I have real tears. And they are PURPLE. I am sure you have probably heard by now, the artist formerly known as “Symbol”, but know to all of as Prince is dead at the age of 57. This is huge shock to me and many of his fans around the world, I being one of them.I went through all of the stages of grief.

	Stage 1: DENIAL. “NO LAWD…NOT PRINCE!!!”
	Stage 2: ANGER. “ALL THESE WACK ASS ARTISTS AND YOU TAKE PRINCE???”
	Stage 3. BARGAINING. “LAWD, How about we trade Prince for Hakeem from “Empire”, Future, and Migos? No? DAMN!”
	Stage 4. DEPRESSION. (So depressed, I renewed my TIDAL subscription just so I could continue to listen to Prince hits because that’s the only place you can hear them online. And anyone who renews a TIDAL free membership HAS TO BE depressed.)
	And finally Stage 5. ACCEPTANCE. I am not yet at this point and can you blame me? Prince was a wizard. And no I don’t just mean a genius. I mean an actual wizard…Like Harry Potter, knows magic kinda wizard. Lest we all forget the Super Bowl halftime he performed in. It was pouring down raining and Prince sat in the middle of the field, playing “Purple Rain”, and not once did a drop of rain fall him…Yeah. THAT kind of wizard.

Prince was so 80s though. And if you are like me, so much of your childhood was influenced by the purple one. As I look through my life, most of my firsts were associated with Prince in some way. My brother’s first boombox was accompanied by his first tape which was Prince. The first set of titties that I saw? Applonia when she tried to purify herself in Lake Minnetonka, only to find out it wasn’t. With? You guessed it. Prince. (Sidenote: Wasn’t that the pimp move of a generation?) First time masturbating? “International Lover” was playing by… Prince. (stop judging) The first strip club that I went to when I was 14, the dancer (and I use that term very loosely) was dancing to “Insatiable.” And yes I went to a strip club at 14. That is not the point. Let’s stay focused here.

Even now before I go on stage to perform I play “Baby I’m a Star” because it gets me hype and I mean come on…the words speak to me. Hell, baby I AM A STAR! True musician is what Pince was. And you can say whatever you want to about antics with Warner Bros, the horrible Batman album (with “Batdance’ on it) or him wearing the pants with his ass cheeks out, but he was second to none. A true pop icon who did things his way is what he was. But as a true music fan, I can’t help but notice that most of the major pop icons from the 80s are all dead. Michael Jackson? Dead. Whitney Houston? Gone on to Glory. Prince? Purple Heaven. All I know is that Madonna and Janet Jackson better be hiding out because they are all we have left… Grim Reaper might be looking for their ass…