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Thread started 10/24/16 3:52am

rap

Prince — The Essence Of Beauty

A tribute from Minister Louis Farrakhan

https://www.noi.org/prince-tribute/

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Reply #1 posted 10/24/16 3:59am

ldmendes

avatar

rap said:

A tribute from Minister Louis Farrakhan

https://www.noi.org/prince-tribute/

yeahthat clapping

..Hello, who is it?
Yes, this is a prettyman, Princey!
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Reply #2 posted 10/24/16 4:20am

Lovejunky

This is really saying something..

WOW...

Im crying..so Proud of him...

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Reply #3 posted 10/24/16 9:44am

Wlcm2thdwn3

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Page not found.

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Reply #4 posted 10/24/16 10:22am

1Sasha

Heartfelt and true.

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Reply #5 posted 10/24/16 2:52pm

Lovejunky

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

Page not found.

Here you go...

he was like a Pearl of Great Price, a Diamond of Matchless Beauty that everywhere the light struck him a color emitted from his being

So worthy of reproducing in its entirety...

Prince—The Essence Of Beauty

A tribute from Minister Louis Farrakhan

In everything that Allah (God) created, there are lessons to be learned. There is exquisite beauty in the flowers, in the rocks, in the birds, in the beasts, in the fish and this exquisite beauty that only comes from God says that Allah (God) is the Most Beautiful of those who have beauty.

All beauty is from Allah (God), who is the Author of Beauty.

The soul of the man that we know as Prince was beauty. The manifestation of his many gifts was a manifestation of beauty. The essence of his being, in the way Prince gave to others, serviced others through his gifts and skills was a thing of beauty. The creation of his songs, the majesty of their rhythms, the beauty of its content says something about the beauty of the man.

I never had the privilege of meeting this beautiful, unique human being.

When I had my first near death experience, I was in the hospital at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. Prince came to see me, but I had lost so much weight and was looking so ill, some of those around me did not permit Prince to come and see me. Later, as we were organizing the Million Family March, Prince donated $50,000 to that effort. After writing him and thanking him for his gift, I tried to meet with my brother but unfortunately, I was unable to meet him.

From what I know of him, he was like a Pearl of Great Price, a Diamond of Matchless Beauty that everywhere the light struck him a color emitted from his being—thus the song Purple Rain became one of his great musical masterpieces. The movie, the song, the man.

I like you will miss Prince. I like you saw the Greatness in his Struggle just to gain ownership of his own name. I saw the Greatness of his Being, the courage that he had to fight for, not only his own image, his own likeness, and his own music masters but to fight for others who were not as blessed with the depth of love and the breadth of courage that he demonstrated.

As I think of my brother Prince, I think of Allah (God), the Essence of Beauty, planting that essence in him and then wrapping that essence in the flesh and the bones of the earth that speak to physical beauty through which we gained access to that essence which is the soul of the man that we called Prince. He has returned to Him who gave Prince to us and I like all who have admired him and loved him rejoice that a man like that came this way.

Though I am saddened over the fact that I will never physically meet him, we will always have him with us through the music that he gave us, the struggle that he made that taught us how we must stand up, fearless against that which is ugly in its injustice, its unrighteousness and its wickedness.

He loved his faith. He kept the faith and fought the good fight. The Essence of Beauty remains, the beautiful flesh that wrapped that essence from head to foot is gone from us, yet beauty in a man named Prince remains.

May Allah (God) bless his family, those closest to him that helped him make his music, those who helped him in any way; may we all be comforted in our loss. But may we be joyful in the Gift that Allah (God) gave to us and to the world, the Essence of Beauty in a man called Prince.

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Reply #6 posted 10/24/16 2:54pm

rap

Al Sharpton had some pretty nice things to say about Prince.

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Reply #7 posted 10/24/16 3:39pm

Missmusicluver
72

Thanks for sharing this article. Prince certainly touched so many lives and was a beautiful soul. angel

Love is God, God is love, girls and boys love God above~
The only Love there is, is the Love We Make~
Prince4Ever
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Reply #8 posted 10/24/16 3:47pm

morningsong

touched

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Reply #9 posted 10/24/16 5:15pm

214

How beautiful words those are, thanks.

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Reply #10 posted 10/24/16 7:56pm

journalism16

I agree with this.
Erin Smith
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Reply #11 posted 10/24/16 9:37pm

Lovejunky

rap said:

Al Sharpton had some pretty nice things to say about Prince.

Can you give us a link ?

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Reply #12 posted 10/24/16 9:40pm

Lovejunky

214 said:

How beautiful words those are, thanks.

Here are some more ..

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/04/the_gospel_according_to_prince.html

By Minister Dexter Strong, is a minister from Huntsville, Alabama, now living in Atlanta, Georgia.


There is something almost sacramental about the music of Prince. Imbued into each courageous dance step, virtuoso guitar solo, gender-bending performance, and probing lyric was a dare which challenged every listener to celebrate their own body and live creatively. The freedom with which he lived pervaded every note. And as we listened, as his music careened towards that part of the self we rarely access, we, if only for a moment, felt free too. That's why we loved him. We have not simply lost a musician. We have lost a prophet.

Rarely do we reflect on a "secular" artist like Prince in theological terms. The rigid dogmatism constraining our own faith journeys preclude us from recognizing the divine immanent in his music. Some Christians may find his sexaul content, and gender nonconformity vulgar. Others will dismiss his spiritual contributions because of his unorthodox religious upbringing and beliefs. Each camp, to paraphrase Jesus, strains at gnats and swallows camels. Prince's music must be understood on it's own terms.

Each Prince hymn strikes a numinous chord transcending denomination and sect. Albums like "Lovesexy" forced our binary oriented society to see sexuality and the sacred, eroticism and eternity, as not opposing, but necessarily intertwined. Prince's music is not dissimilar in this respect to the biblical poetry of Song of Solomon. Each frustrates our contemporary urge to dissociate our experiences as being humans with bodies, and our experiences as being humans with souls. Prince had both. We have both. We need to affirm both.

As Yale Professor of Ethics Emerita, Margaret Farley puts it, we are both souls living inside of bodies, and bodies which happen to have souls. Understanding and affirming each of these dimension of the self is essential towards living rich, full lives. No one made music with more "embodied soul" than Prince. Each song and show seeped with sensuality. Prince demanded that we touch our world, ruminate in the feelings, and make meaning out of them. Prince's music is a desperate outcry for touch, and a despairing reminder of the hopelessness occurring when we're alienated from human contact. These are unmistakably Christian observations.

Sin is the state of being alienated from, or being out of touch with, God. The great ethical demand of Christianity is to be compassionate, in touch, with our neighbor. Even God enfleshes God's self in order to touch humanity toward salvation. Prince's sultry call for more touch reminds us that there is divine meaning to be derived from the act of touching, and being touched.

The crooning and moaning characteristic of Prince's music entrances our bodies, bodies restless from lack of touch, until we must touch, and allow ourselves to be touched by whomever is near. The funky ballads of Prince can arouse that urge in even the most disciplined ascetic. Prince helps us to see our body and its capacity for feeling, as neither problematic nor inconsequential, but as a divine endowment.

More fascinating still is the peculiar form and function of Prince's body. Prince's body, in terms of physique, was utterly unremarkable. He had a slight frame, and stood only about 5'2". But, he owned his body in ways awe inspiring. He walked, spoke and experimented as one totally at ease with himself.

The palpable aura surrounding him made him more alluring to women than men who bodies exemplified the traits most commonly associated with sex appeal.

By guiltlessly blurring gender lines with his dress and gestures, he became a paragon of masculinity. Shamelessly he used his body as a vehicle for his art. He clothed himself in sexual innuendo. He pushed his eccentricities to the public fore, and his almost percussive authenticity became the marching cadence for a musical revolution.

Prince's flagrant disregard for norms of beauty and masculinity is a clear reminder of how we should view ourselves. The creative soul animating the body of Prince could not be confined to any singular form of expression, and it did not view the our narrowly constructed ideals of beauty as authoritative. We should be similarly courageous.

We are all unique expression of universe, each of us gifted not only with God's image, but also with God's creative energy. Social obsessions with appropriate body types and roles should not deter us from maximizing our potential for creative self-determination and expression. Living authentically is its own reward, and has it's own allure. As Prince reminds us in his hit "Kiss", we don't have to be beautiful, at least not in the conventional sense, to be immensely attractive and valuable.

Prince wasn't afraid to take stands against social injustices, a rare quality in musicians of his popularity. In a song entitled "Baltimore" Prince asks "does anybody hear us pray/for Michael Brown and Freddie Gray?" Prince saw himself as responsible for helping to dismantle systems of oppression, even if that meant upsetting fans who would rather him remain neutral and non-political. But as he rightly points outs "If there is no justice there can be no peace."

From responding to Katrina tragedy, to civil rights campaign collaborations with Cornel West, Prince has a well documented history of political involvement on the behalf of the poor and oppressed. Prince communicates musically the importance of respecting all embodied souls. And he wasn't shy about reminding us that we've done a poor job valuing the black and brown ones.

It is here where Christ calls us to follow in his own footpaths. We must preach the acceptable year of God's favor, lifting up those who've yet to receive favor from the those which govern daily affairs. Not to remember Prince's powerful call for justice, through music and action, is to misremember him. Will we be as moved by Prince's call for an end to systematic racism and injustice, as we are by his call to party like it's 1999?

Prince's music, and performances helped generations to embrace the contradictions which constitute them. His musical activism is as cultural impactful as Bob Dylan. Prince just draped his brand commentary in purple velvet.

For one who lived life so colorfully it seems wrong that his life have such a sudden, drab conclusion. But we have his music! Those genre-less, euphoric sounds of funk, and rock, and pop, and R&B! These sounds drown out the banal blend of social norms and respectability. In four minute intervals Prince draws from our psyche the person that we try desperately to repress; the person the world attempts to either exploit, or regiment.

Prince has had a uniquely liberating effect on American culture. Prince is a sage gone much too soon. But, where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. God must be present somewhere inside of Prince's music.

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Reply #13 posted 10/24/16 11:10pm

rap

Lovejunky said:

rap said:

Al Sharpton had some pretty nice things to say about Prince.

Can you give us a link ?

just look on youtube

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Reply #14 posted 10/25/16 12:41pm

214

I would never imagine, men of faith tallkin about Prince in such high esteem, this is great.

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Reply #15 posted 10/25/16 4:39pm

Wlcm2thdwn3

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Thank you.

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