Can Prince Get Some RESPEK ?

How long does it take to build a reputation as one of the world’s greatest musicians? 37 years. How long does it take to tarnish that reputation? About a week.

In the days since Prince’s shocking an untimely death, it seems as though while the globe mourns his passing, the media has been stirred into a feeding frenzy over what exactly happened to the beloved musician.

As most of you know by now, Prince was found dead in an elevator at Paisley Park, the sprawling complex where he lived and worked in suburban Minnesota. On Wednesday, April 20^th, Prince was dropped off by a friend and sometime that night, according to actor Will Smith, the two had a phone conversation. On that Thursday morning, when Prince missed a holistic health appointment, his staff became worried and found him unresponsive in an elevator. Twenty minutes later, he was pronounced dead.

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That, so far, is all we know for sure. A week earlier, Prince’s plane was forced to make an emergency landing  on his way home from what would turn out to be his last two shows in Atlanta. He was unconscious when he was carried off the plane by a bodyguard and stayed in a hospital in Moline, Illinois for about 10 hours, then returned to Paisley Park.

In the days after, he was seen out and about riding his bike, going to a record store and a Lizz Wright concert and making a brief appearance at a last-minute party at Paisley Park where he showed off a new piano and guitar. He told the crowd “Wait a few days before you waste any prayers.” At some point in the days before his death, he went to a local Walgreens at least once and TMZ photographed him getting into a waiting SUV.

 

2 GIVE THANX 4 THE GOOD WEATHER AND 4 ALL THE LOVE AND SUPPORT… pic.twitter.com/PEcHzLnYvc

— Prince (@prince) April 16, 2016

Those are the only facts we know so far. Yet if you’re seen the varied media ‘reports,’ Prince was taking prescription Percocet for an alleged hip injury,  he had full-blown AIDS and was at Walgreens picking up his HIV meds or he was murdered either by the Illuminati or Warner Bros., because he was telling the world the ‘truth’ about various plots or he was a danger to the music establishment by insisting on artist’s rights and they wanted his masters back.

Where is Birdman when you need him?

Birdman, the CEO of Cash Money Records, rolled up into a popular radio show with his crew recently and insisted that the hosts put some ‘respek’ on his name before walking out without even doing an interview.

I’m thinking he might want to step up for Prince as well.

In his lifetime, which was shorter than any of his fans expected, Prince stood for artistry, integrity and the right of any creative entity to own and control their work. Despite the devotion of his diehard fans, he was not a deity and was therefore subject to the same human frailties as the rest of us.

So it’s possible that he may have had, as some allege (since no surgery he may have had or needed has ever been confirmed) some hip/joint/ankle pain due to the combustible dancing he did while touring for almost 40 years. And while it looked like it when he dominated stages night after night, Prince was not a big man.

It is possible, also, that he, like millions of other Americans, sought some pain relief in prescribed medications. It’s also possible that an accidental overdose killed him, because you’re not going to get me to believe that a devoutly religious man who wouldn’t allow cursing or meat on his property was popping pain meds for the high.

Yet that’s what media ‘reports’ would have you think. But why would a global superstar with means have to resort to picking up pain meds he was misusing at the local Walgreens? Prince wasn’t Uncle Pookie from the block. If he needed meds in quantities that wouldn’t alert the authorities or medical gatekeepers, we’re quite sure he would have done so through a dealer, not a doctor.

It is also possible that a driven 57-year-old man who was well-known for eating light and rarely sleeping, who missed two shows on April 7^th due to ‘flu symptoms’ and whose chef recently confirmed was fighting a sore throat and upset stomach in the weeks before his death, was simply fighting the flu and went back to work too quickly? The night he was taken off the plane was directly after playing two 80-minute shows. He’d told the Atlanta promoter that he wasn’t 100 percent but wanted to complete the dates. Have any of the media reports told you that the flu kills thousands of people every year and that the CDC says that flu symptoms often take a fatal turn two weeks after they first show up?

Prince’s drive came from his music. He said, in one of the many interviews that have flooded the web after his death, (as he side-eyes us from Heaven, but we hope with the knowledge that it just shows him how much he’s missed) that fame, money, and women are what came along with it. He didn’t bother anyone, nor did he, unlike other Black music icons, have any scandal whatsoever attached to his name. In fact, we’re now finding out what he was a secret philanthropist with an interest in Black and humanitarian causes.

His legendary parties weren’t posted to the ‘Gram (although he did have one) and he didn’t seek paparazzi infamy or social media clicks the way so many celebs do. He just wanted control, ownership and to be paid for his music. In fact, you’d need to go far and wide to find anyone who, despite his Gemini quirkiness and stubbornness, wasn’t distraught at his death or had something negative to say about him as a person.

As Cam Newton would say “What is understood shouldn’t have to be said.’ Whatever the autopsy reports show doesn’t really matter. It only covers what exactly took him from us. What happened in the end doesn’t negate the 37 years he spent making the world a funkier, happier and more musical place. If you think that the mainstream media doesn’t want to destroy our heroes think of the respectful treatment of rock icon David Bowie and comedian Robin Williams.

Bowie, also a pretty private guy, died of cancer and that was that. At least, that’s what you were told. I’m not suggesting that’s not exactly what happened, I’m saying the details on how and when he was diagnosed and when and where he died were withheld from the media and they largely respected his wishes for privacy. Was he as much a part of the current pop culture zeitgeist as Prince was? No. But Robin Williams was and despite that his death was a suicide and that his children fought his stepmother over a portion of his estate, he was allowed to retain some measure of dignity.

Our artists are special to us. If they mess up, we are largely forgiving or at least understanding. Their tragic and untimely deaths might be sad but in some cases, they were at the very least, not a shock. In Prince’s case, his death was so unexpected it felt completely wrong. If it turns out that he was in such pain that he needed meds just to keep doing what he loved, its sad that he didn’t realize letting people know wouldn’t have diminished him in our eyes.

But it’s even sadder that those who profit off death in the same way that vultures feast on carrion can’t at least get their facts straight before they rush to judgment. Prince gave his all every show he ever did, including the final ones. We could at least give the world and his family and friends time to grieve before we start slinging dirt on the reputation he worked so hard to maintain.

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