Spike Lee is making sure that he reps the legacy of his good friend Prince any chance he gets. A few weeks ago, Lee held his second annual “Purple People Party” in Brooklyn to honor Prince’s birthday, and last night in Los Angeles, the famed director hosted a party that celebrated the newly-released expanded deluxe edition of Purple Rain.
Partygoers were treated to popcorn from Garrets, free Purple Rain-inspired alcoholic beverages, a special Purple Rain photo area and, most importantly, a screening of a rare Purple Rain-era 1985 concert by Prince and the Revolution.
Afterwards, Lee brought up Revolution members Bobby Z, Dr. Fink (who still sports surgeon garbs), Brown Mark, and Wendy.
The group announced they are going on tour soon and reflected on having the blessing to work with such an iconic genius.
“It was transcendent every night to watch what he did every night,” said Wendy. She also proclaimed that we all will be hard-pressed to find anybody else in our lifetime with “the amount of physical, mental, and spiritual output ” that Prince gave out.
Lee later surprised the group with platinum plaques for Purple Rain, which marked 13 million in album sales. The group never received plaques when the album was out originally.
“I don’t what happened, but they got it now,” Spike said as he handed out the hardware.
The new edition of Purple Rain features 33 tracks which include, in addition to the original nine songs, a myriad of remixes, tracks from the vaults, and extended versions of classic songs.