After many months of people speculating about Jesse Johnson‘s departure from The Time (aka The Original 7ven), Jesse finally spoke out about the true reasoning of why he left.  It apparently had to do with a lack of touring to support their efforts and very simply, not getting paid. This was the statement that Jesse posted on his Facebook account yesterday;

“I was on a conference call with the O-7 and I asked the following questions in early December; ” Do we have any shows for December? answered “No” I continued to ask the the same question regarding January and Febuary, and I received the same answer, which was a resounding “NO” I then asked when was the the first royalty accounting coming up? And the answer was, ” I don’t know” and with Allah as my witness, I respectfully made the announcement that I could no longer AFFORD to participate in an organization that personally cost me thousands of dollars (Gear, Clothing, Travel, etc…) and further more shows no signs of taking premptive measures (Sponsers, Touring, etc…) in helping to see a return on our investment. So help me god, the people on whatever sites that state they were not informed of exit should feel very, very ashamed of them selves to seek sympathy from unknowing fans. Am I angry, I feel sad for people that have to lie to seek unwarranted sympathy. Sad! Do ever post or ask me at anytime or place about this subject.”

That being said, we are SO happy that Jesse clarified what the issue was.  He also announced that he had just arrived in Amsterdam to start the tour with D’Angelo as previously announced. Which also means that you should start seeing him pop up on the videos and audio mixtapes that D’Angelo likes to release occasionally.  We can’t wait to hear Jesse cut loose on Chicken Grease!

Much thanks to Jesse Johnson for clarifying the story for the fans. You are an amazing guitarist and we will always support your efforts no matter where you are! Keep on keeping on!  Speculate no more Morris Day and The Time fans!

Morris Day and The Time aka The Original 7ven and now aka The Original 6ix have finally broke their silence on the departure of Jesse Johnson. Long story short, the band was apparently blindsided by Jesse Johnson’s announcement to leave the band, but they’ve decided to continue playing as a band and will simply replace Jesse. Here is their official statement posted on their website;

ORIGINAL 7VEN STATEMENT REGARDING
JESSE JOHNSON

FROM:
MORRIS DAY
JIMMY JAM
TERRY LEWIS
JELLYBEAN JOHNSON
MONTE MOIR
JEROME BENTON

Before we address the topic on most everyone’s mind, please let us do two things.

First of all let us begin by wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Although our good wishes may be a bit tardy in coming they are nonetheless sincere.

Second let us thank everyone for their overwhelming support of our Original 7ven project.

This project never would have happened without your continued encouragement and blessings.

Now to address the rumors regarding Jesse’s departure from the band.

On the morning of December 15th we were awakened to the news that Jesse had issued a message on his Facebook page which said the following:

“Hello Babies, I don’t really think I’ll be performing with the Original 7 (or The Time if your nasty) any more! We simple don’t see eye to eye on anything. Love the guys, but I feel in my heart it’s “Time” to walk away while we’re all still friends. May Peace be you.

PeaceLove,

Jesse Johnson Bey”

We were all surprised to read Jesse’s Facebook that morning because the 7 of us had spent nearly 3 hours on a conference call the afternoon before, and his desire to leave was not part of the discussion at that time.

On that call we were in fact making plans for the future. And while not everyone was in total agreement on all points, we felt like everyone was committed to this project for the long haul.

Out of respect to Jesse, and because of the holidays we decided it best to take a moment to catch our breath before making any decisions about our future.

While we know that this “silence” was frustrating to everyone who cared (mostly our fans), we believed a few weeks wasn’t too much to ask after 30 years of making music together. While we don’t have all the answers, we have come to the following conclusions:

1. We respectfully accept Jesse’s announcement to not perform with the Original 7ven. His desire to walk away “while we’re still all friends” is admirable, and we support and wish Jesse nothing but the best in all his future endeavors.

2. Jesse will not be “replaced” because there is no way to replace a family member, but we will begin the search to fill the now empty guitar spot in the band. Stay tuned.

3. While we’re not prepared to disclose any detailed plans at this time, please know that “the remaining 6ix” remain committed to this project for the long run and we look forward to seeing each and every one of you on the road this year!

In the meantime we thank YOU our fans for your continued belief, patience, support, and love.

Best,

Mo, Jam, T, Bean, Monte & Rome

It’s been no surprise that The Original 7ven aka Morris Day and The Time have dropped off the map and rightfully so.  It’s tough to call yourself The Original 7ven when one of the seven decides to walk away as Jesse Johnson up and left The Time yet again after there was much talk about an internal blowout.

Many people have speculated that Jesse Johnson insisted on the band relinquishing their ties with Prince because of his “heavy handed” management of the band back in the day which crested with his refusal to not let the band even use the name.  A thorn in Jesse’s paw as made evident in videos and interviews.

The band didn’t help the situation much by playing a handful of shows that all featured the classic hits from the 80′s (Jungle Love, The Bird, 777-9311, COOL, etc.) and only playing one song from the new album (#Trendin) during the entire concert performances.

Since that time, things fell apart even more as D’Angelo announced his band lineup for his European tour which included, you guessed it, Jesse Johnson on guitar.  That tour runs through mid-February, so if there are any “make up sessions” in the future, they won’t happen until at least late February or March of this year.

Jesse served as the primary source of information on his departure via his Twitter and Facebook page while The Time stayed dreadfully silent trying to do damage control. But they hinted at a resolution on their Facebook page on December 30th when they stated, “In 7ven Days around 7pm we’ll be back. Have a Safe & Happy New Year“.

Regardless of where you began counting from, that time has come and gone with no updates or announcements which only agitated the situation and led to more frustration. Not to mention the fast dwindling interest in the project now that silence is the norm and appearances have ceased altogether.

One positive thought is that the band may be restructuring their show to include many of the new hits in order to sway Jesse back into the fray. But until someone says something, it’s all hearsay and guesses. We hope that they work it out, but the silence is deafening. And that’s a big shame considering that many fans are jumping ship. Again.

It was the dream reunion for Prince fans as all of the members of the Morris Day and The Time clan got back together and planned a tour of the United States as The Original 7ven. We covered it very intensely here at Funkatopia and were very excited to get a chance to see the band play together as a team once more.  Then yesterday Jesse Johnson, guitarist for The Time posted a disturbing message on his Facebook account.

The post simply stated that he wasn’t going to be playing the The Original 7ven anymore because they don’t see eye to eye anymore.  No word on exactly what caused the post, but we’ll be reaching out to other connections to help you find out. Needless to say, many Time fans are very upset (including us). Suspiciously enough, The Original 7ven site, Facebook page and Twitter have remained eerily quiet not discussing it at all.

More Facebook posts then followed including;

Hello Babies,
I don’t really think I’ll be performing with the Original 7 (or The Time if your nasty) any more! We simple don’t see eye to eye on anything. Love the guys, but I feel in my heart it’s “Time” to walk away while we’re all still friends. May Peace be you. 
PeaceLove, Jesse Johnson Bey ♥

and then,

Some of us are born alone, live alone, and when the time comes die alone! I’ve always and always will be a fucking loner. Not ALONE, but a loner, a lover of solitude. I really isn’t that serious and we have Way More Important Pressing matters in the World to be concerned about.
LovePeace, Jesse Johnson

and then

It is really me Jesse Johnson formerly of a few fucking bands. But I understand, there are so many pretenders, but it’s really me. I feel really bad for thevpeople who were looking forward to seeing me with The Time or whoever, but you will see and hear me especially hear me forever! Music never dies, people do. Please excuse my spelling here and there I’m typing with one finger on my iPad.
LoovePeace, Jesse Johnson Bey ♥ (Birth name, I rarely use it in the entertainment world)

and then lastly this morning with

No old just new! Always reach for the stars! Always reach! Always venture into the unknown, creatively that is! Never become complacent or live on your past achievements. And never, I do mean never, worry about what people think of your music, clothing, etc…ESPECIALLY if you dig/love what your doing.
LovePeace, Jesse Johnson Bey ♥

Long story short, it does indeed look like it’s over. Dagnabbit!

Morris Day and Prince - Photo obtained from ickmusic.com

The Prince versus The Time experiment went swimmingly.  When The Time’s new album Condensate hit the store shelves, the verdict was out and for the most part, everyone loved the new album. Then the discussions began about why Prince hasn’t put out something similar and online arguments ensued. The spark of which was from the fact that Prince refused to let The Time use the band name essentially forcing them to change the name to The Original 7ven.  People went nuts and the debate was on.

So to get people’s true feelings out there, we took many opinions and statements from various music websites and a large portion from discussions on prince.org from the past few years and crafted the Prince vs. The Time post.  The post was designed to see where people really stood on the debate of Prince versus The Time and we worked it.  We used statements from fans saying that Prince is acting childish,  that Prince can’t do it like he used to, that Prince isn’t funky anymore, and we wrapped it up in support of The Original 7ven’s new album Condensate to draw those comparisons yet again.

And it’s nothing new that wasn’t already set up for everyone onscreen in the form of Purple Rain and then Graffiti Bridge. We even added in bits from the The Original 7ven’s account on their DVD about being yanked from the opening act because Prince was threatened by them. The results were astounding.  Here are some statements we heard in support of Prince and then followed by the support for The Time;

• The Time wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for Prince.
• If The Time really felt like they were being held back, why haven’t they shaken the look that Prince set up for them?
• They even named themselves The Original 7ven utilizing the number 7 which is Prince-ish in itself
• The Time continues to play the old Prince songs even on their latest tour and only play one song from their new album. They simply can’t outperform Prince.
• Prince has a library of music of 100′s and 100′s of songs expanding over 30 years. The Time hasn’t even collectively reached their first 100 yet.
• The Time is an extension of Prince. Always has been and always will be.

• If the Condensate album were Prince‘s album, I would be screaming that “Prince is back“
• Prince can’t do this level of funk anymore and doesn’t know how to write a Top 40 song (that he performs)
• All Prince fans want this type of album from Prince, but he just can’t do it.
• The Time are simply much better performers as a band than Prince is on stage.
• Prince has always been threatened by The Time.

Is Jesse giving Prince the finger?

Back in 1982 when The Time came into fruition, I was only 14.  Everything I heard about the beef between Prince and The Time was all hearsay until recently when members of The Time discussed some of the antics in detail on a DVD documentary that’s included with their new album Condensate. There has been much talk about how Prince was gravely concerned about his own creation and that he had actually put together a supergroup that could even surpass his fame and that he did all in his power to keep them at bay – even to this day.

The start of The Time began when Prince made a fateful decision to use a song called Party Up that was written by Morris Day.  He propositioned Morris and offered to either pay him for the song or help him put a band together.  Morris opted for the band, which ended up being an incredibly wise decision and resulted in what the world now knew as The Time and now knows as The Original 7ven.  When Prince put The Time together, he crafted a conglomerate of amazing musicians all in one place that could potentially be his undoing.

Now there are many sites dedicated to the history of how things then began to happen and the roots of where the band started, but this post is dedicated to something that raised its ugly head once again and that has led the band to rename themselves as The Original 7ven.  A problem that many thought would go away after all of the years of Prince’s dominance of the music charts or as some would put it, a comfortable lead.  But decades later and the ridiculousness continues and that has many scratching their heads.

The Time put together a new album 20 years after their last release of Pandemonium called Condensate (available now on Amazon) and Prince used his ”powers that be” to stop the band from using the name of The Time, which forced them to change the name to The Original 7ven. A strong-armed tactic by Prince to keep his “creations” as his own. Especially since Prince wouldn’t be involved in the creation of anything on this record. The Time wanted to do their own thing without Prince’s involvement and Prince acted accordingly in the equivalent of what looks downright childish. In the DVD documentary of the Condensate album, Morris Day in particular has to do everything short of biting his lip to hold back his displeasure. Even though they indicate they understand that “it’s business”, the displeasure is downright palpable in the film. At one point you can even see Morris Day fighting off the urge to go nuclear on the matter, but cooler heads prevail.

But this isn’t the first time that Prince has tried to keep The Time at bay. During Prince’s Controversy tour back in the 80′s, Prince had The Time as opening act. The reviews for The Time were beyond stellar to the point where newspapers and publications were directing more attention to The Time than the purple headliner.  A fact that was not lost by Prince as he then promptly pulled The Time from the opening slot on some of the bigger venues such as the Los Angeles and Miami shows.  Adding insult to injury, during the 1999/Triple Threat tour, Prince had The Time playing as Vanity 6′s back-up band behind a curtain and paying them a very minimal increase even though they were required to essentially play 2 shows each night.

Photo obtained from user OldFriends4Sale from prince.org here: http://prince.org/msg/7/358840?pr

Now here we are three decades later and the battle rages on. But it appears that even though Prince has kept The Time from using the band name, the music is ultimately the deciding factor. The Original 7ven has created a full blown funk album masterpiece in true Minneapolis style that is garnering amazing reviews (including our own) which is a feat that Prince can’t seem to duplicate.

Even many Prince fans agree that the Purple One simply doesn’t have it in him to create a coherent album anymore, as the last 2 decades have been mired with hits and misses.  The release of The Original 7ven’s Condensate album accentuates his shortcomings even further and his refusal to let them use their own band name highlights the issue even more.

While hardcore Prince fans (like ourselves) long for an album that recreates the grooves that we signed on for back in the 80′s, the release of Condensate is a mallet to the skull of Prince’s ego.  The Time did it on their own terms and they did it big. The critics could easily be silenced if Prince could prove that he has the ability to compete.  Taking the band name won’t be enough to stop The Time, because if you don’t take away their music, you’ve let them keep their weapons and have done nothing to disarm them.

Photo obtained from user OldFriends4Sale from prince.org here: http://prince.org/msg/7/358840?pr

If anything, this battle may put a fire under Prince to answer Condensate with his own Top 40 capable album, but for years he’s had the playing field to himself and he hasn’t managed to get it accomplished with exception of doing it through other artists like Usher, Alicia Keys and Nicki Minaj.

Additionally, Prince has done everything in his power to disarm any promotion that fans and the public release to help him including removal of all videos from Youtube and removal of all online photos. It’s in essence promotional suicide since there are no purchasable products that compete with the “offending material” that he’s been so quick to denounce.  Many fans see it plainly as a refusal to let himself be promoted.

The Original 7ven, however, have utilized every opportunity to break it off and take major strides to distance themselves. And some say that the only thing Prince is distancing himself from are his fans. Let’s face it. if this were a Purple Rain sequel, the ending would look much differently than the original ended.  The Original 7ven are promotional machines and they are truly winning the battle even though their identity has been stifled.

We will always be hardcore fans of both bands, but the jury is out. What is your verdict?

Photo obtained from OldFriends4Sale at http://prince.org/msg/7/364354

The Original 7ven (aka The Time) has been through hell and lived to tell about it.  They did an extensive interview here to discuss the reunion, the past and also the name change.

We’ve watched all of the tidbit interviews that popped up like the one yesterday, but this is actually a meaty chat with Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, Jesse Johnson, and Jerome Benton.

While some may disagree, this video does not put Prince in a good light, but then again, he put himself there. Of note are some of the comments that Jesse Johnson makes about Prince telling them what they could and couldn’t do back in the day, whose mighty thumb is still prevalent today.  Hence the name change.  Enjoy.

Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Jerome Benton of The Original 7ven (aka The Time) talk about the band, their performances and more on WCCO in Minneapolis. Watch the video here and get ready for a giggle. Pfff. Jungle Fever.Bwahaha.

Morris Day and The Time are back, but now they’re called The Original 7ven.  Pushed into using the new group name for whatever legal reasons that existed was a tough decision, but what some may see as a setback, The Original 7ven sees as a fresh start. While we haven’t been made privy to the reasoning, insiders speculate that members of The Time wanted to make the album a full-on Time album without Prince‘s involvement and the end result was Prince refusing to let them use the name. Regardless of the truth, the resulting CD entitled Condensate is exactly what you’d expect without the Purple One’s blessing and that is actually a good thing.

Getting an advanced copy of the new album was an amazing treat after literally years of waiting.  Like everyone else, we got the samples that were posted on Amazon.com and we’re happy to say that those audio samples don’t do the album any justice.  We are so glad that the initial clips we received from Amazon were not good representations of the true feel of the songs, but a tad bummed that people may gather opinions based on those poorly crafted clips. Bad Amazon! What transpires is 14 tracks of pure funky goodness and a couple filler segue tracks (O7ven Intro & O7ven Press Conference) filled with the tongue in cheek humor you’ve grown to love from the boys (Wrecka Stow style).

The Minneapolis pop influence is evident on this album with the opening track of Strawberry Lake, but that’s the only song where you’ll hear anything that even remotely sounds Prince influenced. The rest dabbles in sounds and influences that have been carried over from the members solo projects. The slow ballad Lifestyle is reminiscent of Pandemonium‘s Donald Trump Black Version, as does the closing track GoHomeToYoMan.  Rocker song Sick calls back to Pandemonium‘s Skillet, complete with Jesse Johnson‘s thumbprint from the rocking opening chords that he perfected with Bare My Naked Soul.  All of that being said, the members brought in their strengths from their hiatus and laid it to bare in a collection of truly great sounding songs that all have commercial potential in some form or fashion.

The funk sensibilities are all over the map with tunes like Role Play that hearken to a minimalist sound not heard since Madame X‘s Just That Type of Girl.  #Trending is the first single off the album that should easily find a home in the Top 40 if it gets marketed correctly. The droning single note keyboard stabs that The Time made famous back in the days of Ice Cream Castles is still a main ingredient in the songs. As are the sporadic riffs from Monte Moir and Terry Lewis that polish off edges in a way that only they can.

The boys are back to their strange quirky songs like If I Was Yo Man which is comfortably suited for a 90′s type medium groove somehow glued together with drum fills.  But that doesn’t keep them from staying current sounding with songs such as Cadillac that are similar to the drum-centrific Drop It Like Its Hot.  One Step is yet another track where they take a chance to try something different with a rockier sound courtesy of Jesse’s amazing solos and Condensate (the meaning of which we’ll let you discover on your own) is a picture perfect song that showcases the funkiness of The Original 7ven that everyone has come to expect. Even though it seems as if it’s outside of their circle of comfort in some parts, they still shine like a freshly waxed limousine no matter what they attempt.

All of this being said, fans of the The Time will be very satisfied with this album even more so than they were with Pandemonium which is saying quite a bit. Even though this album is missing its “Chocolate“, Condensate falls right in line with Pandemonium in the succession of sound for The Time. The individual strength of its members is more evident on this album that it has been in the past and a nod to acknowledge that the sum is not greater than the parts. Condensate makes sure that it goes out of its way to itch the scratch of their fans by giving all of their sounds an excellent presentation and even adding in ingredients to weave in the sound and feel of the solo projects that preceded it.

We’re giving Condensate a 4.5 out of 5 afros, because it’s a great representation of the Minneapolis funk and considering the direction this album could have taken, it really does a phenomenal job at meeting our expectations.  You won’t find a better Minneapolis-Funk album than this and we can only hope that the follow up is not two decades away as this one was.  The Original 7ven have given us an album that was a long time in the making and actually pretty darn close to being worth the wait. It hits the streets October 18th, 2011.

To celebrate the launch of our new Facebook area, we’ve been cleared to give away FIVE of the brand new CD CONDENSATE from The Original 7ven (aka Morris day & The Time).

To enter the contest, simply visit the new Funkatopia Facebook area just launched yesterday by clicking here and then “Like” us. We’ll select winners from our fans and various trivia questions on our Facebook site about The Time.

We’ll send out the brand new CD to all of the winners. To read more about the long awaited album, check out our post from yesterday that covers all of the details along with appearance and tour information. It’s on!