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Prince, Musical Genre, and the Construction of Racial Identity
Author(s): Griffin Woodworth (Author)
- Publisher: University of Michigan Press
- Publication Date: March 14, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 354 pages
- ISBN-10: 0472057340
- ISBN-13: 9780472057344
Book Description
Each chapter includes detailed musical analyses and transcriptions of Prince’s songs, focusing on his use of rock guitar, new-wave synthesizers, funk drumming, gospel singing, and R&B horns. By tracking Prince’s transformations of instrumental and vocal idioms derived from specific musical genres, and considering the historical and cultural values embedded within those genres, Griffin Woodworth explores the ways that Prince musically broke down stereotypes of Black masculinity. With its intersectional approach to musical analysis, this book captures the sounds of American racial politics in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s as heard through the music of one of the era’s most popular artists as he worked to transform and transcend those politics.
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