Masterclass: Prince, July 14 -18, 2025 (1-4PM class)
Bay Saint Louis, MS - The 100 Men Hall is hosting Masterclass: Prince on July 14 though 18, 2025 where 10-15 High School students will be invited to learn about the most influential artist of the 1980s and beyond. The 3-hour (1-4PM M-F) a day classes are led by scholar C Liegh McInnis. On Thursday, July 17, C Liegh will be in conversation with author Kiese Laymon for a discussion on Prince that will be open to the public. On Friday, Berkley the Artist will present a Prince Tribute Concert, tickets are $25 and can be purchased here.
The workshop is free. To sign your student up for this fantastic opportunity, please contact Rachel at 228.231.1920 or email 100menhall@gmail.com
The 100 Men Hall will host Masterclass: Prince for 10-15 high school students to study Prince’s lyrics, music, movies, and fashion to understand how he became one of the most seminal artists in American history. The class will include lecture, video presentation, audio listening, short assignment writings, group discussions with the students, voice lessons, and include a public talk between poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis and award-winning fiction writer, poet, and cultural critic Kiese Laymon. The class will culminate with a Prince tribute concert featuring Berkley the Artist at 100 Men Hall.
Masterclass: Prince continues programming the Hall undertook to celebrate, educate and commemorate its musical history with the community at large. The 100-year programming consisted of four weekend events beginning with the influence of African music and dance on Mississippi music (The Ancestors Weekend). The second weekend educated the community about the Harlem Renaissance and how Bay Saint Louis produced some of the greatest talents in music, art and performance during this era. The third weekend celebrated the Chitlin Circuit, an era that sealed the Hall’s importance as one of the cornerstones in the evolution of Black American music. The 100-year celebration concluded with the Rise of the DJ/Disco weekend, a period that ushered in a new era as Black American music seeped into the white mainstream echoing the Civil Rights Act, de-segregation and the end of Jim Crow in the South.
Masterclass: Prince is designed to pick up where the Hall’s centennial programming left off, the late 1970’s. This week-long program will educate and celebrate the ‘80s most influential musician, songwriter and performer of the decade. Popular music was one of the few mediums where one would be able to hear the almost uncensored concerns of young, African-American men. The Hall and this community embraced popular music that was being played in clubs, on juke boxes, radio and television.As poet, playwright, and editor Amiri Baraka asserts in his essential work, Blues People, popular music has always been a medium that gives voice to African Americans. With the decline in mainstream publishing of creative and edgy literature from African-American male writers, especially in the 70s and 80s, popular music began to fill the void. Further, very few in any medium were having the discussions that Prince was having about African-American individuality, the struggle to reconcile one’s individual identity to one’s racial identity, and the need to prioritize this struggle in the context of evolving into a higher life form.
And in the popular music of the early and mid-eighties, Prince’s voice was one of the few grappling with what it means to be a post-Civil Rights African American, living under the illusion of successful integration. As such, popular culture becomes the only medium that would allow an artist such as Prince the freedom to grow and evolve without the rigid constraints of race, gender, and class that are commonly found in the formal areas. Therefore, this class will study Prince’s lyrics, music, movies, and fashion to understand how he became one of the most seminal artists in American history. The class will include lecture, video presentation, audio listening, short assignment writings, group discussions with the students, and culminate with a public talk between poet, short story writer, and Prince scholar C Liegh McInnis and award-winning fiction writer, poet, and cultural critic Kiese Laymon.
As part of the course, students will be given a short article before class that will be used as a supplemental guide to the discussions. Additionally, students will be given a list of songs by Prince and asked to locate the lyrics of three, write a brief paragraph of each, and discuss what they have written in class the next day. The course will culminate with students writing poems, short stories, narratives, or brief essays inspired by their study of Prince or their time in the class to be presented on the final day before the performance. The goal of all activities is to give students a working knowledge of Prince’s genius and how that genius can be applied to their current skill, aesthetic, and critical thinking development, including reading comprehension, research, writing development, and theoretical application of ideas to actual issues.
Day 1 - July 14 – 3 hours
Introduction to the Times, the Context, and Prince - C Liegh
Brief Video Presentations
In-class Discussion of Handout
Day Ends with Students Being Assigned a List of Songs
Day 2 - July 15 – 3 hours
“Musicology”: How Prince Was an Encyclopedia of Popular Music - C Liegh
Brief Video/Audio Presentations
Group Discussion with Students
Short Paragraph Presentations by Students
Day 3 - July 16 – 3 hours
“Sign ‘O’ the Times”: Prince as Poet, Storyteller, and Philosopher - C Liegh
Brief Video/Audio Presentations
Group Discussion with Students
Short Paragraph Presentations by Students
Day 4 - July 17 – 3 hours (plus a free public community discussion 5-7PM)
Conversation with Kiese Laymon and C Liegh about the audacity of Prince
Includes Q&A with Students
Day 5 - July 18 – 3 hours (plus a tribute concert in the evening)Creative Presentations by Students
Vocal Lesson with Berkley the Artist
Performance by Berkley the Artist - Prince Tribute Concert