http://www.rollingstone.c...ce-w476643

awesome interview and the video is so great! ...hugs to Morris...

We were a couple months into the project when Prince passed away. So, we'd been working already and that's when ["Over That Rainbow"] came. It took me a while to decide if I wanted to put my emotions on the line in a song like that.

Why?
I was in denial like a lot of people probably were. I had just been at Paisley Park like two months prior [because] Prince wanted us to come a party with him. ... When I found out it was really him [that died] it didn't really hit me. It took a while to sink in.

Did Prince seem any different to you before he died?
Well, at the time, I thought nothing of it. But in retrospect, I thought maybe something wasn't right. I thought, he looked thin, even though he always looks fragile. After he passed away, I just wondered if he knew something that he wasn't telling me. I just felt like he knew. Like he knew that something wasn't right. Maybe he said it in just being adamant about seeing us again. Maybe that was a sign in itself.

But he still let you perform as the Time, just not record as the Time.
Well, you know what, for the longest [time] I thought that was very gracious of him. But then I found out from a legal standpoint he couldn't stop me from using the name [laughs]. I was like, "I'll be damned."

You know, the last night that I saw Prince he said, "I want to manage [the Time]. ... I want to take you guys to Europe. ... I want to put it together for you."

Wow. Was that completely out of the blue? Did he say why?
He just said that he wanted to manage us going overseas, because that's something we got prevented from doing – which was probably his doing – back in the day. He didn't want us to go over when the record was hot, when we should've gone over there. And we never did. I was just like, "Hey, you know the number. When you want to put it together, we're ready to go." And after he passed, guess what? Europe starts calling. The things that he said he wanted to do started to happen. How about that?

There's been a lot of talk about what music will come out of his vaults. It there anything you know exists that you're excited people might get to hear?
I know I've got stuff in the vault, but I don't really remember the titles. It'll be interesting for people to hear that 'cause I know Prince wouldn't have released it [laughs]. The only time we pulled from the vault was specifically for the Graffiti Bridge project, songs like "Jerk Out." And that was more Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam asking. It wasn't on my mind what was in the vault [laughs].

Your relationship with Prince always appeared tense but close. Would you say you were one of the few people who collaborated with him as an equal?
I always kept it real [with him] because we'd known each other since we were kids. I wasn't in the habit of biting my tongue around him. And he ended up with a bunch of yes people around him. And I think eventually, that drove the divider between us. At times, he was the classic example of a workaholic. And I'm the polar opposite. Whereas, when I reached my limit, I'd be like, "Damn, I need to go lay down," so I'd just sleep on the couch or I'd go back to whatever hotel, wherever we're staying, and he'd show up hours later when the sun was up, completely finished with what we were working on.

lastdecember said:

When I first read the article yesterday it of course hit me about noticing him looking thin. Morris since Prince's passing has seemed to take it hardest but also reflected the most and shared the most of what he had about their times. I know we all believe that Prince was always in the now and never looked back but he seemed to be doing many things that a person does when they know time is short.

Agreed.