Shahidi, who used to be Prince's personal photographer as well as a longtime friend, recently spoke with ABC News (via Yahoo) about his relationship with the virtuosic artist and his forthcoming new book.
"For me, each time I was with Prince, I was still, like, 'Wow, I'm standing here with Prince,'" Shahidi said. "The album covers for me ... are what I was most proud of," Shahidi said. "I still, to this day, when I see the album cover, I think, 'Wow ...I took that picture.' Makes me really happy."
Among one of the photos revealed is one of Prince watching one of his own performances which seems to be from his 2000 appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Shahidi, who also happens to be the father of Black-ish's Yara Shahidi, also spoke about Prince supporting his daughter up until his death in 2016.
"Two months before he passed, he had...sent her a private message just saying, 'I, I love your show, 'Black-ish,' and your character's one of my favorite characters on the show,'" Shahidi recounted. "And, 'Say hi to your pops.'"
Shahidi stopped working for Prince in 2011 but even then the two remained close.
"After he passed...they went into Prince's office and there's a picture of Yara in his office still," he said. "And if you go in there, you'll see a...8-by-10 picture of Yara, sitting on his desk...It was incredible."
Prince, A Private View, drops Wednesday, October 25. Check more images from the book below.
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