More than three decades after he released his debut album, 1978's For You, Prince is still in a league — or, as he describes it, a galaxy — of his own. Appearing on the cover of V Magazine's summer issue, the "Purple Rain" singer looks every bit like the rock 'n' roll royalty he is.
The stunning black-and-white photo, shot by Inez & Vinoodh, shows the 55-year-old icon striking a regal pose and rocking a small afro. His hand — adorned with a giant eye-shaped ring spanning three fingers — rests on the lapel of his glitzy quilted jacket.
Inside the mag, Prince dishes on his tour, his team, and his distaste for certain modern conveniences. Asked whether he has an iPhone, he scoffs and says, "Are you serious? Hell, no."
In fact, the star has little need to communicate with anyone outside his inner circle. And even they don't have many direct conversations with him.
"This organization is different than most, in the sense that we don't take directions from the outside world," he explains. "It's like a galaxy. The sun is in the center giving off energy, and everything revolves around it…Nobody really talks to me. Nobody talks to me a lot."
Prince prefers to focus his energy instead on performing and writing. But don't ask him if he has a favorite song.
"Which one of your children do you like the best?" he replies. "Music comes from the same source. It's all the same thing."
Not that he's above bragging. "People come to see us 50 times. Well, that's not just going to see a concert — that's some other mess going on. This music changes you," he says. "These people are not being satisfied elsewhere by musicians, you feel what I'm saying? It's no disrespect to anyone else, because we're not checking for them. But we don't lip synch. We ain't got time for it."
