I'll never forget the moment I heard Prince on the radio. I was probably about 4 or 5 years old. I was living with my grandmother at the time. She was picking me up from the baby sitter late at night when she got off of work. She would start the car and the radio would be playing Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, and Phyllis Hyman. We be reaching to outskirts of Camden when adore would come on. I don't know what it was about that one particular song that made the stars in the night sky shine brighter than the moon. My sleepy little eyes would slowly close as I would let the song and the man on the radio belt it out. It was his voice that made me feel a peace that as a child you would think would never feel at a young age. From that moment on I would never know the initial impact this man who was known as Prince would have for my love of music. I was never aware that after all of these years that he was where my love began. There were songs that I knew and loved that were his and never knew about it. I knew his classics like kiss and purple rain. When I heard little red corvette my first thought was "he's talking about his car. He loves his car a lot." It wasn't until I was older that the song was not about his "car". I thought that when he changed his name to that crazy cool symbol that he might have jumped off the deep end. Then I heard the song "get off". I thought wow he's branching away from his usual sound. But it wasn't until I was introduced to diamonds and pearls that I was forever in love with the title song. Every time I would hear it I would turn my radio up loud just to sing along. When the news broke that his plane had to make an emergency landing I was at work and I thought to myself "Prince? No way! He'll pull through. HE'S PRINCE! He can do anything." Days went by after that and before the world could fully awaken to see the dawn, God had called his son home. It was a shock to all of us. His family, his friends and even his beloved fans. April 21, 2016 was the day the world lost its magic. The light wasn't as bright. His purple Reign came to an end. I feel like I missed out on seeing one of the legends in concert for the first time. The closest I've ever gotten was when he received the lifetime achievement award in 2010 at the BET Awards. He was small in size but could make the stage light up with electric energy that would set your soul ablaze. As the world would feel like he had more to give to us, he knew his work was done. He gave us the will and the freedom to be weird and crazy and just embrace it for who we really were. Prince made it ok to be different and to take whatever talent you had and own it! I was reintroduced to him whenever I thought I had forgotten who he was. Now that he's gone I have been reintroduced to the man who opened doors for all races colors and creeds to embrace themselves and to love one another because we need each other to make the world a better place. I know these last few months I've been in full fledged Prince mode soaking in as much as I can while I can to cope with the pain of losing another great. So to Prince I promise to ease up this time. All I can say is Farewell to you. Fly high with the angels and rock the heavens with a power ballad of the ages. Thank you for giving the world your gift of music and love. I will forever keep your legacy alive.
Goodnight sweet Prince💜