THE (MAYBE?) TOP 10 OF PRINCE

The Roots drummer and lifelong Prince fan goes deep on the Purple One’s finest moments

- By Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson

How do you take Prince’s vast body of work and boil it down to “best” songs, let alone 10 best? What you are about to read is just the tip of the iceberg. We know how that goes for ships. How does it go for music? Maybe about the same. I dove deep into Prince’s catalog and managed to make it back to the surface with 100 songs. But when Prince meets print, that means boiling everything down even further. This is the 1-10 of the 1-100. Don’t stop here. Go see the rest at RollingStone.com. You’ll still have quarrels with it (and me), I’m sure, but let the retribution match the contribution (of his revolution).

1 LITTLE RED CORVETTE (SPECIAL DANCE REMIX)

1999 SUPER DELUXE EDITION (2019)

This is the moment Sly Stone hands the baton to a sprinting Prince. Sly invented remixing and DIY aesthetics back in 1971 with There’s a Riot Goin’ On, and Prince takes that concept to new heights. I used to think of “Little Red Corvette” as just another radio hit — that is, until one night I heard it played and something felt off. The drums were louder, the extra kick drums hit harder, and the whole song felt... Blacker. It took me a decade to unravel it all. In this remix, Prince exemplifies musical code-switching — every Black person knows how to adjust their voice and demeanor depending on the setting. For Black musicians, this often means softening hard or sharp edges with safe, major-key chords. Prince’s songs raised the big question: “Does this kid have what it takes to be a rock star?” But there’s guilt for Black artists when success means crossing over. Will they be welcomed back? He had a solution. Midway through, he flips the bass line from a safe C-sharp major to a tougher B-flat minor, transforming this rock gem into a darker funk explosion. For the last three minutes, you’re left baffled by his brilliance.

2 DO ME, BABY

CONTROVERSY (1981)