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Arts & Culture

Purple Reign: Prince’s Commitment to Social Justice Overlooked, James Gordon William Says

Friday, February 9, 2018, By Ren茅e K. Gadoua
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College of Arts and Sciencesfaculty
James Gordon Williams

James Gordon Williams

聽first heard Prince鈥檚 music as a high school student. 鈥淭he album Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987) was popular then and Prince鈥檚 music videos were available via MTV-style music video channels,鈥� recalls Williams, assistant professor of African American Studies聽in the College of Arts and Sciences. 鈥淚 also had a cursory awareness of 鈥淧urple Rain,鈥� but did not grasp the cultural significance of the landmark album and the subsequent movie at that time,鈥� he adds.

Williams is a critical musicologist, composer, improviser and pianist whose research focuses on understanding how African-American musical activist texts connect with what the late eminent scholar Cedric Robinson called the Black Radical Tradition.

Williams saw Prince perform live twice. The second performance was the May 10, 2015, Rally 4 Peace concert in Baltimore. The concert was dedicated to healing Baltimore and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, the ongoing international debate over the way the police treat people of color.

At the Baltimore concert鈥揳 year before he died鈥揚rince released 鈥淏altimore,鈥� a protest song dedicated to Freddie Gray, a song Williams contends was a critique of the system that leads to this type of incidents. 鈥淏altimore鈥� is linked to what Williams describes as Prince鈥檚 鈥渃overt, but avid, support of social justice initiatives that support black humanity.鈥� His essay聽聽was published in the September 2017 Journal of African American Studies, a special issue that focuses on the life of Prince Rogers Nelson. The academic journal presents the first scholarly collection of articles on Prince.

Prince at the Coachella Festival in 2008

Prince at the Coachella Festival in 2008 (Photo by Scott Penner)

鈥淭hough Prince is considered a popular musician by many people, his music disregarded genre and has layers of depth that require deep study,鈥� Williams says. 鈥淣o two Prince compositions are the same and his songwriting craft never stopped developing due to his work ethic and insatiable appetite for creativity practice.鈥� The essay 鈥渨as an opportunity to articulate ideas about his music in a way that I could not have done 30 years ago.鈥�

In May 2017, Williams presented a paper at 鈥淧urple Reign: An Interdisciplinary Conference on the Life and Legacy of Prince鈥� at the University of Salford in Manchester, England.

Scholarly articles written about Prince after his death will be markedly different than scholarship written when he was alive, Williams says. 鈥淰arious devotees read Prince in a plethora of ways which have to do with culture, world geography, sexuality and many other factors. Yet much of the critical scholarship on Prince before his passing discussed his work in culturally ambiguous terms. The historical evidence tells us that black musicians like Prince were invested in helping the core community that supports them.鈥�

About 黑料不打烊

Founded聽in 1870, 黑料不打烊 is a private international research university聽dedicated to advancing knowledge and fostering student success through teaching聽excellence,聽rigorous scholarship and interdisciplinary research. Comprising 11聽academic schools and colleges, the University has a long legacy of excellence聽in the liberal arts, sciences and聽professional disciplines that prepares聽students for the complex challenges and emerging opportunities of a rapidly聽changing world. Students enjoy the resources of a 270-acre main聽campus and聽extended campus venues in major national metropolitan hubs and across three聽continents. 黑料不打烊鈥檚 student body is among the most diverse for an聽institution of its聽kind across multiple dimensions, and students typically represent聽all 50 states and more than 100 countries. 黑料不打烊 also has a long legacy of聽supporting veterans and is home to聽the nationally recognized Institute for聽Veterans and Military Families, the first university-based institute in the聽U.S. focused on addressing the unique needs of veterans and their聽families.

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Ren茅e K. Gadoua

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