As an artist the first question that most people inquire is typically, “Who is your favorite artist?” or “Who inspires you as an artist?” For the last 3 years (the amount of time I have actually been curating music) the answer has consistently, unconsciously and undoubtedly been, PRINCE. That answer is usually followed by a very surprised and confused reaction. I imagine it has a lot to do with the fact that the peak of Prince’s career was in the mid 80’s and being that I was conceived in the mid 90’s, I can understand the shock factor. However, as a true artist I have always been inquisitive and remnant about music. I gravitated toward the beauty in the passionate, abstract and controversial art. Prince Rogers Nelson is the epitome and personification of passion, abstract and controversial artistry at its finest.
For whatever reason, Prince stood out to me so vividly even before I chose to take on music as a full time career. I remember the day I first saw him in his “Black Sweat “video in 2006. I watched music videos every single day of my life yet I never seen this face with eyelined eyes nor heard this high-pitched voice before. My infatuation sparked when I saw him again on television and realized he had one of the deepest voices I had ever heard. For years, I kept this Prince person in a far corridor in my brain. I hadn’t the slightest clue of the genius that was planting a passion inside mine.
By 2012, at eighteen years old, I became more liberated both with life and thought. I made the testament that I would dedicate my life to who I truly was, an Artisan. I knew I would use my art to impact the globe using love and awareness of social issues. That was clearly the cue for the purple seed to be watered and bloom straight into the depth of whom I was and who I aspired to be. I would spend my days digging up anything that I could find on “The Artist” from music videos to interviews, his protégés, expertise, movies, anything and everything. Imagine an eighteen year old girl on the NYC subway singing songs like “Purple Rain”, “Insatiable” and “Erotic City”. I’m sure I was giving a performance of my own. I was captivated! I needed to understand how a human-being especially in his hey could wear women’s clothing, not be a homosexual and still be accepted culturally? Was his name really Prince? And who changes their name to a symbol? (Questions I’m sure everybody who comes across Prince asks’ themselves)… But then the more in tuned with him I became, the more I understood that this man was not here for anyone’s approval nor image of who or what culture thought he should be.
Prince had a due diligence from a higher power to prophesize messages through his music. Once I realized this, I knew that this was MY Idol, MY Icon, MY Mentor. He dedicated his life-literally to the perfection and effective translation of sound through the mind, body and spirit. His style was un-matched because it expressed eroticism in its purest form, without sexual favor. The lyrics were unmatched because they mellifluously touched on raw political, personal and revolutionary issues and emotions. His expertise was unmatched because it takes one with acute discipline to actualize themselves into a master creator. Overall, his art is unmatched because Prince valued originality and was vehemently against imitation of any sort. Also, his courage is one that goes unmatched because he knew he had every right to own his works, and he was not afraid to fight for it. He was futuristic and impeccable.
As a budding artist, I see the importance of valuing all of these qualities and beliefs personally because if you are not leading then you are following. If you are not innovating or inspiring in all that you do, especially with conviction of being a creator, then what exactly is your purpose? That is something that no one else should be able to tell you, nor own you in the process. What ignites the passion within you that will inspire you to change the world? These are the types of questions spiritual leaders ask themselves and force the people around them to ask themselves. Prince forced us to ask ourselves “What is my purpose? Why am I here? How can I make this journey the absolute best? How can I assure myself that when my inevitable demise comes, I will not have to return to this ‘party’ because I would have left the world to enjoy my “good time”?
Weeks after his sudden death, I still find myself wallowing every time I hear his name and songs like, “The Beautiful Ones” out loud. I was crushed that I could no longer exchange every mental conversation I had ever had with him in person, or afford the opportunity to ever work with my darling deity. Now almost immediately, I get a sensational feeling of relief, as if Prince is truly happy and exactly where he belongs. The feelings of sorrow transform, becoming seemingly disrespectful as if he’s looking at me saying, “Girl don’t be selfish, you know how long I’ve waited for this kind of freedom”. To be in a dimension where everything is full of love and beauty without gender, conformity, violence, or judgment must really be heaven. Foremost, I find solace in knowing that Prince is even more tangible to me in spirit. He lived a fulfilling life and he left people with an honest road map to self love and higher consciousness.
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