prince - the introvert

8/18/2019 Prince - The Introvert

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Date: Thursday, July 04, 2013

To: Professor David Simpson

From: Byron Burke

DePaul University Course: Creativity and Imagination

Subject: 7.1 Creators and Re-Creators

“Prince” Rogers Nelson was born on June 7, 1956 in Minnesota.He is noted as being transformed an Introvert due to theseparation of his parents (John & Mattie Nelson) at the age of 12(Princefams.com; Rewind.com, 2009).

According to Jennifer The Introverted Leader , “Introverts have a

temperament that is more inner-focused, and they must adapt to an

extroverted world, one that is primarily driven by interpersonal

interactions”(Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, 2009, p. P. 1).

Extrovert Characteristics Introvert Characteristics

Energized by and seek out people;

batteries “charged up” by other people.

Energized by time alone; need time to

“recharge” their batteries after

interactions with other people.

Talk first, think later. Think first, talk later.

Talk out their thoughts. Process their thoughts in their head.

Enthusiastic. Reserved.

Are transparent, easy to read – like a

fur coat with the fur on the outside.

Less demonstrative emotion in facial

expression – like a fur coat with the fur on

the inside.

Freely share personal data with friends

and strangers.

Share personal data with a select few.

Prefer talking to writing. Prefer writing to talking.Focus on breath. Focus on dept.

(Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, 2009, p. P. 2)

Prince is known for playing, singing and recording all of his songs alone in the studio,until it’s time for the engineer to set up the final mix of the recordings. However, this isonly one of the creative processes that Prince adapted in his early stages ofdevelopment.


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In module 5, we learned about the fine line between “Genius and Madness”. I

discovered an interesting statement by Prince in which he said – “My father and me,

we’re the same. He’s a little sick… just like I am!” (Princefams.com). This statement takes

me back to his motion picture “Purple Rain”(Rewind.com, 2009). There were severalscenes that showed Prince and his father having manic explosions because of their

dysfunctional family and their creative passion for music (His father had a band calledThe Prince Rogers Band).

Another important key to his success and the creative process was his ability to create aunique balance of sexuality in his outward appearance that was cool to many men(Prince always surrounded himself around beautiful woman) and the women admiredhis style of fashion, along with the various hairstyles that you would normally seewomen wear.

According to Freud, “creative thinking involves the effective sublimation or re-channeling of

sexual energy (libido) into artistic or intellectual work”. As you can see in the pictures

below, sexuality played a major role in his music and his outer apperance.

(fuckyeahprnc) (LoveSexy)

As it is written from our “Introduction & Overview” section of module 3 of this course, it

says - “One learns an art by studying and imitating its masters”. There are several recording

artist that Prince respected and analyzed regarding their performance attire and writingstyle during his development stage1. Some of these artists include James Brown2, RickJames3, The Ohio Players4, Parliament Funkadelic5 and Sly & the Family Stone6.

1 Shmoop Editorial Team, "Prince Influences,"Shmoop Universi ty, Inc.,11 November 2008, http://www.shmoop.com/when-doves-

cry/influences.html (accessed May 20, 2013).

2 James Brown and his drug hell: http://www.celebrities-with-diseases.com/celebrities/james-brown-and-his-drug-hell-1427.html

3 Rick James Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/rick-james-248967

4 Ohio Players: http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/062295/article012.shtml

5 Parliament Funkadelic: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/parliamentfunkadelic/band.html

6 The Decline and Fall of Sly Stone: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20141565,00.html

http://www.celebrities-with-diseases.com/celebrities/james-brown-and-his-drug-hell-1427.htmlhttp://www.celebrities-with-diseases.com/celebrities/james-brown-and-his-drug-hell-1427.htmlhttp://www.celebrities-with-diseases.com/celebrities/james-brown-and-his-drug-hell-1427.htmlhttp://www.biography.com/people/rick-james-248967http://www.biography.com/people/rick-james-248967http://www.biography.com/people/rick-james-248967http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/062295/article012.shtmlhttp://www.pbs.org/independentlens/parliamentfunkadelic/band.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/independentlens/parliamentfunkadelic/band.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/independentlens/parliamentfunkadelic/band.htmlhttp://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20141565,00.htmlhttp://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20141565,00.htmlhttp://www.pbs.org/independentlens/parliamentfunkadelic/band.htmlhttp://archives.citypaper.net/articles/062295/article012.shtmlhttp://www.biography.com/people/rick-james-248967http://www.celebrities-with-diseases.com/celebrities/james-brown-and-his-drug-hell-1427.html


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What’s interesting about his mentors is that they had all had used some type of drugs(Cocaine, Marijuana, Heroin, LSD) which in fact had some effect on their creativeprocess.

References

fuckyeahprnc. Fuck Yea Prince!

Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, P. (2009). The Introverted Leader: Building on your quite strength (First ed.). San

Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

. LoveSexy. In LoveSexy (Ed.).

Princefams.com. Prince Biography - The early days Retrieved May 18, 2013, from

http://www.princefams.com/page.php?id=10

Rewind.com, F. (2009). Behind The Scenes of Purple Rain Retrieved May 16, 2013, fromhttp://www.fast-rewind.com/making_purplerain.htm
http://www.princefams.com/page.php?id=10http://www.princefams.com/page.php?id=10http://www.fast-rewind.com/making_purplerain.htmhttp://www.fast-rewind.com/making_purplerain.htmhttp://www.fast-rewind.com/making_purplerain.htmhttp://www.princefams.com/page.php?id=10

prince - the introvert

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