Genres are fictions, categories whose social weight comes almost entirely from money and marketing. They exist only because over time enough people can be pushed to believe they exist. Ultimately, the concept of genre — this kind of song should sound like this, while others should not — holds back the evolution of music far more than aids it.

On some level, Prince understood this — he’s been credited with essentially inventing a whole new style of music. The irony is that he did so by annihilating the divisions between those that already existed.

Some might say that the “Minneapolis sound” he helped assemble was basically R&B and soul “fused” with the spirit of funk, psychedelia, and rock and roll. Another assessment would be that he created a style whose R&B elements were more “authentic,” precisely because he hearkened back to the time when it and rock were essentially the same. Neither are particularly accurate.