| His purple reign goes on as he prepares for BET honor on Sunday |
The issue showcases Rashod Ollison's report on the artist who always seems fresh and current, even as time passes. Here are some excerpts from that story along with exclusive pictures from our photo shoot, as well as other images that capture the majesty of Prince.:
"Nobody knew what to make of him in the beginning, and Prince Rogers Nelson relished the confusion."
"Millions around the world still buy his albums and concert tickets. All the while, the artist has remained something of an eccentric mystery whose music has become a genre unto itself."
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"Though still expertly coiffed and gorgeous in full makeup, Prince these days is all about expressing a deeper love for life and humanity."
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"Still mightily prolific, Prince has released about 10 albums in the last decade completely on his own terms. Several of them were triple-disc sets. But he steers clear of the brazen sexuality that informed his vintage work – no Dirty Mind, thank you very much. ...But beyond the secular-versus-
spiritual connection Prince has with Black music, there's his indelible contribution to the expansion of it. 'I always felt that Prince benefited from the fact that he could absorb what Jimi Hendrix had done, what Sly Stone had done, perhaps even taken a little of what Michael had done and combine it all into this unique persona,' says Todd Boyd, media commentator and professor of popular culture and critical studies at the USC School of Cinema in Los Angeles."
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"He also opened our eyes to the ways we perceive Black masculinity. On the cover of his first platinum-selling album, the self-titled sophomore release from 1979, Prince is shirtless with feathered, shoulder-dusting tresses. ...As his fame grew in the '80s, his image became even more androgynous with the heels, the Cleopatra eyes, the lace and ruffles."
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"For better or worse, Prince's over-the-top, hypersexualized persona opened the floodgates for a number of modern pop stars male and female, from R. Kelly to Christina Aguilera."
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"Now 30 years later, Prince has absolutely nothing to prove. He has long inhabited a universe all his own, a place where the music knows no bounds. Threads of his influence glimmer in the work of some of today's most promising urban artists, namely Van Hunt. But few rise to Prince's level. And after all these years and numerous changes, Prince still finds ways to thrill us."
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INTERVIEW VIDEOS
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TWEETS FROM BACKSTAGE
PERFORMANCE PHOTOS
...AND MORE
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