R U READY 2 TYPE: A Look at Prince’s Keyboard

On each of his two new albums, ART OFFICIAL AGE and PLECTRUMELECTRUM, Prince continues his career-long usage of creative spelling, as previously seen on songs like ‘I Would Die 4 U,” “Love 2 The 9’s,” and ‘Y R U THE 1 4 ME 2 69. ‘ OK, that last one may not be real, but you get it.

In an effort to make his writing process as smooth as possible, Prince recently abandoned using a traditional QWERTY keyboard, instead opting for one custom-built to his exact specifications. Here is a first look at Prince’s new, custom-designed keyboard.

Illustration By Jason Katzenstein