To see it as anything else is to deny who he was at his core. His musicianship, song writing, and how he performed were all rooted in his experiences as a Black man.
But you can’t have a conversation about Prince without also acknowledging his Blackness because fundamentally, it is at the heart of his music. Since his passing, I have been amazed at how the mention of Prince’s Blackness offends some fans and causes them to feel excluded from the fandom. But what could be better? Blackness and the struggle of Black people were in every note of every song. “Transcending race” implies that Prince’s race somehow wasn’t good enough, and he ascended to something better. It is the equivalent of saying that America is “post racial” for having elected a Black president when all the structural and institutional formations of white supremacy haven’t been torn down. It is an inaccurate statement, and one that lends itself to being racist. This phrase has rolled around in my mind a lot over the last four years because it bothers me. In the wake of his death in April 2016, Prince was described as an artist who “transcended race,” and many continue to describe him this way today. The Black community felt validated, but some fans weren’t happy that Prince had voiced his Blackness. Many understood where he was coming from because these killings were being filmed and America was seeing for itself what Black folks had been saying all along. While presenting the award for Album of the Year, Prince spoke the words, “like books and Black lives, albums still matter,” and the response was immediate. One year after the launch of Black Lives Matter, Prince’s appearance at the 57th GRAMMY Awards in February 2016 was arguably one of his Blackest moments on TV, and one of the most divisive among his fans. He knew their movement would go far, and he supported them with his knowledge and finances, participating in a way he couldn’t during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s when he was just a child. They had the spirit of the past, but they were wired with the technology and ingenuity of the future.
They were the ones he thought could lead Black America going forth. These young activists were the “new breed leaders” he had called upon in “Sexuality” (1981), “The Rainbow Children” (2001), and again in 2015 after the murder of Freddie Gray. There was something different going on in Baltimore and around the country in 2015, and Prince could sense it.
These acts of leadership are rarely bestowed upon artists, but both men loved their community, both men loved Black people, and both men wanted to heal the pain of racial animosity that gets Black men and women killed. Prince’s Rally 4 Peace in Baltimore helped to calm the city’s unrest following the death of Freddy Gray, just as James Brown calmed the unrest at his own show in Boston in 1968 moments after announcing the loss of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 2015, the case of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, so heinous, that it inspired Prince to write a protest song for the times, “Baltimore,” and hold a Rally 4 Peace as the city erupted into flames and put peaceful protesters in harm’s way. As a result, three Black queer women founded Black Lives Matter to shine a light on racially motivated killings, racial terror, and the systemic destruction of Black bodies. In 2013, a movement started to take shape in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin, a young Black boy killed by a neighborhood watchman. A culminating collection of these articles and other resources will be shared for continued learning and dialogue.
IT TURNED MYMIND OUT PRINCE SERIES
Commissioned by American Composers Forum and I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, the goal of the series is to offer information and diverse perspectives to those seeking to acknowledge historical context, honor cultural traditions that are not their own, and expand their sphere of knowledge with awareness and respect. “Out of Context” is a 10-part series that addresses the topic of cultural appropriation as it intersects with both Western European-based classical music and the broader social landscape.
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