Questlove on Prince: Remembering a Legend and his Influence
Over the years, Questlove has often been outspoken and vocal of his love for Prince. Thoughout Mo’ Meta Blues, his biography that was released in 2013, The Roots’ drummer told various stories about His Royal Badness, from hiding his copies of Controversy and 1999 under his bed from his father, to watching him roller skate around a party at his house on Valentine’s Day. That’s why, after the news of Prince’s unexpected death, these stories became all the more heartfelt.
There’s more when that came from. Back in January, Questo recounted an experience he had the last time Prince came to town in 2004, after he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to Okayplayer. After the show (which he forgot to buy himself a ticket for), he DJed a private afterparty for The Purple One which hilariously ended up as an unexpected Finding Nemo screening.
Questlove has even taught courses on Prince, which was discussed in depth in Kathy Iandoli’s feature from a couple years back for Noisey, “?uestlove Taught Me How To Love Prince.” She said in the piece:
As I previously mentioned, he wasn’t a Prince fan to begin with. As a youngster, he found his way to The Artist because his dad told him not to listen to “that guy wearing a diaper.” That made him want to get involved with Prince’s music even more, and there was an earlier story though about his first real encounter with Prince’s music. “The way that Prince came crashing into my world was that my mother got the news of my grandfather passing away,” he recalls, detailing the moment his mother collapsed in her kitchen by the news. “Because they thought I was too young at the age of seven, they ushered me out of there.” It was no sight for a child. “My sister put the family headphones on me,” he says, “even though I was wondering ‘why is mom having a breakdown downstairs?’” The first song playing was a premiere announced by radio host Doug Henderson of a “new guy” named Prince. He plays “Soft And Wet.” And that was that.
Also throughout the class, Quest was quoted saying that “Prince really wrote the blueprint for Hip-Hop” and that “there are 20 examples of the blueprint we’re following now that he did first.” Prince has been sampled by everyone from Kanye West to 2Pac to Biggie, and he himself was known for covering many of his heroes from James Brown to The Rolling Stones.
A photo posted by Questlove Gomez (@questlove) on
Like he said in Mo’ Meta Blues, “When you live your life through records, the records are a record of your life.” Prince and his music was the record of many lives, including Questlove, and his impact on music and history as a whole will never be forgotten.
Revisit more stories from Questlove and other artists discussing their experiences with Prince along with performances below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LhcParuzpc