[Unidentified Male:] Prince inspired, influenced, wrote for, produced, nurtured so many other talented performers, many of whom would become stars in their own right.
[Stevie Wonder, Musician:] He could play classical music if he wanted to, he could play jazz if he wanted to, he could play country if he wanted to, he played rock, he played blues, he played pop, he played everything.
[Unidentified Male:] What was the seventh grade Prince like? What did he look like? What was he like? He was so good. But not only was he a great keyboard player, but also, as I found out later, he was a great guitar player. He was one of those people that are very few that he can pick up any instrument and play it but play it better than you do.
[Pinsky:] Two days after Prince was found dead, the lead singer for the band L.A. Guns said this on stage.
[Phil Lewis, Musician:] We were all into that Prince, right, "Purple Rain". It was so cool. You had all your heavy [bleep] and then you had the pop [bleep], and there was Prince doing his own [bleep] thing. The problem is right now, and I don`t want to be racist about it, but black people are all one-dimensional. We need more Princes, man. Less [bleep] rappers, and more people like Prince. There, I said it.
[Pinsky:] Back with Diana, Erica, and Andrew. Joining us, "Headkrack", hosts "Dish Nation", and "The Rickey Smiley Morning Show". All right, Andrew, so go ahead, you`re reacting already. Go ahead.
[Gouche:] I can`t believe he actually said that. You know, that`s to say, all black people are one-dimensional.
[Davis:] And it`s such a gross mischaracterization of black music. You have the Kendrick Lamars who chronicle their lives growing up in Compton, in the hood, if you will, who also talk about social injustices. You have the Commons, you have the Frank Oceans who have been linked to homosexual relationships, as was Prince, but he also raps and sings and produces and writes. You have Childish Gambino who NBC fans know from the show "Community". Did you guys know that he moonlighted as a rapper?
[Pinsky:] Andrew`s still trying to figure out how he`s one-dimensional. Wait, I`m one-dimensional?
[Gouche:] Well, I`m trying was he talking about just rappers?
[Pinsky:] I think he was. I`m going to show you some other stuff he said. Shortly after the comments, he tried to clarify himself on Facebook, and of course people are using language like that, they usually dig deeper. So, it`s since been removed, but these excerpts are via metalsludge.com. All right don`t expect there will be a new Prince any time soon, but damn sure there will be countless rappers spouting the money and hoes moronic nonsense that does the black community no favors. I`m sure there are plenty of multi-dimensional brilliant musicians out there, but you`re not likely to hear about them on mainstream black media. So he`s sort of blaming mainstream black media, which is mainstream media. More Prince, less rappers, there, I said it again. Carry on. So there he is. What do you say?
[Gouche:] Well, I kind of understand the spirit of what he`s saying because I feel like the music business isn`t what it used to be. It`s not I don`t know that an artist like Prince could flourish today, because there`s no artist development. We live in such a microwave society now, and, you know, these shows where you can come on and be nobody and at the end of a couple months, you`re famous. So there`s no maturation process that helps you grow in your craft. They`re not doing that anymore. So I kind of get it, because I feel that way to a certain extent. Not to the extreme that he said it
[Pinsky:] The way he said it. Yes. Let me get some thoughts from Headkrack. Go ahead.
[Headkrack, Television:] I mean, I don`t necessarily feel like what he said was racist, but I would give him the gold medal in ignorance. I mean, to just over-generalize like an entire race of people just based off of what your personal opinion is, I think is a little off kilter. And being a member of radio and television, I can honestly say as it relates to hip-hop a lot of times, you only do see one side of the spectrum. For every guy like I mean I don`t want to throw no rappers under the bus, but there is one side that really gets represented more than others. There`s people that you should hear about, like Rory and Earth Gang and Bodega Brothers and guys like Logic who have an underground cult following but you don`t see them on the mainstream, and these are guys really trying to help push the culture further. You get Kendrick Lamar, and you get to see him on a larger stage, but there are so many more that represent well, and I can understand with an untrained eye why you would feel like it`s one- dimensional.
[Pinsky:] I think it`s so fascinating to see a guitarist whose music is based strictly on black music, the derivative of black music from the South, is no homage to that, but a little bit of focus to the one- dimensionality.
[Gouche:] Our memories are short, too. I don`t know how old that guy is, but he`s probably not old enough to even remember and appreciate where what he`s doing came from.
[Pinsky:] That`s what I`m saying. It`s derivative of
[Gouche:] But it`s not just rock, it`s everything, you know. It`s funny because I`m just a year not even a full year younger than Prince, so I remember how a lot of things used to be, but what I always say, I never want to be that guy I didn`t want to be the condescending old guy that`s talking down on the generations that came after me
[Pinsky:] But? Here comes something.
[Gouche:] but I get it, you know? But at the same time, because a lot of those old guys, they don`t want to change, and all of this is a progression. Music evolved, everything evolved. What Prince did in the `80s was not who he was now, you know? And somebody just asked me, do you think that his music was not as good? But his music was where he was then, where his life was then, and his fans
[Pinsky:] History will be the judge of this, to be fair. I`m running out of time, Andrew, but I want to ask some questions since you knew him so well, before I let you go. There`s all this talk about his hip pain. Did you know anything about that?
[Gouche:] I had heard a lot of conversations about it.
[Pinsky:] Did anybody know did it have a name, a diagnosis, anybody?
[Gouche:] Not that I know of. When you were around Prince, when you were working for him, it`s kind of being in a band, it`s kind of, speak when you`re spoken to. And if he wants to engage, then you engage. So I didn`t ask questions.
[Pinsky:] Erica, did you hear anything?
[Davis:] I have heard that he was suffering from a hip injury. I`m sure it was from dancing on top of pianos, and that he became a Percocet abuser, and we talked a little bit off air about whether or not it`s the doctor`s fault for prescribing the pills or is this the talent`s fault or the abuser`s fault, rather, but I had heard that he was abusing or misusing Percocet and had been going to the drugstore often.
[Pinsky:] Right. As I said yesterday, I just have to say, we can`t confirm or deny whether it was Percocet or any other opiate, but it doesn`t matter. Whether it`s Percocet or Dilaudid, or heroin these are all dangerous medicines that doctors prescribe routinely. I get very worked up about this. Stop worrying about what the name of the pill was he used. He may have been on an opiate, and when doctors prescribe opiates and then add a sleeping pill or a benzodiazepine to it, it kills people. So, this may have been a misadventure where we`re robbed of another young person. Now, there may be some underlying whatever, we`ll find out I guess at the autopsy. Whatever the hip pain was, my understanding was, because of his Jehovah`s Witness status, there may have been some concerns about operations, but I have questions there too. Why not, what they call autologous transfusion, where he stores his own blood and then gives it back to himself? Maybe it`s because there is a possibility he could have needed more. Did you hear anything about that, Andrew? You`re leaning in.
[Gouche:] No, I just heard all the stories about, because he was a Jehovah`s Witness, they didn`t believe in blood transfusions.
[Pinsky:] All right you guys, thank you very much. I appreciate it. I`m just very upset about this. Whenever I start thinking about a healthy person needlessly taken from us, we were all gypped, he was gypped. It`s very sad. Next up, a homeless woman, five children. She has five children, she became homeless, all five murdered allegedly by their abusive father. Tonight she is blaming the state for having done nothing to save them. Back after this.