Show 9: Preview of "Never Tell [A Lie]" (feat. Prince)

In celebration of the “Sign O’ The Times” live concert re-release on IMAX on 8/29/25 and the forthcoming publishing of “Never Tell [A Lie]” in a PEN America anthology this fall, here’s a preview of the piece:

“I got too many hits,” he said to us on a December Saturday night at Madison Square Garden as he abruptly ended a medley of his most well-known songs.

It was a birthday present to myself. It was the third time I would see Prince perform live. It was also the last time I would do so.

My first time seeing Prince involved buying tickets from his NPG Music Club website in the early 2000s. That website exemplified Prince’s often-forgotten pioneering use of the internet and online communities as an independent artist to rejuvenate his career and community under NPG Records. I went to that concert with Tracy, a Black woman educator over a decade older than me who was present for the concert afterparties during young Prince’s prime years. She filled in many blanks in my growing quest to understand why Prince’s music had become enduring to me since college. I can’t precisely recall the setlist of that show. But I can assure you that after I heard the crowd chant the end of “Purple Rain” in unison, Prince would surely become the most enduring musical artist in my life. From what I had pieced together in my conversations with Tracy and my rewatching of his live performances via file downloads on Napster, I realized he transcended from an icon to my idol.

My second time seeing Prince was much less pleasant. He took the stage 2 hours late at Club Black [presently named, Terminal 5]. The only memory that made the experience worthwhile was his rock n’ roll rendition of “Shhh”, the song he gave to Tevin Campbell.

The 12/18/2010 show at The Garden were bad seats. But is there actually a bad seat when Prince set up the stage in the form of his unpronounceable image, providing a unique circle-in-the-round layout?

He rose from the center of that giant symbol and opened with “Baby, I’m A Star”, wearing a black suit with white stripes down the sleeves and pant legs. The vertical stripes elongated him. I know that visual trick. I’m the same height as my idol.

Next came “The Beautiful Ones”, sung by a purple piano and accompanied by legendary ballet dancer, Misty Copeland. Around 20 minutes into the show, he yelled, “too many hits.”

This was the first performance of the “Welcome 2 America” Tour.

About halfway through the performance, Sheila E., dressed in a black gown and a gold top, joined Prince to sing “U Got The Look” together, There’s a 15 second moment in which they faced each other, he wielding his guitar as a phallic symbol while rhythmically and invitingly beat on her drums Sheila E. It resonated as one of the purest forms of affection I have ever witnessed.

15 minutes later, he strutted towards one end of the stage with his shirt collar popped up while playing the guitar solo of “Purple Rain”. I’m glad he didn’t close with that song in any of his most recent shows.

Following the final intermission to do an extended medley, he changed his outfit to a shiny red, flowing long-sleeved top and matching pants- seemingly painted in the same exact hues of red as my favorite sports cars in childhood.

On stage, he invited celebrities in the crowd to dance- everyone from Dr. Cornel West to Spike Lee to Naomi Campbell to Questlove to Jamie Foxx.

But of all the details I remember, it’s the assured way he said “I got too many hits” earlier in the show. It exhibited supreme confidence, but his tone also implied that too many hits became a problem…

My friend in Los Angeles, Lucinda, was the first to text me a message asking me if I was ok. I had just stepped down from the lectern at York College after a speaking engagement with students and faculty on entrepreneurship and my immigrant journey. News spread that Prince died. Such news could only be verified by opening my Twitter app.

My idol had too many hits and developed a coping behavior that killed him.

Several weeks later, I was on an Uber to Chanhassen, Minnesota from the Minneapolis airport. I made a solo pilgrimage to his mansion, Paisley Park. The visit wasn’t just to pay tribute to him. It was to honor the Minneapolis sound he made famous- a sound further elevated by legends in the Twin Cities like Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis and Mint Condition.

I sat on his piano in Studio B, a piano that looked a lot like the one I saw six years earlier on stage at Madison Square Garden. I looked up at the room that still caged Majesty and Divinity- his white doves that occasionally uttered a high-pitched noise. After I left, I went to the same house depicted as his childhood home in the movie, “Purple Rain.” I never told my parents anything about traveling to Minnesota solo.

Several weeks after his death, Teach for America flew me out to its Entrepreneurs United Conference in Houston, Texas. I viewed it as my biggest speaking opportunity to date, and that view compelled me to prepare incessantly in the weeks prior. I scripted the entire speech, ensuring that I hit on the key points of my impact in educational settings and how my immigrant journey led me to entrepreneurship, and keeping in mind to end on the hopeful, opportunistic trends I saw in technology, entrepreneurship and workforce development. I would go to my alma mater, The City College of New York, to locate large empty lecture halls in order to recite my speech and practice projecting my voice so that even the invisible audience in the back row could hear.

And the night before my morning keynote, I threw away my script. Like the memories of the physical pummeling I took in Delaware, and flashbacks of the non-physical violence of bullies, broken immigration policies, and broken promises, the idea to incorporate my idol in my speech randomly hit me.

I told the audience about my last minute speech change, and also told them that if something I said resonated, they should let me know by yelling Prince’s trademark high-pitched squeal. A handful in the crowd did just that. And I replaced the ending with a few enduring lines from Prince’s hit, “Cream”, which includes:

“So you should / Never, ever go by the letter (Never ever)

You're so cool (Cool) / Everything you do is success

Make the rules (Rules) / Then break them all 'cause you are the best”

To date, the squeals from the Teach for America crowd remain my favorite call-and-response tactic in any speech I have written. And the line about making and breaking rules- or mottos for that matter- is something that will always resonate growing up as an undocumented child. That lyric is for the bold and the beaten down, like the 11 million undocumented Americans who, just like my 6 year old self desired, simply want to etch their name and make their mark in a new place they want to make home.

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Favorite Music & Concert access + more:

1. [FREE] Chicago Jazz Festival, featuring Esperanza Spalding and more

   Date: August  29-31, 2025

   Venue: Chicago Millennium Park and Grant Park (Petrillo Music Shell)

2. Raphael Saadiq just launched his vinyl club. Check it out here.

3. Saadiq’s one-man show has become a nationwide tour, with dates here

4. 112 is celebrating 30 years and is joined by Total and Case on tour. Use code: ROOM112 for presale access, while general tickets go on sale on Friday, 8/29 @ 10AM

5. “A New York Evening w/ Ciara” event w/ the Grammy Museum
   Date: September 5, 2025, 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM

   Venue: National Sawdust, Brooklyn, NY 11249

6. A wild September 2025 at Madison Square Garden: Lady Gaga, Benson Boone, Tate McRae, Kali Uchis, Dua Lipa

7. Pete Rock, “Petestrumentals” at Lincoln Center
   Date: December 13, 2025, 7:30 pm

   Venue: David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center

8. J.Period, “Fly Love Songs” at Lincoln Center
   Date: February 14, 2025, 7:30 pm

   Venue: David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center

9. Let’s watch Prince’s “Sign O’ The Times” Concert on IMAX

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Music/Entertainment Career Opportunities:

1. Spotify open roles: https://www.lifeatspotify.com/jobs

2. Sirius XM/Pandora jobs: https://careers.siriusxm.com/careers/

3. Open roles at YouTube

4. Live Nation / Ticketmaster jobs: https://livenation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/LNExternalSite

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About the author:

Cris M. is the award-winning Founder & CEO of GrantAnswers, an NYC-based data, strategy & consulting firm founded in 2013 that has helped ventures scale and pivot for 12 years. His journey to award-winning entrepreneur & immigrant rights advocate has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, MTV, and Forbes. He has helped thousands launch careers in tech & secure acceptances to top colleges & programs. His speaking engagements for the likes of Columbia Business School, the US Chamber of Commerce, and Teach for America encompass immigration, career development, entrepreneurship, and tech. He is also an avid concertgoer for +25 years and counting, and likes to tell stories about it.