Thanks, Mom, For Prince

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”

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Prince Rogers Nelson, Prince, The Artist, and The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, isn’t just a famous person.

He was truly gifted. He could play a multitude of instruments. Most of all, he was humble about his gift.

Growing up, I was more into classical rock, alternative rock, and soothing pop music. Inspirational music. So, when my mom would blare Prince’s and Michael Jackson’s music, I got annoyed because I didn’t get to listen to what I wanted to listen to. I wanted to listen to Alanis Morrisette and the Foo Foo Fighters. I didn’t want to listen to the music that my mom listened to. Yes, I was like most kids with most parents since the beginning of time. Some of us kids didn’t want to listen to the music that our parents listened to because we thought it wasn’t cool, or it didn’t fit our angst high school mood.

However, my mother’s influence would win out several years ago when I collected all Prince’s albums. As I listen to his music, it takes me back to a time where I was young. I was a depressed kid who felt like she didn’t fit any anywhere. She was pulled this way and that way until she became an adult and start putting together where the pieces of the puzzle fit. Once she accepted the picture, she embraced completely who she was and come forward to the now.

I expressed it wrong on Facebook. Completely wrong. “Little Red Corvette,” “Purple Rain,” and “When the Doves Cry,” are my favorite songs in that order. I remember being drawn to “Little Red Corvette.” “Little Red Corvette” reminds me of  being a young kid trying to figure where I belonged in my family. Now, I understand my place in my family and who I am as a person. I further understand my gifts and what I have to do improve on them as well how to take care of myself better.
I know that there are many fans who are having a hard time coping with Prince’s death. No, many of us never met Prince. Yet, Prince’s music expressed his talent and how he saw himself and how we as individuals should embrace ourselves and accept ourselves. His music illustrates a part of himself that was genuine…and profound place of honest creativity. Authentic creativity.

When I thought about Prince when I got home, I thought about what Shug says to Celie in The Color Purple: “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”

Prince is nothing but the purple rain. He is the splash of colorful H20 that helped many of us healed our souls. When I listen to his music, as he told Larry King in a 1999 interview, “Inspirational. Music from the heart falls in that category.”

Prince is inspirational which means his music is inspirational. And what he did with his gift is inspirational. What is sad about today is that…even though he lives us 39 albums, we will miss his presence. And knowing that he isn’t on this earth anymore…it is just makes everything harder.

Prince, we love you. We also are grateful for you in sharing your gift.

Most of all, thanks, Mom. Thanks for not caring about what kind of music I wanted to listen to. Thanks for showing me…that Prince matter as well. He will always matter.
S