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How long does it take to build a reputation as one of the world’s greatest musicians? 37 years. How long does it take to tarnish that reputation? About a week.

In the days since Prince’s shocking an untimely death, it seems as though while the globe mourns his passing, the media has been stirred into a feeding frenzy over what exactly happened to the beloved musician.

As most of you know by now, Prince was found dead in an elevator at Paisley Park, the sprawling complex where he lived and worked in suburban Minnesota. On Wednesday, April 20th, Prince was dropped off by a friend and sometime that night, according to actor Will Smith, the two had a phone conversation. On that Thursday morning, when Prince missed a holistic health appointment, his staff became worried and found him unresponsive in an elevator. Twenty minutes later, he was pronounced dead.

That, so far, is all we know for sure. A week earlier, Prince’s plane was forced to make an emergency landing  on his way home from what would turn out to be his last two shows in Atlanta. He was unconscious when he was carried off the plane by a bodyguard and stayed in a hospital in Moline, Illinois for about 10 hours, then returned to Paisley Park.

In the days after, he was seen out and about riding his bike, going to a record store and a Lizz Wright concert and making a brief appearance at a last-minute party at Paisley Park where he showed off a new piano and guitar. He told the crowd “Wait a few days before you waste any prayers.” At some point in the days before his death, he went to a local Walgreens at least once and TMZ photographed him getting into a waiting SUV.

 

Those are the only facts we know so far. Yet if you’re seen the varied media ‘reports,’ Prince was taking prescription Percocet for an alleged hip injury,  he had full-blown AIDS and was at Walgreens picking up his HIV meds or he was murdered either by the Illuminati or Warner Bros., because he was telling the world the ‘truth’ about various plots or he was a danger to the music establishment by insisting on artist’s rights and they wanted his masters back.

Where is Birdman when you need him?

Birdman, the CEO of Cash Money Records, rolled up into a popular radio show with his crew recently and insisted that the hosts put some ‘respek’ on his name before walking out without even doing an interview.

I’m thinking he might want to step up for Prince as well.

In his lifetime, which was shorter than any of his fans expected, Prince stood for artistry, integrity and the right of any creative entity to own and control their work. Despite the devotion of his diehard fans, he was not a deity and was therefore subject to the same human frailties as the rest of us.

So it’s possible that he may have had, as some allege (since no surgery he may have had or needed has ever been confirmed) some hip/joint/ankle pain due to the combustible dancing he did while touring for almost 40 years. And while it looked like it when he dominated stages night after night, Prince was not a big man.

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