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The music industry has always been anti-Black. For generations, Black artists have gotten cheated out of what they should’ve earned for selling millions of records. But Prince? He was determined to flip the script when he started appearing in public with THIS written on his face.
Slave. That’s right. In the 1990s, Prince started appearing at his label office and in public with “slave” painted on his face. His point? Record labels and the white executives that run them expected Black musicians to sign notoriously predatory contracts.
The deal Prince had made with Warner meant that the label owned and controlled his name and any music he released under it. “If you don’t own your masters, your master owns you,” Prince said. History proves he was right all along.
During the blues era, Black artists were routinely swindled. In 1923, Bessie Smith signed what she thought was a lucrative deal, but Columbia Records removed her royalty clause, paying her a flat fee of $200 per recording. Robert Johnson recorded 29 songs, but died penniless. Then white musicians like Bob Dylan profited from Johnson’s unprotected creativity.
For centuries, everyone has gotten rich off our labor. The Western world as we know it would look very different without it. Let Prince be a reminder never to hold your tongue. Speak the truth as if our liberation depends on it, because it does.