Prince is Gone and I Don’t Understand
The world can definitely implode in 120 minutes. Today, I got on a flight to head to Atlanta and all was well. When I landed and turned on my phone, the world flipped inside out as I heard that Prince Rogers Nelson had gone on to glory.
I literally said “Nah. That can’t be true.” I said it over and over again with more conviction because surely that is just lies and fallacies and NAWL. It took me a full 45 minutes after hearing about it to be able to type “Prince died.”
That makes no sense and I can’t believe I just typed it.
At times like this, writers are expected to put some words on paper to measure up and verbalize the feeling of loss for those who have no words themselves. I tried when Michael Jackson died in 2009. I gave my best go when Whitney Houston died in 2012.
But I am currently fresh outta adequate words for this. So consider this my weak attempt, in the middle of shell shock.
What do you say about a man who breathed life and gave meaning to the word “icon?” I mean, at one point, his name was an icon.
What do you say about the man who inspires grown ass people to rock purple #alphets, making them look like walking grape juice?
What do you say about the man whose hair game was so immaculate that you knew that yours could never measure up and you shouldn’t even try? This was the man who left his scarf on when it rained at the Super Bowl, and he slayed the halftime performance while protecting his beloved coif.
What do you say about the man who erased the borders of gender and gave no fucks about conforming making it okay for others to do the same? Do you realize how Prince’s presence and HIMness was a sort of revolution? You did. Of course you did.
The time he wore a shirt with his own picture on it at the BET Awards
What do you say about a man who you just KNEW dreamed in musical notes and smelled melody? Because to be that musically gifted, playing countless instruments and churning out decades worth of unfuckwitable shit, you just had to.
What do you say about the man whose music transcended color, genre, gender, time and space?
What do you say about the man who fought unapologetically to exist on his own terms, boldly, bravely and brashly?
What do you say about the 5’2, larger than life, Beautiful One that could totally capture the magnitude of his legacy?
Nothing. Nothing adequate. I should be ashamed for even trying.
Prince. The Purple One. The Patron Saint of Side-Eye. Mr. Steal Your Girl. The Pocket Paramour. Music Mystic.
THAT dude is gone? That dude is gone. That is some bullshit. I know his music lives on, and all that good stuff but WOW. It is hard to compute.
Fiercest passport photo in the history of ever.
I don’t know what happened. But that cliché of “the good die young” rings loudly. He was 57. SO MANY CLICHÉS abound here. You somehow trick yourself into thinking some people will always be around. He was certainly one of them and I expected a 90 year old Prince, afro fully gray and still luxurious, still throwing shade with the best of them. STILL producing music that saves people’s lives and shows that musicality is really about. I really did expect that.
He embodied words that we throw around loosely. Epic. Genius. Iconic. EVERYTHING. Even if you didn’t like Prince’s music, you couldn’t deny that.
What Proudly Black Ass, Bad Ass, Revolutionary Ass, Creative Ass, Genius Ass, Gender-Bending Ass, Musically Gifted Ass, Unapologetically Insistent on Doing All This Shit on His Own Terms Ass Person do we have?????
We had Prince.
We HAD Prince.
HAD.
Holy shit. Prince is gone.
Rest and fly and play in power.
P.S. Gahtdambit, 2016. You fucking troll. Please be done. You started off by taking Natalie Cole. Then David Bowie. AND A LOT OF OTHERS. Now Prince. BE DONE.
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81 Comments
I’m still struggling to believe it…
RIP one of the most influential multi-talented artists we’ve ever known.
Never has “How it happen” been more apt
I won’t be able to can on this like forever. This was a violent gut punch. The wind was literally knocked out of me on this one. The Grim Reaper is working overtime in 2016, and I need him to take a looooooooong break.
All the “cans” have left the building.
All the cans got CRUSHED. ????
Indubitably
I am in a state of shock…and I made my students listen to his music all day!!!
I am numb…..I will go home, do a wall slide, get back up and fight the air. Why Prince?
Luvvie,
This is perfect. Thank you.
????????????????
GAAAAAAAAA!!!! ????????????????????????????????????????????????
Words fail me. This year has been brutal. Just when you start to catch your breath from mourning one icon, here comes another upper cut. I am well and truly done.
Satan’s been messing with me because these thoughts keep popping in my head, like I don’t think I can lose anyone else like “so-and-so” or “this person” too (not naming names because I’m not even putting it out in the universe). I’m rebuking it all in the name of what’s pure and holy.
Unfuckwitable? Because: yes.
Bowie AND Prince?! Nawl.
☝????️
A musically, innovative genius that stood his ground against mammoth record companies…and WON. All the while, never sacrificing his creation of beautiful, life changing music. May his legacy outlive us all.
#Prince #Unreal #Damn
*SIGH* *CURSE* *SCREAM* *CRY* …Thank you for this Luvvie!
*fights air*
Why must the #BlackestYearEver hurt so bad?
Just call me Huck because I’m all 752, 752, 752’ing right about now.
Lmfao! ???? Yes!
Oh, Luvvie. I can’t believe he’s gone.
The man who first and foremost *invented* not giving a fuckfart about gender, and did it all in the name of not giving a fuckpiss, not for his own sake.
The man who could play music out of a sitting rock.
The man whose hands could make you cry out of the cries of his guitar whenever he ripped a solo for Purple Rain.
The man who could set love pockets on liquid fire with a fierce look of his heavily paint-clad eyes.
The man who never (as I’m aware of) sang apology for drug use or rawdy behaviour, though his music could make you feel as if you were on a T-Rex high of whatthefuckyounameit.
The man who gave eclectic a good name without ever pretending to go on a world chase of sounds to make his music cool.
The man who could rock the hell out of a tiny ballad and have you listen to a rock tune as if it were a lullaby.
The man who sang about AIDS and lives lost to drugs in 1987 in a multi-million selling song, just because he could do magic.
The man who took falsetto singing to a new level.
The man who could spit tunes and sounds that would be imitated, only 10 or 15 years later as the general masses were finally ready to deal with them in pop trash.
The man who could side-eye the mountains behind you and you would feel ashamed of what you’de never even intented to do.
The man who wrote the heartbreaking Nothing Compares 2 U, the heart-melting Love in Repetition (makes me cry to this day), the heart-wrenching Purple Rain and the heart-freezing Sometimes it Snows in April, just to name a miser’s few.
The man who could jam like a madman, rap like a hoe on the hunt, slay a guitar like a demon, stroke the keys like a vestal virgin, growl like a hiena out of this world and have you hold your breath whenever it was due.
“Prince está muerto. Prince.Está.Muerto. Que viva el Poder de la Nueva Generación!”
I burst into tears reading this. He was ALL THAT!
Thank you, Pasha, and please forget the odd inaccuracy here and there in my text, as I wrote that all teary-eyed in a language other than my own (words don’t flow so easily when you’re distressed).
Absolutely beautiful ode to the greatness that is Prince.
Brilliant encomium for a brilliant artist. May he rest knowing he was/is loved. Amen.
I’m going to sit in a corner with you. This was beautiful!
Yes to this…and what Luvvie said. I truly did think we would have him well into his senior years. Rest well, Sir. There will never be another.
Nope, you will NOT make me mess up my mascara today. No you won’t. Lawd this just made my heart ache and brought it home for me. Excuse me while I go and curl up in the fetal position ????????????
Yes he was all of that.
You summed this up beautifully.
..trying to keep my eyes dry behind it.
Just Wow! You nailed it! We must all do good to show the world that Prince did not live in vain!!!! Purple Rein….Purple Rein!!!!
Well done, Luvvie. All the good ones are leaving. I can’t even process.
Thank you Luvvie for posting. Just like when Natalie and David went, I have no words.
Prince and David Bowie taught me that different was okay and helped me to embrace my complete nerd, geek, nonconformist self. Loved them so hard.
I haven’t got over the loss yesterday of another inspiration of mine, Victoria Wood. She taught me to have fun with poetry. And now this…
2016 has been an all round c*nt and we are only in April.
^^This.
2016 first took Maurice White; felt like I had lost an uncle. Now Prince; feels like I lost a brother. iCan’t.
My first post, Luvvie, and what a time. A Prince. My Prince. The Prince. A prince of a king. Hot tears flow. For the remainder of the year, my attire shall be black, with a touch of purple…
How lucky we were to have him be ours, and we to be his. That someone’s genius could transcends all boundaries, makes him the definition of an icon. Thank you Luvvie, for when the words fail us, you express the feelings behind them. #RIPbeautiful one.
Girl. Preach.
Before I got married, I had a thing about dating guys shorter than I am. [I’m 5’8”.] But Prince? Prince would never have to wear his boots for me. I’d take him as is, and until Lenny Kravitz came onto the scene, he was the *only* guy I’d waive the requirement for.
So for this, my bestie and I have decided to rename that ‘height requirement’ the ‘Prince Pass’. Rest in peace, Prince. And gods bless you for giving people the world over the confidence to be who they are without reservation or fear.
I love that more than I can verbalize.
Ok I’ll try to keep it short cause I just can’t right now. My bday was yesterday, I turned 58. Prince in his 80’s-90’s hay day, I was right there! I’ve seen him in concert 17 times and saw purple rain 14 times when it first came out so I LOVED THE MAN! Needless to say I’m more shocked than I was about MJ! All 3 of us were born in 58 (musta been a great year)! I am told he was found in the elevator on his property unresponsive. My thoughts went to a song of his (after I got myself together) “Let’s Go Crazy”. There is a verse in the song that says “and if the elevator try’s to take you down, GO CRAZY, PUNCH A HIGHER FLOOR”!! Well, the Paisley Prince has punched a HIGHER FLOOR! RIP Purple One! You rocked my world!
Well said. Happy birthday to you.
Love what you wrote, especially the last four sentences. I concur.
Damnit Luvvie! This made me start crying again. He was my first love.
I. Am. Done. Done. Done. My handsome, beautiful, talented beyond talent, boo is gone!!! I keep trying to wake up from this nightmare, but it’s like that one where you’re falling, but instead of waking up with a start, you keep falling, falling, falling and His Royal Purple One is in front of you wanting you to save him. LAWDHAMERCYJESUS!!!! This just can’t be true!
#probablyhisoldestsupersupersuperfan
This one hurts. My mind refused to accept it for the first few hours. I just kept saying “No, Prince does not die. He just doesn’t.”
Thank you, Luvvie for articulating what I could not.
I’m in ALL my feelings. I don’t know how to process this.
Prince? Why come Lawd?
I’m heart broken. Rest in Power Prince
And Maurice White. My tear ducts are tired and threatening to quit. April 2016, please take your raggedy ass on nah. I can’t take another death this month.
iCan’t. I simply cannot. My processor is overloaded for 2016 already and to process a loss of this magnitude is simply beyond my ability to can. Maybe next week, or month or year… Some things throw the entire universe out of balance and this is definitely one of them! Is Vanilla Ice still out here running around??? I don’t wish him ill, I’m just saying… This is some BS!!!
PS. I do find it interesting in a spiritual sense that it was only 2 months ago that Denise (Vanity) Matthews passed.
My heart hurts so hard. I loved him when I was too young to understand what it meant to be a sexy freaky genius, I just knew that I wanted to be near whatever it was he had. I cant pick just one song or one album or one era ( well maybe I can pass his JW phase a little)…my playlist is so long and so personal. I really did believe he’d live forever. I will never cry for another musician again, because no one else will ever compare.
I just want you to know this is the most beautiful tribute to him I’ve read all day. Thank you.
Natalie Cole on New Years Eve, The Thin White Duke in January, The Fire of Earth, Wind and Fire in February, The Five Foot Assassin in March and now His Royal Purple Badness. My can’ts have left the universe. My chill has been swallowed by a black hole. 2016 can kick rocks.
When you break it down like that, it scares the hell out of me. I woke up this morning still in denial but this comment right here brings it home. Rest in Power and Purpose, Prince. Thank you for your spirit, music and struggle. I really hope other artists were paying attention to everything that you brought and understand now how to deal with the industry.
I bought five newspapers this morning, and I still can’t believe it.
I just can’t.
My heart hurts.
someone tweeted my exact sentiments: WHO LET GEORGE R. R. MARTIN WRITE THE YEAR 2016???
just coming for all our faves with no chill! and its only April.
my heart still hurts. this is gonna hurt for a while. Prince seemed immortal. he was supposed to live forever and just ascend into the sky when he was done blessing the earth. i’m so grateful for the one time i got to see him in 2003. it was an out of body experience. rest in power Purple One. thank you for sharing the gift of your genius with us.
2003? That was the “One Night Alone with Prince” tour, yes? Small venues, no more than a couple thousand people, if that many? LOVED it! He came to Detroit, but it was on a Wednesday and I knew I wanted to go to the after party. He did a show in Saginaw, MI (an hour away from Detroit) the Friday before. So I went to that one, got a hotel room and partied the night away at the concert and after party. He didn’t perform at the after party but he was there and that was enough for me. My mourning #alphet is the Tshirt from that concert. Man, this has got me messed up. Damn you GRRM & 2016!
I say we just end 2016 right now and make tomorrow January 1 2017. I don’t care that it’ll screw up the seasons. Just a complete do over because 2016 is turning out to be THE WORST. And while we’re at it, can someone do a welfare check on Momma ‘Retha, Aunt Gladys and Aunt Patti because I just don’t trust the Grim Reaper this year.
TRUTH!!!! The Reaper betta go sit his azz down somewhere. He don pissed off the whole planet!
With all of this discussion about celebrity deaths lately, people kept talking about whose death would devastate them the most. Nobody ever mentioned Prince because it just never occurred to anyone that he COULD die.
We need to reboot 2016. Has anyone tried unplugging it for 30 seconds then plugging it back in?
You’re right! I don’t think that his death evencrossed my mind, well just once, and that was when MJ died. I just knew that he’d make it to see 80, at least!
2016 is swinging the gauntlet at our legends!
Agreed. When I saw the initial report the the police were investigating a death at P.P. I immediately wrote it off as maybe a friend or staff there because surely it couldn’t be him. *SIGH* I’m still waiting to wake up and nervously and thankfully laugh that it was just a nightmare. ????????
Not many inspire me to verse but we talmbout PRINCE LuvNation….this is for him and I call it Purple with Many Shades of Blue. Saw you way back in the day, opening for Rick James
Wearing a g -string and chaps on the road to fame
Now, me being a senior in years, a Controversy would brew
If people knew how much I Feel for You
Damn U, Prince, you left too soon
I wanted to see you again under the cherry moon
We’d drive off in your little red corvette
While I became your inspiration for soft and wet
I said I wanna be your lover, I would die 4 u
I don’t care that you’re only 5 foot two
You said ” let’s go crazy”, so we danced the night away
Locs so wet, I had to take off my strawberry beret
Then out of nowhere came this stab of pain
Doves weren’t alone crying in the purple rain!
Fighting powers, gender bending, made you stand so tall
Your genius, your legacy inspires us all
And Prince I have to tell you this
Wish we could say thank you and give you a Kiss
In fact, I’ve got a thousand kisses for you
And the music world knows it’s true
Nothing Compares To You
Not many inspire me to verse but we talmbout PRINCE LuvNation….this is for him and I call it Purple with Many Shades of Blue. Saw you way back in the day, opening for Rick James
Wearing a g -string and chaps on the road to fame
Now, me being a senior in years, a Controversy would brew
If people knew how much I Feel for You
Damn U, Prince, you left too soon
I wanted to see you again under the cherry moon
We’d drive off in your little red corvette
While I became your inspiration for soft and wet
I said I wanna be your lover, I would die 4 u
I don’t care that you’re only 5 foot two
You said ” let’s go crazy”, so we danced the night away
Locs so wet, I had to take off my strawberry beret
Then out of nowhere came this stab of pain
Doves weren’t alone crying in the purple rain!
Fighting powers, gender bending, made you stand so tall
Your genius, your legacy inspires us all
And Prince I have to tell you this
Wish we could say thank you and give you a Kiss
In fact, I’ve got a thousand kisses for you
And the music world knows it’s true
Nothing Compares To You
Not many inspire me to verse but we talmbout PRINCE LuvNation….this is for him and I call it Purple with Many Shades of Blue. Saw you way back in the day, opening for Rick James
Wearing a g -string and chaps on the road to fame
Now, me being a senior in years, a Controversy would brew
If people knew how much I Feel for You
Damn U, Prince, you left too soon
I wanted to see you again under the cherry moon
We’d drive off in your little red corvette
While I became your inspiration for soft and wet
I said I wanna be your lover, I would die 4 u
I don’t care that you’re only 5 foot two
You said ” let’s go crazy”, so we danced the night away
Locs so wet, I had to take off my strawberry beret
Then out of nowhere came this stab of pain
Doves weren’t alone crying in the purple rain!
Fighting powers, gender bending, made you stand so tall
Your genius, your legacy inspires us all
And Prince I have to tell you this
Wish we could say thank you and give you a Kiss
In fact, I’ve got a thousand kisses for you
And the music world knows it’s true
Nothing Compares To You
Button got stuck….didn’t mean to post that multiple times luvs!!!
Nice poem Nurse Nay.Yesterday was a bad day. I couldn’t believe it was true. I watched Charlie Murphy’s video telling his pancake and basketball story on Your Tube. Afterwards he had another video describing Prince’s reaction to him after his skit. It was the only real smile I could muster after hearing that awful news of his death. Later Prince came out with an album cover with Dave Chappelle dressed as Prince and titled it Breakfast can wait… spoofing Charlie Murphy.Prince was sexy with his deep voice and and androgenous ways. How he was able to pull it off still puzzled me, but I was mesmerized the same. What I also liked was his courage to stand up for what he believed in.I liked his conservative coyness mixed with his outrageousness. I’m loving the stories about how he would throw a party for just one individual, or impromptu parties. Still sharing and giving without being begged. I HATE that he is gone too Luvvie. RIP Prince.
“What do you say about a man who you just KNEW dreamed in musical notes and smelled melody? Because to be that musically gifted, playing countless instruments and churning out decades worth of unfuckwitable shit, you just had to.” TRUTH Luvvie! This is the truth!
I took a vacation day today and have done Nothing! but watch tributes on the news, Twitter and fb for him. And listen to my iPod. Goodbye you Sexy MF, you Pocket Paramour. RIP my Prince.
I cannot process this at all. I’m watching CNN and a day later I am still tearing up. What can I say about an artist whose music touched the core of who I was in my teen years during the 80s? At 14 i wanted to hold hands with MJ. By 16 Prince made me want to do bad, bad things.: ) Prince was an artist whose music was a soundtrack into my adult years. Shoot, I heard a new song a month ago that I liked. He was a prolific, musical genius. He was a sexy MF. He will be sorely missed!!!!
ALLADIS.
All of it.
It is seven damb years later and I cannot use the D word in a sentence involving Michael Jackson. It will be the same case here.
I’m just gonna save my vacation money and charter a jet to that exclusive private island. I hear Whitney and Luther have some really nice cabanas there, and Tupac and Biggie are chilling in the cut, as well.
It’s the third day. I was thinking He would rise again.
I do not know how we are supposed to go on.
The world is all lopsided.
It’s hard to make sense of this, but the message is clear…..We all loved PRINCE…..
Thanks for the post. His passing hit me really hard.
[…] so many others, I was shocked and completely devastated by the news of his death. Prince means more to me than […]
Thank you so SO much for this. Now I know why its so hard for us, it’s because he was NEVER of this world for us. It’s gonna take a minute to accept this. Fly away, darling Prince.
I remember reading a comment by a fan written under an image of Stevie Wonder on one of the social media sites which cited {in essence} Will someone bubble wrap this man. He’s all we have left!
Those of us who admired Prince; we must be ready not only for all the information regarding the philanthropic gifts he provided for those in need and supportive programs but the negative and shaming rumors or facts to diminish the impact of all the love his memory received by the US and globally. In fact, it’s already begun!
Still not real. This is going to take some time.
I keep coming back and reading this piece over and over again. Because it’s been a week and I still can’t believe it. I kept hoping for days that they would come out and say it had all been a huge mistake. Then I heard they cremated his body. So that means there’s no more possibility of him waking up from this. He’s literally been incinerated. The body he occupied is no longer on earth. I just cannot deal with that. I didn’t know him – I should be “over” it. But it’s too unfair. It took me a solid year to accept that Michael Jackson wasn’t coming back. And I’m a far bigger Prince fan. Maybe this is why we have Elvis fans who insist the King is still alive – because they could never really deal. I may just keep reading your piece every day for the foreseeable future to get me through.
I feel the same way Gina does, and all of you. I wish I could forget that it happened, or somehow make it go away, or go back in time and change the course of events. All these wishful and irrational thoughts. It is one of those cognitive dissonance events, where it just all feels so wrong. Like the world just flipped over and is spinning upside down. I had the same reaction, Gina, when I heard about the cremation. I said to myself, “no, don’t do that. He might come back,” and same with the autopsy. I’m completely overwhelmed by all the images and references to it on social media and in the news. Sure, I didn’t know him either, but he represents a huge part of my life. At 3 of the 5 times I did see him perform, we were in close proximity to him because the places were very small clubs. He was only a few feet away.
I, too, prefer to stay in denial. And I experienced a similar feeling over MJ. Michael was so much a part of my childhood. I had his poster on my bedroom wall.
It’s been over a week, and I’m not fully facing it. It will take a long long time to process this, and it is rare (no, actually non-existent) that I ever feel this way about a celebrity.
I refresh this screen every so often to read new comments. Thanks for posting everyone.
His cremation was such a finality for me. And to know his literal incineration was performed about after his genius body was released hurt like a knife to my heart. That his ashes were carried out of the crematorium with a bag of Cheetos under a jacket seemed utterly blasphemous. The body that danced incredibly, the fingers that played those instruments artfully, the brain that composed the musical brilliance, the person who taught me about sex (not my mother or school nurse) is GONE. Two weeks later and I’m still crushed. Death is no friend…
It is May 14th and I feel I should be somewhat a tad more light hearted. I am not. I had missed a call from a friend that NEVER calls me. They left a voice message, text, and FB message that Prince had died. Total disbelief. I wasn’t ready to understand or comprehend what I had read. I was sitting at my desk and as I scoured the internet, specifically CNN, there it was…the Prince of death was confirmed. After the initial shock it hit me, tears streamed as I started to read the Twitter comments, seeing pics of Paisley Park becoming a meeting place for those that dropped everything to go pay their respects. I called my sister because I wanted to cry like the day I lost my father. I wanted to ball on the phone with the snot flowing out my nose…you know how it can get. She didn’t answer. I was in the office alone so I locked the doors and cried. A voice in my head kept ringing over and over, “why are you crying over someone you don’t even know?” I had no answer. January 26th, 1980 was my birthday and one Saturday morning, like we did every Saturday morning, we sat on my momma’s bed to watch American Band Stand. This guy came out with gold pants and hair swinging. I was only 11 but I knew one thing…whatever that guy was singing I wanted it! I politely asked my daddy if I can have the Prince album for my birthday. The next day my request was answered. My best friend and I had dance routines to Sexy Dancer and I feel For You. You could not tell us nothing! I have been in love every since. I can track the men in my life by what album Prince had out at the time. I lost my virginity to Erotic City. I broke up the night I saw Purple Rain the movie. I was learning that I was a sexual dynamo to Scandalous. The man was just the sound to my life track. It took a few days to really sink in that the man is gone. I read someone’s Twitter who wrote something like he would be apt to believe a UFO came down and swooped Prince before he believed that the man we loved for years is gone. You know that empty feeling the day after you break up with a partner? Yeah that’s what I have been feeling for these past weeks….
I last saw Prince in Baltimore. As he was finishing up singing Purple Rain, as always I cry right on queue. It never fails. Although I wasn’t supposed to I brought out my celly and recorded that last of his ooooh ooooh ah ooooh. Tears…My FB memories had reminded me that I was there…recording…31 years from the first time I heard that song…pure ecstasy.
My sister and I had planned a trip to Minnesota for a Mother’s Day/Birthday trip back in March of this year. Little did we know that we would be visiting Paisley Park with heavy hearts and sweet memories of what we were doing when we heard a particular song. It was a serene atmosphere. All ages, races, and genders were there just standing gazing at all the intimate memorabilia that fans had left. There was a strange smell of cotton candy the whole time we were there. We attributed the smell to the General Mills factory that was a couple of blocks from Paisley Park but I can honestly say it was his aura…purple cotton candy! Someone commented that Prince’s death was the black 911. I had to nod my head in agreement.
I’m sorry this is so long but I found a place I could let this out somewhere where people will understand. Thank you Luvvie for sharing your experience and allowing me to share mine.
Almost six months later, and the hurt is still as raw as the day he left. What kind of powers did this man possess to leave such a lasting impact on so many people? He was everything, he was Prince!