Learn English meaning of 'RIP Prince'

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• sue
• tune
• connect with
• inspiration

• devastated
• funky
• unique
• intellectual property

• handled
• blast

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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On April 21, 2016, Prince Rogers Nelson passed away. Prince was a famous American musician, and his death devastated his fans. He made music for forty years, including hit songs like Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, and 1999. Many people consider Prince to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time! And Prince’s clothing choices were as funky as his musical style. He often wore platform boots, colorful suits, and unique blouses.

Prince was also famous for his intellectual property fights. A company called Warner Brothers sold Prince’s music until the early 1990s. In the early 1990s, Prince didn’t like the way Warner Brothers handled his songs. He wanted to leave the company and changed his name to a strange symbol to fight Warner Brothers. Years later, Prince wanted to sue YouTube because he didn’t want his music shared there. His fans still love his music, though, and his songs are popular today.

Dominique and Gary are talking about Prince. Listen to today’s English lesson to find out what they think about Prince, and which tune is Dominique’s favorite.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Dominique

Gary

Dominique:  I am devastated Prince passed away. Aren’t you sad?

Gary:  I’m sad that he passed away, yeah, but I never really connected with his music.

Dominique:  What do you mean?

Gary:  Well, the music is cool… like Little Corvette, awesome… but if I could name three or five songs by Prince, I’d be pretty surprised.

Dominique:  I feel like I don’t know you right now. Like, who are you? Prince was my everything! He was my first concert.

Gary:  I didn’t know that.

Dominique:  I love him.

Gary:  His funky style was his. He knew what he was doing. It was impressive.

Dominique:  His inspiration was his dad. Did you know that?

Gary:  I didn’t. What did you think of his platform boots?

Dominique:  Loved them.

Gary:  He was an amazing guitarist. Really, really unique. Are you familiar with his intellectual property, and how he handled it?

Dominique:  Didn’t he sue Warner Brothers?

Gary:  He sued people who used five seconds of his music on YouTube.

Dominique:  I mean, it’s his.

Gary:  Yeah, it is. Fair rights, fair use.

Dominique:  You’d probably not like me if I was a pop star because I’d do this same thing. Be like, that’s my music and, you know.

Gary:  Well, do me a favor. Find your favorite Prince tune, pull it up, and let’s just blast it.

Dominique:  Okay. We’ll party like it’s 1999.

Gary:  Game on.

 

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