AN ENTERTAINER:

"He's been the soundtrack of my life... As a black man I feel the mess of multimedia coverage of the last 15-20 years is just a bunch of crap to me. Yesterday was a sad and a bad day for me, because I think Michael Jackson died of a broken heart and a broken soul. The same fame that he thrived on that these boardrooms create, I think he felt chained to it. I think it was painful. The thing is the hypocrisy of this country. Now fame means the worst side of you will get the most coverage. It’s kind of haunting that these record companies wouldn’t give him the light of the day or these radio stations wouldn’t give him the light of the day over the last couple years, but now that he died everybody’s on his jock, so to speak. It makes me angry because in the end, no matter how much he messed with himself or his appearance, which to me didn’t mean anything to anybody when it came down to him wanting to entertain and just make people have a good time, I just thought all of that was irrelevant. And now you see all these areas of multimedia praising him and jocking him. But once again, as a black man dead, it’s just convenient for American media, and much of the people living in it. I feel kind of crappy for the hypocrisy of this country and its coverage." -- Chuck D. (theTakeaway.org)

A CHAMELEON:

"I think that this is a country of self-reinvention. But you always pay a price, no matter what you do. We’re used to reinvention of the pauper becoming a millionaire, the fat girl becoming thing, people changing their nose and their accent, but Michael, I think what strikes me is that I don’t know what Michael would have been if he could have been anything.... He was literally not comfortable in his skin. He couldn’t seem to find that space where he was who he was -- Farai Chideya (theTakeaway.org)

A SPIRITUAL LEADER:

The gift that Michael Jackson gave to us is, in many ways, a religious one, for religion functions to bind us to one another and God. [...]

As we give gratitude for this life and what it represented, let us remember that a lovely man with deep emotional sensitivity made a spirit-filled effort in the realm of American popular song and dance. This transcendent figure--in his own way--wound up attempting to change the world; he brought a song of love and helped us find greater joy. He helped bind us more closely to ourselves, to one another and to that which is greater than us all. He transcended this planet after a half century.

Until today, I have never known a world without Michael Joseph Jackson physically alive in it; and right now it feels like a lesser place without him. -- Andre C. Willis

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Read more King of Pop coverage on Newsweek.com .