“Flip O’ The COIN” by Marc’D LEWIS

ABOUT:

D`Marc Lewis has a quirky blend of funk music with splashes of assorted genres and lots of surprise musical influences, like Prince.

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Listen 2 his latest album Sunset-Paradise

5 on prince

1. What was the prince moment of your life to you?

I grew up in a household that played Prince daily. My mom was always blasting The Time's first two albums, Vanity 6 and 1999. But my Prince moment came right after my 4th birthday. My parents rented the Purple Rain VHS and after seeing the scene when he performed Computer Blue, my mind was blown. I didn't understand how to put in words back then, but I was confused at how one song had so many genres in it, but yet this song did. My mom played funk, rock, hard rock, jazz, dance and R&B and I was familiar with it. But Computer Blue was EXTREMELY different....it had Dance, Funk, Hard Rock and Jazz all in one song....I was immediately a friend.  

2. What was Prince's greatest achievement for you: playing the guitar, singing, acrobatics, composing, acting?

Definitely the way he thought. His mind, his creativity, his freedom, his progression, his vision.

3. Which album was the most valuable for you - and why?
I would love to say 1999 or Purple Rain,  because that was my primer.....but that's too easy (every wannabe Prince friend starts with that). I have to say Chaos and Disorder. Prince influenced me to step out of just R&B, Funk or what is considered to be stereotypical black music. I started listening to Led Zeppelin, Santana, Allman Brothers, Eric Johnson, Eddie Hazel, Ernie Isley and Frank Zappa because of him. So by the time I was in high school, I was well aware of his amazing guitar prowess . I wanted, I needed him to do a straight hard rock, Southern rock, guitar album and Chaos & Disorder was it.

4. Did Prince teach you something, what can nobody take from you anymore?

Freedom from society's views. It's not about my clothes, my hair.....it's about being there. The song Uptown truly opened up my mind to help me see that I could be who I wanted to be and express myself the way I saw fit, and not be held up in someone else's L7 box.

5. If you could have met Prince for a juice, what would you have talked about?

Definitely, his experimentation process with The Time's albums. The guitar work on The Time, What Time Is It? and Ice Cream Castle is utterly amazing, but also strikingly different from his counterpart albums Controversy, 1999 and Purple Rain. Almost like he was a different person, maybe character, maybe Jamie Starr. But I do notice that the approach, the touch, the nuances and the solos were different.