On Beef.

There's nothing like a little conflict to light the proverbial creative fire under an artist's ass. Hip hop, perhaps unique in its level of self-reverence/reference, lends the most immediate (both in relativity and overall production to release time) examples. The dis track/answer song/etc. goes way back - Roxanne(s), bridges, what have you - and continues to thrive today, straight to the net or YouTube (Curtissss!) having, to a degree, replaced leaks to radio or mix tapes.
On the whole, "beef" in other genres tends to be a little more subtle and far-reaching. Amy Winehouse broke in America off of an album basically devoted to putting the sleazy guy she ended up marrying anyway on blast for some old shit. Just no names named.
Anyway, this new Prince track is, situation-wise, kind of curious. It's not all that often that an artist inadvertently goes after a large portion of his loyal fanbase. And then, when it kind of backfires, offers up a new track as part olive branch/bitch slap/explanation. But if the recent squabbles are going to get Prince back up to this musical level, I sort of don't mind if the conflict continues.
And once I finally figured it out, I like the "out like the wolves in the first" line.