Introduction to the special issue: Centering race in the life and work of “The Purple One”

Abstract

An introduction, exploring the music icon Prince and his racial politics, is presented with topics including his stance on intellectual property and the battle with Warner Bros., his perceived fraught relationship with Black women, the performance of blackness in his life, religion, films, and music, and a foreshadowing of the legacy he has left.

Keywords:

• blackness
• Prince
• racial politics
• intellectual property
• masculinity
• Black women
• music
• film