Dave Chappelle on Prince: "When I Left Chappelle's Show, He Was One of the Few Who Truly Cared"

Dave Chappelle talked Prince for the liner notes of the upcoming Sign O' the Times reissue.

On September 25, the Prince estate will release a reissue of the Purple One's 1987 album Sign O' the Times. The liner notes of the super-deluxe edition of the reissue will feature interviews with Lenny Kravitz, Prince's engineer Susan Rogers, the official Prince podcast host Andrea Swensson, and more. Additionally, Dave Chappelle offered some insight on their relationship for the occasion.

Chappelle reminisced on the first time he heard Sign o' the Times, as well as their relationship since the classic Chappelle's Show skit. The interviewer, photographer Mathieu Bitton, recalled that Prince was a huge fan of the skit, and cited a radio interview where he confirms its accuracy.

"When I left Chappelle's Show, not only was Prince the only person I could relate to," he said, "He was one of the few people who truly cared about what was happening in my life. He was the only one I knew who had already done it...The mere sight of Prince reminded me that I'm not the last sane man on earth, and I'm not crazy."

Prince's battles with record labels date back to as early as 1993, and Chappelle felt solidarity with him during his 2004 conflict with Comedy Central.

"He was the only one I knew who had already done it," he continued. "In the loneliest corners of that experience, there was always a sign, like "Brooks was here," that he had been there and lived to tell about it."