Michael Jackson: crowned in Africa, pop music king tells real story of controversial trip - includes related interview - Cover Story

Ebony, May, 1992 by Robert E. Johnson

"Life songs of ages, throbbing in my blood, have danced the rhythm of the tide and flood." This is a very literal statement, because the same new miracle intervals and biological rhythms that sound out the architecture of my DNA also governs the movement of the stars. The same music governs the rhythm of the seasons, the pulse of our heartbeats, the migration of birds, the ebb and flow of ocean tides, the cycles of growth, evolution and dissolution. It's music, its rhythm. And my goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance. Its like, my purpose, its what I'm here for.

EBONY/JET: What about politics?

JACKSON: I never get into politics. But I think music soothes the savage beast. If you put cells under a miscroscope and you put music on, you'll see them move and start to dance. It affects the soul.... I hear music in everything. [Pauses] You know, that is the most I've said in eight years ..... You know I don't give interviews. That because I know you, and I trust you. You're the only person I trust to give interviews to.

Africa, 1992