In the wake of Prince‘s shocking and tragic death last month, the tributes, recollections and reflections about the life and times of one of the greatest musical figures in world history have come rolling in. Rolling Stone, the pop culture publication that’s featured The Purple One on their cover six times, just unleashed an unreleased cover story, composed of a set of interviews that took place at Prince’s Paisley Park residence in 2014.
In the interview, Prince is asked about Michael Jackson‘s death, a question he side-steps, but eventually vaguely addresses with a broader approach.
He is just one of many who have gone through that door—Amy Winehouse and folks. We’re all connected, right, we’re all brothers and sisters, and the minute we lock that in, we wouldn’t let anybody in our family fall. That’s why I called Chris Brown. All of us need to be able to reach out and just fix stuff. There’s nothing that’s unforgivable.
In the rest of the interview, Prince touches on retirement–“I don’t know what that is”–and the state of talent in the present-day music industry. “You’re trying to find the personality first, make sure you’ve got that locked in. And it’s better if they got scandal on ’em or a reality show or sex tape. And they have it down to an art. They’re getting street cred for Justin Bieber now!”
Read the full story here.