However, these two artists, while acknowledging and being thankful for their background, destroyed the notion that there was something acceptable and not acceptable for a “black person.” There was not such a thing, the ideas of limiting what African Americans could do were artificially created, in order to manipulate and explain something unexplainable such as racism which, in turn, led to slavery and segregation. Of course, being held back for so much time by the slavery and segregation laws, it is easy to understand why there was such a thinking in the first place among white people and by 1980s, racism was very much alive in the USA. They were not supposed to be or do better than their white counterparts, because it was generally believed that they could not. While this was true, it was indeed very threatening to the white establishment and its deep-rooted self-created feelings of hatred towards the African Americans. Michael Jackson and Prince had never done that:they never considered their art limited to a “race” or “ethnicity”, it had no boundaries, the sky was the limit as far as they were concerned. Maybe MTV’s bosses decided on their own to erect such a colour barrier, yet they did resonate with the general feeling that African Americans were not really welcome on white only stations and to the white audiences, thus, they had to resign themselves to the thought that their artistry was still considered “race music” and it had no place in the mainstream. On August 1 st, 1981, Music Television (MTV) was launched and although segregation legally ended in 1964, some 17 years before, MTV would only offer airplay to white rock artists. Of course, they knew this, yet they decided that through their work they could challenge the established stereotypes. What was, however, true was that they were African Americans and this drew the line from the beginning, regardless of how talented they were or not.
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They even thought that there wasn’t a place for both of these high profile African American performers in the industry that at some point, one must make way for the other. Yet, what if I told you there was no conflict, no hate, just two very powerful people and entertainers who broke down so many social, racial, spiritual barriers that we cannot write them all down? So powerful was their influence that people – mostly white – decided there must be a competition, a conflict of sorts between these two. “MJ’s the best!”, “Oh but wait, Prince is better!!!”.
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Who hasn’t heard of these two legends and their supposed battle? All of you, I should think.