Girl go sit down.
As someone who rarely watches music videos, I am very glad you pointed this out! It is something that would have never occurred to me unless I felt the need to watch his videos or dug a little deeper.
I think he was a product of the time that pushed the mixed women to the forefront however he did date Susan Moonsie who was brown skin and had dark features. Vanity was light but she tanned much darker and she kept that darker tone throughout her life. I guess everyone has a preference. I do not think he felt it was better just a preference. His second band was mostly black dark brown with strong features so I think he loved all shades. His idols were James Brown and Jimmie Hendrix and other black people.
He dated Nona Gaye and another dark brown woman so he did branch out.
He did like Patrice Rushton and Nia Long but they didn’t return the affection. His first girlfriend was Kim Upsher she was the waitress that Morris was tripping with on Purple Rain. She was darker so I dunno. He didn’t seem colorist to me.
@@MaryLou913 Thank you. I've been up and down these comments. Prince had so many women throughout his career that one could hardly keep up but he definitely had black women sprinkled in the mix.
Your video is right on point. I grew in the 80s and listened to Prince. Yes, I noticed his, as well as other artists at the time, female band members, love interests and video models. They were ALL bi-racial (or mixed), non-black, racially ambiguous, or outright white.
If one looks at the many (not all) of the rap videos as well as other black music videos that dominated the 80s, colorism AND texturism was permeated the industry. The leading lady or love interest was either bi-racial or at least light with straight or straight-ish long hair, while the darker hued sisters generally appeared as the "friend" or as background dancers. This type casting was present in movies, as well. Think both versions of the movie Sparkle.
Unfortunately, both, "the brown paper bag" and "the comb" tests are still a thing in our culture. And while we pretend it's a relic of the past, several "black" male artists have said the quiet part out loud. One stated he only dates women with "---- hair." This thinking is not limited to brothers. We recently had a "black" female actress, make a statement about "nappy" hair.
So, no. Sadly, we are not there yet 😎
Prince was a colorist. I tend to think of Prince in the context of his time. Black Americans collectively were colorist in the 70s and 80s, and expressed anti black sentiments. Black artists were also relegated to black radio, and rarely played on MTV. White rock radio wouldn’t play him for a time. Part of his choices had to do w/trying to escape the narrow confines that black artists were placed in in the music industry, to cross over and be heard on white radio. I tend to give grace to people trying to navigate an exceptionally racist power structure.
Black Americans and White Americans (and other folks too) have been colorists and brainwashed to be anti-Black since 1619. It's a learned behavior and people are not born with that flaw. It didn't just become a collective thing in the 70s & 80s. Nothing has changed since 1619. We're more vocal about it and have social media to flood the world with this fact, unlike the 70s and 80s when magazines and PR machines kept that talk in check throughout the industry. It is ingrained every day since day 1 of this country and EVERYONE upholds colorism in all industries and social settings. I love Prince (since he put out his first album back in the day) and own all his vinyl albums and some non-released deep cuts, but I did stop effing with him in the early 90s for a time when it was obvious that he only wanted to mess around with non-Black women that he elevated with no talent, and ignored more talented Black women who were on his level. Plus he talked mad ish about Hip Hop being trash (until he wanted to capitalize off of it with bad rappers he chose when Q-Tip and so many other talented rappers were right there to collaborate with) We can love Prince and call out his colorist behavior as a serious personal flaw. Like Michael Jackson, Prince had control of the images he put out, especially after the 1999 album was a huge hit in '82. Every movie he made starred non-BW, and darker BW played Mammy figures or comic relief for other characters and the same happened with his videos. The Diamonds and Pearls chicks were the most glaring example. Mediocre dancers, but he liked how they looked for himself. I later gave him grace only because I love his music so much, and I know it takes some people a lifetime to unlearn colorism and the damage it perpetuates in the culture at large. He did a lot better later in life, but he didn't live long enough to use that growth to help elevate the Black darker-skinned, and more talented artists he was keeping an eye on, like Janelle Monae and others.
@@lisabennettbolekaja8556 I agree. I just don’t believe that we can ignore the real economic and career pressures that were at work during that time. It doesn’t excuse the behavior or the internalized self hatred but I don’t want to ignore the system that was explicitly working. If you were considered too black, you weren’t played on MTV, ex: Rick James, or white radio. That had to be part of his choice to use his protégés to elevate his own proximity to whiteness. He wanted the economic and professional advantages that came w/ it.
THE INTRO I LOVE IT!!!! ❤️
It’s sad to see people so accepting to self hate and colorism. (Then cry when not chosen). Also, I see the comments from women of HIS generation, who are validating his colorism. If anything I’m listening to them and their experiences.. not projected attachments to a celebrity.
I’m from his generation and f*ck Prince
Validity his supposed colorist based on the msm and not actual facts. If they were actual fans, they would know that he been with black women but stay ignorant.
@@belindauo People of his generation would know he employed, mentored and dated black women throughout his career. They don’t want to admit it because it doesn’t fit their narratives.
Exactly just like these two desperate chicks in the comment section