“Solo” is a rare gem in Prince’s catalog: a collaboration that took almost no effort to realize, but stands as one of the most powerful examples of Prince’s vocal prowess, as well as his palate for poetic interpretation. Calling himself a poet first, Prince takes the work of Henry David Hwang and creates something so haunting that he only performs it live once in his entire career. Looking at the origin, production, and parallels of “Solo” raises more questions than it answers.

Scott Woods is the Emmy award-winning author or editor of two poetry collections (Urban Contemporary History Month, 2016, and We Over Here Now, 2013) and a collection of essays on Prince (Prince and Little Weird Black Boy Gods, 2017). He is the founder of Streetlight Guild, an award-winning, performing arts nonprofit. He has been featured multiple times in national press, including multiple appearances on National Public Radio. He was the president of Poetry Slam, Inc., is the co-founder of the Writers’ Block Poetry Night, and co-hosts the Race Against The Machine and The Purple Canon podcasts. In April of 2006, he became the first poet to ever complete a 24-hour solo poetry reading, a feat he bested seven more times without repeating a single poem.