Miami's Music Community Reacts to the Death of Prince

Last night, at the A+E District's monthly Rooftop Unplugged concert series in Wynwood, Raquel Sofía finished her final song. "This is normally where we'd stop," she told the small crowd on the roof of the Filling Station Lofts. "But music lost a very special person today." The Latin Grammy nominee then launched...

By Ryan Pfeffer

April 22, 2016

Audio By Carbonatix

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Last night, at the A+E District's monthly Rooftop Unplugged concert series in Wynwood, Raquel Sofía finished her final song. "This is normally where we'd stop," she told the small crowd on the roof of the Filling Station Lofts. "But music lost a very special person today." The Latin Grammy nominee then launched into a medley of "Kiss" and "Purple Rain."

Across town, at the Anderson, Sweat Records owner Lauren Reskin devoted her DJ set to the Purple One. Scenes like this no doubt happened all across Miami last night, and all across the country, the world, and the galaxy. Because Prince is dead. And the world is sad.

Miami is sad too. We loved Prince. The singer, for a brief time, owned a nightclub on South Beach called Glam Slam. He opened the space on Washington Avenue in June 1994. Prince even performed there once in an epic and chaotic set on opening night.

Glam Slam closed in 1996. The space would become a slew of different clubs, most recently Mansion and Icon.

Prince's music was sexual, dangerous, and aggressively danceable. Even though he was born in Minnesota, it makes sense that Prince would have found comfort in Miami, a place that was seemingly custom-made to be his demographic. Were Prince to design a city, it would probably look an awful lot like the bright colors and art deco of Miami Beach.

Millions took to social media the other day to mourn the loss of Prince. And a good chunk of Miami's music community was among those millions. From Uncle Luke to Gloria Estefan, here are some brief, 140-character examples of how important Prince was to Miami, including an amazing story of a Prince encounter from Suénalo.

To a legend that will forever live on, God bless. We will celebrate
your life tonight. @prince pic.twitter.com/z6rbVfTCqi
— Pitbull (@pitbull) April 21, 2016

I'm so sad we've lost @prince the legend,the master,a musical juggernaut that knew no boundaries.He left indelible footprints in music.RIP
— Gloria Estefan (@GloriaEstefan) April 21, 2016

Prince
— Yung Renzél (@rickyrozay) April 21, 2016

My top 5 Prince songs Nikki, Little Red Corvette, Purple Rain, Let's Go Crazy, raspberry
— LUTHER R CAMPBELL (@unclelukereal1) April 22, 2016

pic.twitter.com/kCiGfx93Yn
— TRINA (@TRINArockstarr) April 21, 2016

??

A photo posted by DJ KHALED (@djkhaled) on Apr 21, 2016 at 10:51am PDT

An unreleased Prince tune I drop in every set. R.I.P. man. - ;0( https://t.co/BKm9j63zJr
— Danny Daze (@DannyDaze) April 21, 2016

The term "genius" is too often used indiscriminately.. but today, I can say with 100% certainty, that we lost a true genius. It is a sad day for art. Thank you for the inspiration Prince. #RIP

A photo posted by Oscar G (@djoscarg305) on Apr 21, 2016 at 12:02pm PDT

We lost another musical genius RIP Prince
— Cedric Gervais (@CedricGervais) April 21, 2016

Sad news for today and another icon gone too soon. RIP Prince https://t.co/E1dwFU1B9W
— churchillspub (@churchillspub) April 21, 2016

Ryan Pfeffer is a contributor and former Miami New Times music editor. After earning a BS from Florida State University, Ryan joined the New Times staff in November 2013 as a web editor.

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