WordOnTheStreet said:

It's great to here the everyday stories on the man, the 20 bucks for lemonaide is a great one.

bigtimefan said:

Minnesota and Mpls. is a great area. I lived there my whole life until 5 years ago. Most people have great values and are honest and hard working.

Mpls., St. Paul and Uptown has a great "creative, art" vibe and is pretty culturally diverse.

He was definatly loved and respected.

I know many people in the club/bar business and whey always said when he would come in (sometimes unannounced) he would sit in a more private area (the Dakota had it's own upper room for him) and the locals just knew to leave him alone.

My best friend lived about 2 miles from P.P. I was so used to driving by P.P. I would forget to even look to see if he was outside or on his bike. I guess I just thought he'd always be there and took it for granted....

aww sweet but Kinda sad too that people just kinda got use to him being there

RiotPaisley said:

MINNESOTA DOESN'T LOVE PRINCE CAUSE THEY ARE MOSTLY WHITE THERE!? Wow. Sorry for the caps but .... ??? White people LOVE Prince. Minnesota loves Prince. Everyone I know who comes from there has a Prince story and they are so mundane, they're totally believable. One friend of mine said he was so comfortable there, he could take the public bus. She said he got on her route once with Diamond and Pearl and just asked someone if they knew who Diamond and Pearl were and the lady was like yeah and he was basically like, "cool" and got off a few stops later. She said he was just like a regular person there. Nobody bothered him, everyone just had mad RESPECT for him. He was LOYAL to MN his whole life. People on Craigslist? Seriously? That's funny. Who still uses Craigslist for anything but soliciting? [Edited 5/17/16 20:34pm]

Yeah especially white women sorry it was so easy. I hear Prince singing "youll be screaming like this white lady" Just kidding Prince on a bus

DysregulatedToxicity said:

Minneapolis is definitely more than 5% black. Seriously...in general the "metro" area (Mpls-St. Paul) is super diverse. Minneapolis specially has people from all over the world. Minnesota loved Prince but they did leave him alone. Prince was respected and he also respected his neighbors.

There were tons of Prince related art and such all around Mpls. He was part of the community, but again, people didn't stalk him like they do in cities like Los Angeles or New York. Maybe the difference was that he was born in Minnesota and never left so we always knew he was here.

He will be greatly missed

Nice to hear the community incorporated him in the arts n such...very respectful.

MNredandblue said:

The twin cities metro is a lot more diverse than what might be the perception. And I don't know where the rants are coming from, because I have never gotten that vibe around here at all. He was ADORED here....it is hard to even describe how much people loved him and respected him. At least that is what I have seen/read/heard my entire life. Really, he is/was HUGE here. And that adoration was consistent from his early years until now -- not just at the peak of his fame. Losing him has hit the state very hard! I will never forget the thousands and thousands of people that gathered at first ave the night of the 21st. I was singing with and hugging and crying with random strangers.....there was so much love and so much sadness. Even locals who weren't fans of his music and/or persona seemed to truly admire him and respect him. Fan or not, I think most (if not all) Minnesotans feel/felt proud of their hometown boy. I wish I had a more exciting random encounter to report, but I did see Prince at the grocery store once. It was totally surreal. And the funny thing was, everyone left him alone even though ALL of us (other shoppers) knew he was there....we were all shooting "OH MY GOD, THAT IS PRINCE!!" looks at each other, but everyone kind of pretended we didn't see him and went about our business (while still stalking his every move with the side eye, haha). A significant number of people knew he was there, but nobody wanted to approach him or bother him or cause a scene. I have relatives in Chanhassen; they live a few houses down from his "purple house" (from my understanding, his father eventually lived there, and then it was torn down.....although the front gate still stands). Anyway, I am told he was a great neighbor. He was often seen going for walks; the neighborhood respected his privacy. The kids (including my cousins) in the neighborhood loved setting up lemonade stands on the corner. If they got lucky and he happened to drive by, he would stop and give each kid a smile and a $20, which was big money for a young kid growing up in the 80s and 90s.

Well u guys are great then cuz I wouldve lost it at the check out line Nice that he was able to do regular things like this.

MNredandblue said:

These may have been shared weeks ago, but I still think they are beautiful. [img:$uid]http://i1302.ph.../img:$uid]

beautiful pics-love them all.

PeteSilas said:

i just wikied the percentage and it said over 17 percent in 2006-2008. I'm trying to remember where i heard that statistic, I think it was in Poplife, the excellent bio on Prince and I'm sure that the percentage was different when P was a kid. Funny thing, i always thought Prince sounded a tad bit like the black kids I knew who grew up around white people. I'd see some adoptee of a white family who'd come to the hood every so often and he'd speak like a straight up white kid. prince, in the 80's sounded somewhat like that. What to make of his ever getting closer to typical black vernacular (and music) I'm not sure what that implied. But many people have said they cringed when Prince said 'motherfucker" in Purple Rain, part of the reason being because he sounds like a white kid trying to sound street.

wait hold up I dont know how to take this

Eileen said:

Agree with those above that MN overall has an abundance of pride, respect, affection for Prince. HOWEVER in my opinion it's also fair to note that MN houses a decent share of folks who have been on the receiving end of his penchant for reneging on agreements and not paying his bills.

Are u one of those people?

morningsong said:

Spike Lee said that Minneapolis had the highest per capita mixed race couples in the nation. I have no idea if that's true, but if it is then it explains a temperment that generally isn't experienced in a lot of places in the US, a temperment that Prince grew up around in the 60s and 70s.

explains alot

XNY said:

Speaking from my unique perspective - I was born in Mpls, raised on the East coast and moved back here in the early 90's (and so blessed to be able to see him many many times over the yrs)

Minnesotans have HAD a love/indifferent relationship with Prince over the past 25 years IMO. Depending on where you lived or what music you were into - generally determined how you felt about him. Most of my friends in Mpls - where I lived for 20 or so years - liked hearing about him, listening to his music, and especially going to his concerts. Granted, I tend to gravitate toward Prince fans - most of my siblings and my mom love his music too - but that was the general feeling I got.

In the outer suburbs of Mpls - Eden Prairie and Chanhassen especially - they seemed to tolerate his presence - clearly unaware or underwhelmed that one of the most amazing performers to EVER walk the Earth, lived and sometimes shopped amongst them.

(Rural Minnesotans -much like rural America - generally thought he was bizarre. They probably still do, their loss).

In any case, I've always been perplexed by greater-Minnesota's(outside of Mpls) general ambiguity toward him. Was he too controversial? Sometimes. Was he too flamboyant ? Probably. But...did he keep his roots here, his bands, recordings, homes, PP studio ? Damn straight he did.

Either way, he put Minneapolis AND Minnesota on the map all by himself. Not Bob Dylan, not Garrison Keillor, nor the Vikings or Twins. We will forever owe him a huge debt of gratitude for that.

All said, as a Prince fan, the outpouring of respect and love toward him in the last several weeks has astounded me in SOOO many ways. Thank you Minnesota for going out of your way to show him all the love and admiration he so dearly deserved That, too, will never be forgotten. - Xtian

Yes he put Minneapolis on the map so to speak before Prince it was just another place but he gave it a voice

WordOnTheStreet said:

I've come across him here and there, usually in Minneapolis, but there was a time I remember that he came to St. Paul. It was in the early to mid nineties I think. But there was a lake by my house and people used to sit in the parking lots and chill and people would drive through the parking lots, it was kind of a hang out spot back then. One random afternoon, I got a few phone calls that Prince had come and driven through. I was pretty excited that Prince was in my neighborhood! I was just a teenager back then so I didn't have a car to go check it out myself, but I knew there was only 1 way back to the freeway and that was a street 2 blocks from home. So I decided to take a walk and sure enough, he drove right by me. I don't remember too much about it, but I remember seeing him in the drivers seat and a woman in the passenger seat. Being that you never really heard about him being in St. Paul, it was so cool to me that Prince was 2 blocks from my house! And that he was just cruising around. I also used to work about a block from the Xcel Center and I always went for walks on my lunch break. I ran into him a couple times there, just walking around. The Minneapolis stories I have are pretty much seeing him in clubs and stuff. Sometimes he'd be up dancing and having fun, sometimes he'd just sit there and watch everyone else. Then of course, there's the nights out at Paisley Park. Way too many to even count. Of course they weren't exactly random, but sometimes it felt like it was! There were some nights when there was no announcement, so you'd take your chances and head out there just to see what was happening. It was like showing up uninvited to someone's house but the gates always seemed to be open and you could walk up to the side door to wait. Sometimes he'd come outside and check things out. I used to think that some nights, he had nothing planned at PP, but he'd open it up just because there were people outside waiting. Those were some of the best nights because you never knew what was going to happen, but more often than not, he would open the door to you. It really was a blessing to live here and be a Prince fan!

First of all I love your name it is just great Secondly your post is great too!

ChanGirl said:

My mom is 85 and was born and raised in Chan, and she was upset when she heard about him. They loved him.

Yup - my aunt is in her 70s and lives in Chanhassen. She was very broken up over his death - and sent me all kinds of pictures from the memorial at Paisley Park.

nursev said:

Eileen said:

Agree with those above that MN overall has an abundance of pride, respect, affection for Prince. HOWEVER in my opinion it's also fair to note that MN houses a decent share of folks who have been on the receiving end of his penchant for reneging on agreements and not paying his bills.

Are u one of those people?

that's what one of the craigslist rants said about him too. His rep for that went beyond his fans knowing about it. Personally, I just never saw any ill intent behind it, I just figured he was a genius and couldn't be bothered with bills all the time. Not that that excuses it, just that I don't think he was out to screw people.

nursev said:

RiotPaisley said:

MINNESOTA DOESN'T LOVE PRINCE CAUSE THEY ARE MOSTLY WHITE THERE!? Wow. Sorry for the caps but .... ??? White people LOVE Prince. Minnesota loves Prince. Everyone I know who comes from there has a Prince story and they are so mundane, they're totally believable. One friend of mine said he was so comfortable there, he could take the public bus. She said he got on her route once with Diamond and Pearl and just asked someone if they knew who Diamond and Pearl were and the lady was like yeah and he was basically like, "cool" and got off a few stops later. She said he was just like a regular person there. Nobody bothered him, everyone just had mad RESPECT for him. He was LOYAL to MN his whole life. People on Craigslist? Seriously? That's funny. Who still uses Craigslist for anything but soliciting? [Edited 5/17/16 20:34pm]

Yeah especially white women sorry it was so easy. I hear Prince singing "youll be screaming like this white lady" Just kidding Prince on a bus

Reason I have a penchant for checking craigslist is not because I don't know that there are psychos on it, that's not it. It's because I want to see how people really feel about things that they will not say in person. I check it in Seattle all the time, just out of curiosity. It's nice to realize how nasty and vicious some of the people in your community are.

sonshine said:

The suburb he lives in is predominantly Caucasian, but he was adored by all here. Mpls is more than 5% black but i couldn't say for sure what the numbers are. The north side of mpls where Prince went to school is undergoing some bad times right now with a lot of gang related violence sadly. But there is no doubt there was deep devotion to Prince here and most people are very proud of him and his accomplishments 💜

Did Prince ever do anything to help his old neighborhood?

nursev said:

morningsong said:

Spike Lee said that Minneapolis had the highest per capita mixed race couples in the nation. I have no idea if that's true, but if it is then it explains a temperment that generally isn't experienced in a lot of places in the US, a temperment that Prince grew up around in the 60s and 70s.

explains alot

It did for me.

AnnaSantana said:

sonshine said:

The suburb he lives in is predominantly Caucasian, but he was adored by all here. Mpls is more than 5% black but i couldn't say for sure what the numbers are. The north side of mpls where Prince went to school is undergoing some bad times right now with a lot of gang related violence sadly. But there is no doubt there was deep devotion to Prince here and most people are very proud of him and his accomplishments 💜

Did Prince ever do anything to help his old neighborhood?

He probably did more than we will ever hear about but I do remember that he helped to fund an all black charter school: http://www.harvestpreparatory.org/

AnnaSantana said: