I know its been a few days since his passing, and so many people have sung his praise and acknowledged his genius everyday since, but I felt that it was my turn to express my feelings on the King of Pop.
I am only 22 yrs old, not even old enough to remember the "Off The Wall", "Thriller" and even the "Bad" albums (the Jackson 5 era, forget it, my mother barely remembers), but being in a household full of older siblings, his music was passed on down to me. I was only about 7 years old when I memorized both the "Thriller and "Beat It" dance routine & proudly showcased MJ's smoove moves at family gatherings or just joshin' around the house. I remember years before that, watching the entire making of "Thriller" and the movie from which they made the "Smooth Criminal" video from. Whenever my four sisters and I sat around the tube watching award shows and performances, we ALWAYS asked one another "you think Michael Jackson is gonna come out?!"; even if it was one of those boring Oscar dance performances, we sat in anticipation of Michael Jackson busting through the curtains and commanding attention like the statue on the cover of his "HIStory" album. Everytime Usher performed, Chris Brown spun, Justin did a move or Ne-Yo sang, we always felt that they were just copying MJ, never "paying homage" as they always claimed. I remember when he had his anniversary special for his Thriller album and Usher had the nerve to try to battle him but Michael glided right across that stage leaving Usher and that goddamn spinning U-chain in his shadows.
I know all of his songs, most of his dance moves and I even grew to love his sister Janet. Their song & video for "Scream" still never gets the credit it should but I always thought it to be one of the greatest music moments I ever saw. The King of Pop and his sort of Queen of dance(?) sister, Janet, in one video, side by side.
When I heard the news of his passing, I automatically called my friend Fatima, probably one of the biggest MJ fans. If I know all the words to a song, she definitely knows the ad-libs, the riffs, the notes and the date in which MJ wrote it. If I know all the dances from his videos, she would be the choreographer of it all, right down to the snap of a finger. Ever since I met her 8 years ago, she has always expressed her undying love for MJ and his music. One funny moment was when were sitting around waiting for class to start and she broke out singing "Liberian Girl." I didn't know what the hell she was singing. I shot her the chopped and screwed face and she was so shocked that I did not know it was an MJ track. I guess you can call me a bandwagon fan since I mostly only know all his popular songs and probably a handful of ones that people never even heard of. But this girl Fatima, knew EVERYTHING. For Christmas a mutual friend of ours bought her a compilation special edition CD of MJ with almost every song he ever recorded, from his Jackson 5 days, right down to his last album "Invincible." I swear to you, I never saw so many tears flow from someone eyes from happiness in my life. Last year, when we first learned MJ was sick, we sat around in school and discussed the "what would you do if MJ ever died?" This question was also posed by my sisters and I almost everytime someone mentioned MJ or alluded to him. And every answer to this question some cataclysmic ending. Either the world would end, get devoured into a black hole, music would die, the human race would vanish into thin air, or everyone on Earth would commit suicide. Sadly, we never knew that that question would so quickly be answered.
I was never an MJ fanatic, yes I cried a few times watching him dance or screamed like a school-girl when I heard his young pre-pubescent voice over "Got To Be There" or "ABC" during his Jackson 5 period, BUT his death nonetheless took my breath away. As I write this post, I still do not believe he is gone but the stack of newspapers on my bed showing his face, with the 1958-2009 timeline beneathe it, tell me otherwise. I imagine that he is still alive, only faking his death to escape the stressful and detrimental aspects of the "industry." But my imagination continues to fail me as the news speaks about his funeral arrangements & shows the numerous memorials in his honor. Somewhere MJ is tugging on his white glove, shining up his loafers, positioning his hat just right as he finally gets a chance to truly walk the moon. . .
