The first time that my wife, Monica, and I stepped foot into Paisley Park, it was through an invitation from Julian White aka DJ Brother Jules who was Prince’s house DJ, first at Prince’s club Glam Slam and then for many years at all those renowned late night/early morning parties and performances at Paisley Park. Along with being Prince’s personal DJ, DJ Brother Jules was a mainstay in Minneapolis credited for breaking many hip hop records in Twin Cities area, which is known as a vanilla market. Moreover, he provided air time to many local black artists who could not get played on Minneapolis’ more mainstream stations. In 1995, I was in Minneapolis researching for my book, The Lyrics of Prince. When we got settled at our hotel, I frantically attempted to find the historic 89.9 KMOJ on the radio, which, for years, was the only black station in Minneapolis. KMOJ never had a far-reaching signal and I worried that I wouldn’t be able to access it. I managed to find it, though, and I was surprised when the voice I heard was DJ Brother Jules. I called the station because I was already familiar with Brother Jules from him hosting the three-day interactive birthday jam that Prince simulcast a year earlier. In 1994, Prince showed that he was still ahead of the curve despite his declining record sales. He opened three clubs, one in Minneapolis, one in South Beach, Florida, and one in Los Angeles, all named Glam Slam. Then, when he was still celebrating his birthday, Prince simulcast a three-day concert on a closed-circuit station just for the three clubs. While he was performing in South Beach, folks in Minneapolis and Los Angeles could enjoy the shows. At the time, it was a really innovative move. As a serious Prince fan, I was able to get my hands on all three shows later that year. And, right in the middle of everything was DJ Brother Jules, who served as one of the hosts helping to coordinate the events. He was hella funny, and he was also a hip-hop head who loved Prince, which, at the time, was strange for me. By 1994, hip hop had become the dominant music in popular culture, and most of the hip hop folks were not feeling Prince. So, to have this real hip-hop head, a DJ at that, working with Prince, was interesting.
KMOJ remains a very small station. So, Brother Jules answered the phone when I called. At this point, the story becomes hazy as so much time has passed. But, I remember that, for some reason, we started talking like we had known each other for years. I’m trying to remember the first words that I said to him, and my memory is failing me. It had to be me telling him that I liked how he helped to host the three-day Glam Slam simulcast. Within the span of that five-minute conversation, he invited us to Glam Slam the next night as his guests. After hanging at Glam Slam the next night and then at Prince’s NPG Store the next day, he then invited us to an afterhours show at Paisley Park. Between Brother Jules spinning on the ones and twos and Prince rocking the stage, they damn near danced us to death. When Monica and I left Paisley Park, the sun was rising, and we were ready for breakfast and bed. The next two or three days are a blur. After learning of my research, Brother Jules took the time to show us around the city. (I must add that I also knew the mother of Prince’s dancer/drummer Kirky J who was from Mississippi. While in Minneapolis, Ms. Johnson fed us like Mississippi folks always do no matter where we are, and I took Ms. Johnson to AutoZone to get a battery for her car because, of course, Kirky J was busy working/rehearsing with Prince.) So, we had a full five days in Minneapolis, thanks mostly to DJ Brother Jules and Ms. Bobbi Johnson who treated us like family. It was also because of Brother Jules that we got to meet a few of Prince’s bandmates, keyboardist Morris Hayes and drummer Michael B, when we went to see Dr. Mambo’s Combo play at the famed Bunker’s Bar. (See Pics below.)
A very funny thing happened after he invited us to Paisley Park for the afterhours jam. It was around 1:00 a.m., and Monica and I were standing in line waiting for the doors to open. As Brother Jules was rolling his equipment into Paisley Park, he saw us standing in line and yelled, “Man, why the hell y’all over there?!? C’mon here!” Monica and I are southern to the core and like to follow the rules, so we meekly left the line and followed Brother Jules into the building. As we got into the foyer, he stopped and said, “Man, I’mma set up; y’all better eat some of this food before they let everyone in. Don’t let them white folks fool you. They here for the chicken as well as for the music.” True to his word, when they opened the door, most of the people in line made a beeline for the food, and it was gone in a matter of minutes. When Jules returned to where we were, he looked at the empty tables with only crumbs and said, “Told you.” With that, he returned to his turntables and began to rock the house. The highlight of Brother Jules’ set was when he played Prince’s “Billy Jack Bitch,” which is a funky diss record about a female journalist who got famous writing negative stories about Prince. We were already sweating, and when that song dropped, we took center stage with Brother Jules saying over the mic, “I see my Mississippi folks out there,” as we did, step-for-step, the same choreography that Prince did while performing the song during the American Music Awards. (Yes, kids, there was a time when I could actually move.) A little while later, Prince was performing, and it was one of the best nights of our lives. Seven years later, I was invited to Paisley Park by Prince, and it was a great eighteen months working and corresponding with him. But, the first time that I got to party at Paisley Park was due to the generosity of DJ Brother Jules. I have no idea how or why DJ Brother Jules and I hit it off so fast and so well. I have no idea why he would place two people he had never met in his SUV and drive them around his city. And, I have no idea why he would make us special guests of his at multiple events that week. But, as I got to know him and heard other people discuss him, I realized that was just his nature. He was a big ole teddy bear who loved people as much as he loved music. RIP Brother Jules. He used music, humor, and kindness to make the world better. To learn more about DJ Brother Jules, go here and here.