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The Purple One lived his life with a sense of freedom that we can all aspire to. Aren’t we lucky to have lived on Earth at the same time as Prince? Whether it was “Darling Nikki” or “Beautiful, Loved and Blessed,” Prince Rogers Nelson embodied the full spectrum of how magnificent, marvelous, and magical a mere mortal could be. I cringe to use the phrase “mere mortal” because I honestly felt that if anyone on Earth could have super powers and be immortal it could be him. My best bud and I have discussed the magic and probability of Prince’s ability to transcend worlds at length for more than a decade. He was so himself that he operated in his own dimension and on his own plane. It’s that level of freedom that Nina Simone talked about.
With him having left the world better than he found it, I started to reflect on my own purpose in life, which is to uplift and empower Black women and girls, advocate for our rights, and demand equality. With these feminist principles in mind I realized that Prince’s gender bending, take on sex and pleasure, spiritual growth, romanticism, and acutely conscious attributes has helped me become a better feminist . There has always been a message in his music and I have picked a couple of songs with lyrics that lend themselves to exalting, uplifting, loving, and creating social change.
- Controversy (Controversy) “Do I believe in god, do I believe in me? Some people want to die so they can be free.” He challenged you to find spiritual grounding and to believe in yourself, but to not give up on life due to hard times. Freedom comes from fighting through trials and tribulations, not quitting.
- Let It Go (Come) “All my life I’ve kept my feelings deep inside. Never was a reason to let somebody know. Lover here, lover there, who cried? Who cared? Foolish pride…But now I’ve got to let it go. Lay back and let the vibe just flow. I want to just let it go. Lay back and let my feelings show. I’m ready for the real. Give me something I can feel.” He weaves a tale of how we run from love because we are afraid. So we go through life just fucking around, but that leaves us empty. We have to come to a point in our lives where have to let it go and embrace ourselves in totality and not be afraid of showing our emotions.
- Sign O’ The Times (Sign O’ The Times) “Hurricane Annie ripped the ceiling of a church and killed everyone inside. You turn on the telly and every other story is tellin’ you somebody died. A sister killed her baby ’cause she couldn’t afford to feed it. And yet we’re sending people to the moon. In September, my cousin tried reefer for the very first time. Now he’s doing horse, it’s June.” This is a great example of writing for the times. It paints a picture of issues such as natural disasters, media sensationalism, socio-economic status, murder, and drug abuse in very first verse and points out the discrepancies in our country’s priorities with a precise brush of intersectionality.
- Colonized Mind (LotusFlow3r)” If you look, you’re sure gonna find. Throughout mankind’s history. A Colonized Mind. The one in power makes law. Under which the colonized fall. Without God, it’s just the blind leading the blind.” Here he tackles colonization and its effects on the oppressor and the oppressed. It’s a great lesson in knowing history so that it won’t repeat itself.
- Adore (Sign O’ The Times) “Until the end of time I’ll be there for you. You own my heart and mind. I truly adore you. If God one day stroke me blind. Your beauty I’d still see. Love is too weak to define. Just what you mean to me.” Really needs no explanation, just adore.
- Pussy Control (The Gold Experience) “Pussy got bank in her pockets. Before she got dick in her drawers. If brother didn’t have good and plenty of his own. In love Pussy never did fall.” Well, well, well. It grabs your attention right out of the box (wink wink), but gives good advice on picking who you share your body with wisely. No scrubs in the cookie jar!
- Planet Earth (Indigo Nights) “50 years from now what will they say about us here? Did we care for the water and the fragile atmosphere? There are only two kinds of folk and the difference they make. The ones that give and the ones that take.” Life is cyclical and it cautions us to replace what we take. It warns us of a future where our descendants are struggling because of our greed in the present. Be it micro or macro, there must be equilibrium in how we treat the planet and how we treat each other.
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