even if you didn't fuck with him, you had to fuck with him. he gave you no choice. his reach in music was immeasurable. his thirst for art was insatiable. he was an unorthodox sex symbol, unmistakably and uncommonly lusty for life. i was never really the type to listen to his studio stuff and even still as a live act he moved me like few others and he was an INCREDIBLE guitarist. it's a shame that his insistence on pushing on and mistreating himself in favor of his art cost him so much in the end. for me it's been touching seeing the outpouring of emotion over his life and his oeuvre, just seeing how many people he touched. i also think that for all the identity politics talk about madonna, no one opened up that discussion like prince, almost to the point where he closed it, too. he had that kind of enigmatic, androgynous thing going on but when you started asking "what is he?" you quickly finished answering "who the fuck cares?" he opened a lot of minds and bridges a lot of gaps. real ass dude, all the way, a true artist and someone who isn't sufficiently given his due by the word "icon."