The Day I Learned that Prince Was Human
Revisiting Prince’s legacy five years after his death
With so much palatable Black pain and suffering, I thought, on the anniversary of his passing, that I’d share some musings on someone who provided me with so much Black joy. I wrote this the day Prince died.
While some Black families consider themselves Jackson homes or Marvin Gaye residences, mine was unequivocally a Prince household. In my house, we talked about Prince as if he were classic mythology.
“Did you know he was an amazing basketball star?”
“You know it took him a while to form a band who could play his music as good as he could. We waited years for him to tour.”
“I once heard a dove cry and it sounded just how Prince described it — swear.”
Growing up, I saw Prince as a legend, the David in a music industry full of Goliaths. Immortal amongst a world destined to one day crumble to dust.
The son of two performers, Minneapolis born and raised Prince was destined for musical greatness. Not only was he blessed with singing and songwriting abilities, Prince was also an unbelievable multi-instrumentalist. Legend states that at just 19 years old, Prince played every one of the 27 instruments on his debut album. His range of artistic…
