As of this writing, I am just one day away from what would have been the 63rd birthday of Mr. Prince Rogers Nelson. And now, five full years after his passing, the still monumental disbelief I feel that he is not present with us in the material world is just as palpable as it was when the news first hit the world that he was gone.
But is he gone? Really?
Obviously yes, very much so as a living breathing entity, as a flesh and blood human being. But, then again, there is his legacy, a mountainous body of work, so vast that it is still being revealed to us all as well as one that so many of us have lived with for much of our own lives. To that end, Prince artistic legacy remains a living breathing entity for it continues to live inside each and every person that legacy has touched, influenced and graced...plus those it has yet to reach.
June is Black Music Month and for all of the years that I have made the point to celebrate, I have always proclaimed that this time is one to cherish all that we already love regarding Black musical artists of all genres and generations but it is also a time to make discoveries.
Regarding Prince, I am discovering that for all that I already know, there is not only so much that I did not know about this figure but also the multi-layers to an artists who seemingly achieved the impossible time and again and within a fashion so very few are able to cultivate, let alone attain. But think of the person who has never really even heard of Prince or for the person with whom Prince was a curiosity? Imagine someone else having an experience akin to your own when delving into that discovery?
It makes me wish that I could somehow go back in time and hear it all for the first time all over again. And yet, I remember and with each new revelation, music that was familiar sounds completely new again.
For Black Music Month, I again gently urge you to make those discoveries for yourselves because you never know which song and which artist will transform your soul and blow your head apart. Take the time to learn and experience...and as always...PLAY LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!
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