I am not a devout Prince fanatic—I never attended a live show, I only know his most popular songs, the only Prince album I own is Musicology, and my fondest memory of Prince comes from Dave Chappelle—but this does not mean that I do not understand his contributions to the world. Prince was a truly unique and incredible individual with a talent that appeared to be far too much for a mere man to possess and yet, he not only possessed the talent; he mastered it and shared it with the world. My first experience with Prince came from a compilation CD of popular hits of the day and his contribution to the album was “1999”. For me, “1999” represented a far-off period of time in which people would celebrate with great exuberance and joy—a time in which we would party. Of course, I was only 16 years old in 1999 and my introverted, socially awkward personality meant that I spent the turn of the century alone wondering if the Y2K bug would bring about the doomsday scenario predicted by the media. Fortunately, I did become familiar with more songs from Prince: “Raspberry Beret”, “Purple Rain”, “When Doves Cry”, “Diamonds and Pearls”, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”, “Let’s Go Crazy”, “Kiss”, “Batdance”, and so many more.
It is somewhat humorous that as I draft this post, I find myself awestruck at the number of songs I can recall and the fact that I am able to recall of these songs stands as an example of the immense reach his music possessed. To be honest, I am uncertain of how many other artists I could repeat this feat with. Undoubtedly, Prince’s longevity plays a significant role in why I am able to recollect so many incredible tracks but it also speaks to his transcendent nature that throughout the course of his career; he was still able to produce music that could resonate with the ever-changing faces of music fans. Anyways, I think I will leave here and end this post by saying: RIP Prince.
