Prince…

It’s been a while since i’ve written and i apologise…what can i say, 2016 isn’t shaping up to be a very good year for me or my family…within the space of less than a month i lost 3 beloved family members and the world lost 3 undeniable superstars…the one that hit me the most was Prince..

I’ll never forget being in the car with my Mother when she said ‘some Prince has died but i don’t know which one..’ and my heart fell to my stomach. I hoped and prayed that it wasn’t The Purple One…but as she read the Facebook TMZ article, my worst fears were confirmed and i found myself heartbroken…

Not many people know that i was a fan of His Royal Purpleness, as we fondly called him. Truth be told i initially hated him, well hate is a strong word, i disliked him a lot. Like most people i thought he was seriously weird, couldn’t decide if he was gay, bi, straight, a man or a woman or a transvestite. And then of course i believed all those bogus stories about him being in direct competition with my hero, Michael Jackson.

But then i turned 17 and something great happened: Channel V played Raspberry Beret and i LOVED it! Hey, as it turns out, Prince isn’t so bad after all! I then heard a couple of other songs including Kiss and When Doves Cry, but in all honesty i still wasn’t convinced. My brainwashing was coming into question after all. So, i listened to those songs and didn’t really bother too much with him. He was still weird right?!?!

Then in 2011, while i was in London for my Father’s ongoing Cancer treatment, I couldn’t sleep. Funny how stress’ll do that to you! I turned on the TV and to my dismay Purple Rain was on. I gave it a serious eye roll and groan…oh God..Prince, seriously?!?! But nothing else was on. I put my ego aside and watched it with a fairly open mind. And WOW! I was FLOORED! Not only can this guy sing, but have you seen him DANCE?!?! AND IN HEELS!!! He honestly blew me away!

I began looking a little bit more into his music, became more accepting of his uniqueness, but i still wasn’t a real fan yet. That was until i met Jazzy in 2012…my real Soul Sista! She is practically in love with Prince and got many a lecture from me of course. But she showed me a totally different side to him. She showed me Prince the man, the philanthropist, the spiritualist, the fashion icon, the artist in every form and my personal favourite: the KING of sass and shade! And that was it. I was a fan of him!

But Prince didn’t make it easy on me. New fan that i was, i really wanted to explore his music and see if i just liked him and a few tracks or the whole package. And i’m not someone who blindly goes out and buys albums unless i’ve heard all the tracks and love it. Unless your Michael Jackson; then and ONLY then will i buy it blindly!

But Prince was different, of course. One of the reasons i began respecting The Purple One a lot more was the fact that i couldn’t for the life of me get my hands or my ears on ANY of his songs online. Youtube? Forget about it, he hated it! He was so protective over his art and all his work, that he had zero imprint on the Worldwide Web. Now that is dedication! And i mean the second you uploaded a Prince video…BAM! A message saying ‘Removed by the Artist due to copyright infringement’. Jazzy got a couple of those messages too (forever laughing at that!)!!!

While i couldn’t get more of his music, i continued to love and respect him from a distance. Especially his sarcastic wit and humour, which made him so unapologetically him. Whatever he was, you have to admit he was authentic to the core. Not to mention he has cheekbones from the gods and is very good looking so… And other than our mutual love for the colour purple, we actually had a lot in common..

Needless to say, his death hit me very hard. I didn’t expect it. None of us did. Another of my childhood icons gone, another piece of my childhood gone. An end of an era: the 80s are over. Whitney Houston, David Bowie, Michael Jackson and now Prince. A bitter and hard pill to swallow. It’s safe to say RIP Music…

But what seems to be worse is the aftermath of his death and all the rumours surrounding it that are effectively tarnishing not just his legacy but his very character.

Here’s something few people knew about Prince. He was a DEVOUT Jehovah’s Witness and had converted to the faith in 2001. Not an easy religion to follow at all, but he was a very disciplined man. So much so, that he became celibate after conversion. Prince. Celibate. Let that sink in for a second..

The man even refused to have a much-needed double hip replacement surgery in 2010 (all those fabulous heels and dance moves did it, but it was worth it) and instead used a cane for quite some time because of the use of blood in the surgery, which went against his newfound faith.

Here’s another fact, he was a total health buff. And i don’t mean just working out. He was a full-on Vegan who didn’t like the idea of any kind of chemicals entering his body. Or animals for that matter. A huge humanitarian and animal rights activist and lover. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, despite his very hot love life pre-conversion and his songs, he was very pro-women’s rights, especially in the music industry and in general. He loved women. Respected them too.

Speaking of his love life and his songs, he was so loyal to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, that when he performed his classic hits he changed all of the raunchy lyrics. Not only that but his new songs were a lot more watered down too. And his music videos? ZERO PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH ANY GORGEOUS FEMALE! I did say he was celibate right? And he was such a huge sex symbol…

My point is, someone who was that passionate about his religion and lifestyle would not be the kind of man to be taking opiates and prescriptive meds on the sly. I don’t know why people are suddenly saying that he OD-ed on drugs when he was completely averse to them.

The story i know of and somewhat believe, is that while on tour he caught a bad bout of the flu, postponed his concert for a few days, performed while he was still very ill so as not to disappoint his fans, became severely dehydrated and collapsed on-board his flight mid-air, was rushed to hospital and treated for both the flu and dehydration. They speculated that he may have pneumonia, but he checked himself out of hospital insisting that he was fine. He was seen cycling around his neighbourhood the day before he died and had an impromptu dance party at his Paisley Park home, which he was known to do. He had even gone to take part in Record Store Day earlier that day. The next morning, he woke up, got into his lift, collapsed and was pronounced dead…

The day before he died..

Now nasty rumours are surfacing that he was a drug addict, that he was severely in debt and (what i literally just read seconds ago) that he was diagnosed with AIDS. Well, for a man who’s music was heavily copyright protected, including his music videos (the only means of accessing them through physically buying his CDs etc.), i’m quite convinced of the opposite of him being in debt. Not to mention he was constantly writing songs and producing new albums, doing tours and performances. How is there a money drain therefore?!?! An autopsy was done and his body was cremated instantly, within 48 hours of his passing. Prince was ‘disposed’ of it seems. The results have not been released so nobody really knows what his biological state was and insinuating that someone has AIDS and is a prescriptive junkie is reckless if not irresponsible. No one has any solid answers and yet here goes the media on yet another posthumous Legend witch-hunt! Apparently, people forgot that Prince wasn’t a beefy guy, but was slenderly built and lean. Underneath the photo i posted above, captions come flying out stating he was ’emaciated’ or ‘extremely weak’, ‘frail’. Thing is, he ALWAYS looked exactly as he does above and maintained himself very, very well.

I’m sorry but does that look like a ‘frail’, ‘AIDS-ridden’, ‘dying’ man to you?!?! 

They just keep spinning with all this gossip, speculation and hearsay and what’s worse is Michael Jackson’s FLOP of a so-called Doctor, the man who effectively MURDERED him, is offering his two-cents. Not only that but falsely stating that MJ hated Prince and thought he was a wannabe. First of all, who asked you, you no longer have a US Medical license. Second of all how about we listen to people who were constantly around the man?!?! Third of all stick to what you know, which is nothing much at all. Fun Fact: Michael not only liked Prince but saw him in concert before he died in 2009. Prince was one of the few artists who openly respected Michael and stood up for him during his trial. Prince would also shutdown any negative MJ talk on his site and forum, even going so far as to block his fans if they continued to do so. So lets not pretend they had a beef, because it was just an 80s publicity thing that has been blown so out of proportion.

Luckily i came across this gem today, and honestly it speaks for itself.

I have to say i am absolutely disgusted and horrified with how big, megastar, celebrities are being torn apart in death. They were hounded and ridiculed enough in life, are they not entitled to peace even now?!?! What does the media get out of defaming someone’s character like that?!?! What happened to real journalism and more importantly real, logical, SOUND PROOF to back up all the hearsay?!?!

This really boils my blood! And if that isn’t bad enough you have old, ugly and wrinkled has-beens and wannabes like Gene Simmons stating on Twitter how ‘pathetic’ Prince’s death is! Ummm… EXCUSE YOU! I didn’t realise there’s a cool way to die number 1. And number 2 let’s just see what happens to you when your time comes. The blatant disrespect is unreal. He has apologised since, but that doesn’t change him having said something so callous and guess what, pathetic, to begin with!

How long this little media circus and frenzy will continue is anyone’s guess. As long as, they make money off of it, i’m sure we’ll keep hearing trash about Prince. Sad, but true. I just felt it was time to clean up some of this nonsense and with reliable sources. After all, weren’t we all taught NOT to speak ill of the dead?!?! Well…

On a sidenote, Madonna, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears and a few others are taking part in the Billboard Tribute to Prince. I’m glad they did their research because he hated ALL of the aforementioned ‘artists’. But never mind. I can feel him rolling and throwing shade in his grave… I fear how his masterpieces will be butchered…i mean Justin Bieber…really..?!?!

Anyway…i had actually contemplated shutting down my blog but when i came across all this nonsense i just HAD to put the story straight and stand up for someone i love and admire, who is no longer here to sass people and shut them up himself, in the way only he could do.

To The Artist Formerly Known As Prince 0)+>…thank you for your music, your artistry, for pushing the boundaries in every facet imaginable…for being you..the world won’t be the same without you…i love you and i miss you…RIP..