The Favorites Series: Artist

"Shaharoh!"

"Hurry up. Prince is on TV!"

I've heard those words so many times. Growing up, everyone in my family as well as my friends always knew that out of all of the musical artists in the entire universe, there was only ONE that I would stop whatever I was doing and run to watch. (Michael Jackson is the exception.) My mom says that I sat about two inches from the television when Purple Rain was on. From the moment I watch him in the movie theater, I was completely mesmerized by His Purple Highness. Here are a few random thoughts about why he was, is and always will be my favorite artist of all time.

• I grew up in a household that had a lot of arguing and yelling. Watching Purple Rain, I thought the characters were really Prince's parents, so I felt a kinship towards him when his parents fought all the time and he escaped to his room to listen to music like I did.

• Sometimes when I was growing up, we didn't have a lot of money. My classmates in elementary school participated in all kinds of activities - Girl Scouts, Crossing Guard, musical theater, ballet, karate, sports and summer camps. I took two buses just to get there so I couldn't participate in any of those activities let alone my family didn't have the money 4 them. Listening to Prince's song Money Don't Matter 2 Night filled me hope and the belief that things wouldn't always be that way.

• I hid out in my room and listened to the Diamonds and Pearls album on repeat transporting myself to a world where I was hanging out with the New Power Generation harmonizing to Thunder, Strollin' and Live 4 Love.

• Sometimes when I was teased 4 having a gap in my front teeth, wearing braids or 4 just being black, I thought about how Prince always had his own way of singing, composing, dressing, dancing, writing and over time was inspired to embrace my uniqueness.

• I never saw Prince only as some dude wearing makeup, frilly clothes and humping things. I saw him as an artist forging his own path and as a prolific songwriter with so many stories to tell, concerts to perform and high notes to hit. No one has a falsetto like his. No one.

• I Wanna Melt With U always makes me feel like that I'm at a rave dancing all night wearing platform sneakers and wings.

• I understand why people fall in love with their favorite bands and cite them as heroes...especially when you grow up with adversity/trauma and through music/art, you are able to escape and have an outlet to release complex feelings you aren't equipped to process yet. That's what listening to albums like Around The World In a Day, Lovesexy, Love Symbol Album and Under the Cherry Moon did 4 me.

• Watching and listening to Prince taught me to have courage when I started writing music that no one understood or wasn't catchy. I lost count how many times people said I sounded weird or just needed to write one hit and then I could do whatever I wanted or that I should use simpler chords...blah blah blah...

• Till this day, my mom celebrates that I embraced my weirdness and dived so deep into my own creativity that I don't sound like anyone else she had ever heard. When she (my ultimate hero) had the once in a lifetime chance to perform and meet Prince (my musical hero) - she used those precious moments not to talk about her own artistry but to tell him how much her daughter (the little, weird, black girl she created) loved and admired him. I am 4ever grateful.

• Years ago, my dad called me and said that he never thought of Prince as a guitar player. He just thought of him as well Prince - this flamboyant artist, wearing blouses and gyrating across the floor. He came across the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame’s 2004 tribute to George Harrison and at first he didn't even know Prince was there until he launched into a solo and appeared out of nowhere. He told me that he finally understood why I loved him so much and gained his respect. I humbly "borrowed" that video from YouTube. There's probably a better quality one out there but his performance makes my soul soar every time I hear it and brings tears to my eyes because it reminds me that even my dad, the most long-winded person I ever knew, could be silenced and moved by the genius that was Prince.

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• Live 4 Love - The Anomaly

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