‘Animal Kingdom,’ Prince’s Animal Rights Anthem
By: Laura Vincent
Tags: Vegan, Equality, Prince, Animal Rights, Music

When regarding the late musician Prince, subjective statements find themselves turning objective. It is simply and undeniably factual that he was a guitar virtuoso, a musical visionary, fearless, pioneering, and massively influential. Also undeniable is how prolific Prince was, with an astonishing thirty-nine studio albums, to say nothing of compilations, live recordings, albums recorded with his bands, and posthumous releases. You might conclude that statistically anyone who creates thirty-nine albums worth of material would surely end up with a song about the plight of animals, because eventually, what else would there be to write about? Prince, of course, had no need for such a theorem: he was a proud animal rights activist and wrote about the subject very much on purpose, for example, in the song “Animal Kingdom” from his 1998 album The Truth — which was, for those counting, merely his twenty first studio album.

“To eat a tomato and then replant it for your nutrition as opposed to killing a cow or a pig for your meal is reducing the amount of suffering in the world. Besides, pigs are too cute to die.”

For the casual fan — which I admit, is me — it would be very easy to miss this song amongst Prince’s dizzying output. But it’s a highly rewarding discovery.

According to interviews, Prince stopped eating red meat in the 1980s — “we don’t have to kill things to survive!” — and then continued to move towards a vegan lifestyle, although he has also claimed to be a vegetarian. “Compassion is an action word with no boundaries,” he said, “It is never wasted. To eat a tomato and then replant it for your nutrition as opposed to killing a cow or a pig for your meal is reducing the amount of suffering in the world. Besides, pigs are too cute to die.”

This idea of compassion and living in harmony with the universe is explored in “Animal Kingdom,” a song that is edifying yet sexy at the same time, a curious but effective mix for getting his point across. His opinions are unambiguous, strident even, however the song is so languid and lushly produced that it’s a pleasure to receive the information.

I saw a friend of mine today, in an ad sayin’ what would do my body good I told him he was wasting time I say If God wanted milk in me The breast I suck would have a line around the hood.

The friend Prince is referring to is director Spike Lee, participating in the 90s celebrity-fronted Got Milk? campaign. This opening feels like pure brazen Prince, but the lyrics continue in an emotive, informative fashion.

“No animal nurses past maturity,” he reminds us, and then, “I don’t eat red meat or white fish, don’t give me no blue cheese — we’re all members of the animal kingdom, leave your brothers and sisters in the sea.” I won’t lie, I don’t often consider the interiority of the clam, but such is the power of Prince’s profound words and delivery that I felt my eyes get a little misty when he sung this line:

What about the clams on the shore? Souls in progress — here comes the fisherman — souls no more.

This song was ahead of its time in many ways — not just in terms of the relevance of its message, as more people continue to reject eating animals. “Animal Kingdom” really sounds like it could have been released in the last year. There’s an airy quality to the production, his voice is extruded through a vocoder, every part of it is dreamy and unhurried — even the slinky guitar riff and bass line — and it’s interspersed with ambient ocean noises. It somehow sounds — and I mean this in a positive way — viral. It could sit side by side with say, “Old Town Road” or “Redbone,” those tracks that become songs of the summer, that become the background of your favourite TikToc videos, that you want to hear over and over again. It just feels so fresh.

Further evidence of the power of Prince — way back in 1998 he knew how to not only preempt the ideas of the future, but also the sound of it.