Minneapolis Genius, the first Prince recordings

Introduction

In 1986, former 94 East founder and Prince family member Pepé Willie released Minneapolis Genius. Prince recordings from his teenage years, at a time when Prince had become a global superstar. Was this simply riding the waves, or truly ‘historic’ as the subtitle suggested?

94 East

In 1974, Pepé Willie, a multi-instrumentalist, ended up in Minneapolis when he married a cousin of Prince. In December 1975, Willie founded the funk group 94 East, named after Interstate 94 East, the highway connecting Minneapolis with cities such as Billings, Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Detroit.

Willie quickly recognized Prince’s immense talent and invited him to play in his band, also giving Prince room to co-write a song, Just Another Sucker. André Cymone, Prince’s best friend, played along as well. In 1976, dance and house pioneer Colonel Abrams briefly served as the band’s frontman. By the time Prince’s own career truly took off, 94 East had disbanded.

In mid-1984, Pepé Willie rediscovered the tapes and decided to capitalize on Prince’s enormous success, who had become a worldwide star after the release of Purple Rain. Prince was not involved in the release, its production, its music and the promotion. Prince and Pepé Willie had several heated discussions about this, particularly regarding the prominent use of Prince’s name, especially on later (re)issues.

That does not diminish the fact that Willie was a source of support and guidance for Prince and many others in the Minneapolis music scene, including Morris Day, André Cymone, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis. He is sometimes referred to as the Godfather of the Minneapolis Sound.

94 East – Minneapolis Genius

Minneapolis Genius

On February 12, 1986, Minneapolis Genius, subtitled The historic 1977 recordings, was released. Contrary to what the subtitle suggests, the recordings stem from sessions that took place between 1975 and 1979. Moreover, the recordings are not 100% original, as Willie added extra recordings in 1984 and 1985. The mixes were also updated. Prince can be heard on every track and is co-writer of Just Another Sucker, which was released as a single and even reached the Billboard Top 100.

In 2020, Willie recalled:

In the studio, he soaked it all in. I tried to keep up with his work ethic, and I’m a hard worker. I could not keep up. This was a guy who really wanted to make it. I always admired his talent in music. He was a true genius in music.

Pepé Willie, Star Tribune, 2020

Review

While the music on this album may not be essential listening for every music lover, for Prince fans this is a definite must-have. The recordings took place between 1975 and 1979, starting when Prince was just 17 years old. With that in mind, it is astonishing how confident Prince sounds.

Prince plays guitar, keyboards, and drums on many of the tracks. Together with André Cymone, the contours of Prince’s first two solo albums (For You and Prince) are already clearly audible. It also serves as a precursor to what would eventually become the first satellite project, The Time.

For anyone who holds Prince and his music dear, these recordings are highly interesting. I can’t really judge how this will come across to non-Prince fans, perhaps it may feel somewhat monotonous. For anyone who enjoys funk, funk-rock, and/or funky pop, give it a try. The playlist for Minneapolis Genius is included below this article.

94 East – Minneapolis Genius – Back cover

Songs

All songs written by Pepé Willie, unless stated otherwise.

• If You Feel Like Dancin’
• Lovin’ Cup (Pepé Willie, Ike Paige)
• Games
• Just Another Sucker (Prince, Pepé Willie)
• Dance To The Music Of The World
• One Man Jam (Pepé Willie, Ike Paige, Tony Silvester)

Musicians

• Prince – guitar; synthesizer except on Games; drums, keyboards on Lovin’ Cup, Just Another Sucker, Dance To The Music Of The World; keyboards on One Man Jam
• Pepé Willie – keyboards on If You Feel Like Dancin’; guitar on Lovin’ Cup; synthesizer on Games, One Man Jam; percussion on Dance To The Music Of The World, One Man Jam
• André Cymone – bass except on Games
• Kristie Lazenberry, Marcy Ingvoldstad – vocals on Lovin’ Cup, Just Another Sucker
• Alvin Moody – bass, guitar, keyboards on Games; guitar on Just Another Sucker
• Mark Sullivan – keyboards except on Lovin’ Cup
• Jerome “Bigfoot” Brailey – drums on If You Feel Like Dancin’, Games, One Man Jam
• ? – horns on Lovin’ Cup, Games

94 East – Symbolic Beginning

Symbolic Beginning

On May 16, 1995, the double CD Symbolic Beginning was released, which, besides the Minneapolis Genius recordings, includes a second CD featuring previously unreleased tracks.

Bonus songs

All songs written by Pepé Willie.

• If You See Me
• Games (Original Version)
• I’ll Always Love You
• Better Than You Think
• If We Don’t
• You Can Be My Teacher
• Love, Love, Love
• Dance To The Music Of The World (Practice Session)
• If You See Me (Instrumental)
• Games (Instrumental)
• Better Than You Think (Instrumental)

Musicians

• Prince – guitar, synthesizer; guitar on Love, Love, Love; bass, guitar on You Can Be My Teacher
• Pepé Willie – vocals, guitar on If You See Me, I’ll Always Love You, Better Than You Think, If We Don’t; guitar on You Can Be My Teacher
• Kristie Lazenberry, Marcy Ingvoldstad – vocals on If You See Me, I’ll Always Love You, Better Than You Think, If We Don’t
• Dale Alexander – drums on If You See Me, Games, If We Don’t, I’ll Always Love You, Better Than You Think
• Wendell Thomas – bass on If You See Me, Games, I’ll Always Love You, Better Than You Think, If We Don’t
• Pierre Lewis – keyboards on If You See Me, Games, I’ll Always Love You, Better Than You Think, If We Don’t
• Teddy Randazzo – mellotron on Better Than You Think

94 East Featuring 10:15 & Fortune Teller Remix With Prince On Guitar

94 East Featuring 10:15 & Fortune Teller Remix With Prince On Guitar

Late January/early February 2003, 94 East Featuring 10:15 & Fortune Teller Remix With Prince On Guitar was released. The first two tracks, 10:15 and Fortune Teller, are recordings made at Sound 80 Studios in Minneapolis, on which Prince played guitar at the time. The remaining tracks feature no input from Prince.

Various Releases

Countless releases of the Minneapolis Genius recordings have appeared on the market (see the header image of this article). All of them, however, go back to the original recordings as described in this article.

In closing

What do you think of the 94 East recordings? Truly “historic,” or simply a cash-in on Prince recordings from his teenage years? Let us know!

Spotify
The A Pop Life playlist on Spotify has been updated.

Playlist