L.A. Guns’ Phil Lewis Stirs Up Controversy With ‘More Princes, Less Rappers’ Commentary

The Prince tributes continue to roll in, but in the midst of one such tribute, L.A. Guns' frontman Phil Lewis has ruffled a few feathers. Lewis and his band were performing at the Fish Head Cantina in Arbutus, Md. Friday night (April 22) when he began speaking about Prince and performing at First Avenue in Minneapolis and how it was a time when all genres were welcome, but what came next is what has caused an uproar.

“We were all into that Prince, right?! Purple Rain. It was so cool, because, you know, you had all your heavy s--t, and then you had the pop s--t, and there was Prince doing his own f--king thing," started Lewis, as seen in the fan-shot video above. "The problem is, right now -- and I’m not gonna be a racist about it -- but black people are all one-dimensional. We need more Princes, man. We need less f--king rappers and more people like Prince. There, I said it."

As expected, the comments did garner some attention and Lewis reportedly attempted to clarify his thoughts and doubled down on his stance in a since taken-down Facebook posting. However, Metal Sludge did capture the supposed Facebook missive and it reads as follows:

Alright. It seems i have ruffled a few PC feathers with my onstage comment from Friday night's show. I stand by my words and make no apology for my observations. Perhaps 'black media' would have been a better choice [of] words than 'black people.' I was just thinking about the family who recently moved in the house next to mine and [they're] all very nice but [it] is obvious that [they're] drinking the gangsta rap or hoops mentality Kool-Aid. Oops, is that racist as well?
My solution has been to provide and teach the two 10-year-olds basic guitar with the hope it will broaden [their] horizons as it did mine.
Don't expect there will be a new Prince anytime soon, but damn sure there will be countless rappers spouting the 'money and hoes' moronic nonsense that does the black community no favors at all.
I posted a picture of my old band that I formed with my mate Rudy Rivera, who apparently is black — not that I ever gave it much thought; [he is] just a good mate and brilliant guitarist.
It's one thing to say, 'Oh, I'm not a racist. Look, I have black friends,' but quite another to hitch my wagon and form a musical alliance and hopefully a career with a black musician. And, yeah, I caught some flack for it, but couldn't care less. We were mates and made great music together and race had zero to do with it.
I'm sure there are plenty of multi-dimensional, brilliant musicians out there, but you're not likely to hear about them on mainstream black media. Shame.
More Princes, less rappers.
There, I said it again.
Carry on.

So there you have it. While Lewis was attempting to praise Prince, the rest of his commentary did spark some outrage. L.A. Guns are continuing on their current tour. Dates can be found here.

10 Rock + Metal Interviews Gone Wrong