Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

2. Prince, The RevolutionPurple Rain

Prince came to my first Essence Festival in New Orleans. My mom was like, “We need to go see Luther Vandross”. And I was like, “OK, fine.” But Prince was there, and that was it. Nothing else needs to be said. I see my spirit animal and it is Prince. He isn’t just an artist. He created a sound era, and that’s something that no other artist could do. The only other person I can think of is Quincy Jones or Berry Gordy. When I say an era of sound, he had multiple people from Apollonia to Sheila E., to Cindi Lauper, to Sinead O’Connor. All of them. It’s a sound. And Purple Rain was the the gateway drug to that.

He is so musically inclined, playing over seven different instruments. But ‘Purple Rain’, to me, is a ballad that no one can touch. I’ve not heard a record that can speak at that level, because his voice is, number one, insane. But bigger than that, the guitar speaks in such a way that the melody itself can be sung. It’s so unique. I don’t know of a ballad that is as profound as that one, or that catchy, that needed, that classic, that timeless.

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