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He was like, Who is this?
What do you mean, who is this?
I would have just thrown down my napkin and walked out of the restaurant.
[Laughs] Kenya actually gave him a list of songs he had to listen to.
So Kenya said he wanted to do an episode where one of the kids didnt know who Prince was.
We started developing it from there.
Right, from the estate.
What was that process like?
Was it difficult?I believe Kenya and one of our music supervisors had a relationship with the estate.
If Prince were still alive, do you think that you could have gotten that kind of permission?
My guess is no.You know what, I dont know.
I know that he was a fan of Anthonys and he knew Tracee.
And Kenya, he knows everybody.
So I dont know.
And then we went though the more obscure ones people loved, and we mocked them for that.
But we had a great time.
We started breaking down the story what moments would affect each person and how they connected to each song.
Like, Purple Rain didnt cost more than Sexy MF.
So you were thinking of going with 12 or more songs?Well, we were all Prince fans.
We wanted to do as many as we could.
We would have done 20 or 30 if we had the time.
So it became,Why doesnt he just describe the Raspberry Beret video?
That could be funny.So we did that.
Thats the only reason Charlie isnt performing that song.
Deon Cole must have been so disappointed.No, I think he enjoyed wearing the costume and acting it out.
They built some of those from scratch and they altered some other things to make it happen.
Hair, make-up, wardrobe, and set dec, they really put their thing down on this one.
They just loved the fact that we were doing it.
We never got pushback from any of them.
If you watch the show, its amazingly directed.
As we were saying, several people on the show knew or had met Prince before.
How did that affect how their performances and the episode?I dont know if it affected their performances.
Whether or not they had moments with Prince, we just love him.
Also, I dont know how many shows have done this thing for him at this point.
It felt like,If this is the only one, we have to deliver a great show.
We cant drop the ball on this.
They seemed blown away and happy.
I think thats the best feeling because they trusted us to do this.
Prince music is starting to get out there a little more.
Im seeing it in commercials.
That was the whole point of the story.
Dre wants to pass this on to the next generation.
And maybe look up that song and hear other Prince music.
Dre and Bow, thats all they wanted.
It was really supposed to be a one-time thing.
But it would have to be someone on Princes level.
MaybeAretha?Maybe Aretha.
We are using her music in a couple of episodes this season.
With her passing, weve been playing it around the office.
So it was like, we should find a moment in these scenes and honor her.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
