Prince Dies at Age 57

The loss of Prince hit me like a ton of bricks today. I knew that he was briefly hospitalized for flu-like symptoms the other day, but considering that he was released the same day and back to doing shows the day after, I like millions of fans worldwide, thought he'd be fine. Granted, I wasn't always a Prince fan. Growing up in Brooklyn, I was such a huge Michael Jackson fan that I very naively had it set in my head that either you liked MJ or Prince. You couldn't possibly like both. But after meeting with and becoming friends with some huge Prince fans in college, not only did I slowly begin to open my ears to Prince's massive discography, but over the years started debating who had the better catalogue, Prince or MJ. For me, Prince was more than a great musician. He redefined R&B/soul music. He was arguably the most versatile artist ever in conquering at least 4 different genres of music. He was a social activist who loved his people. He was a role model. He was an epic performer. He was a sex magnet. He fought for his art. He stood up against powerful record companies. He inspired many of the artists we love today, from Beyonce to D'Angelo to Lenny Kravitz to The Weeknd and many others. He was a pioneer. He was and will always be a legend. #RIPPrince #Prince