Just ran accross this and thought I'd share it with you guys. It's a tiny article about Teena Marie's perception on the Prince and Rick feud. Just thought you'd like to know !

Teena Marie on Prince and Rick James

[Rick] James’s charisma was matched only by his audacity and Teena [Marie] was able to see these sides of the King of Punk Funk both on-stage and off. In 1980, Prince opened for James on the Fire It Up tour. James complained that Prince stole his stage moves and according to Marie, Rick paid Prince back by stealing his gear. “Back then people weren’t really programming their own synthesizers,” says Teena. “Prince - you know – he’s a genius... he was one of the only one’s who could really do that – probably him and Stevie [Wonder]were the only one’s really doing it…[Prince] was programming all his synthesizers and setting the presets with his own sound and …at the end of the tour [Rick] took [Prince’s] synthesizers.” Teena cannot help but chuckle as she recounts the story. “He took them to Sausalito and he actually used them on the Street Songs album and then he sent them back to [Prince] with a thank you card. He was a piece of work…and a brilliant genius, too!”

Teena later found herself wedged between the two future legends when she went on the road with Prince. “We were on the Dirty Mind tour together… [Prince and I] never had a problem. We would kick it…neither one of us drank so after the concerts we’d go and sit and have our little orange juice or whatever. He had a lot of respect for me. There were some nights that I would come on stage and I would kick his butt, you know, and [afterwards] he’d walk by me and go “Whew! I have to work hard tonight’ and there were some nights that he would come by and say ‘I whooped you! I whooped you tonight!’ so it was really awesome and he’s always been really wonderful to me.”

For James, however, it was a different story. “I don’t think Rick really liked the fact that [Prince and I] were friends but you know….The rivalry to me as I look back on it - it was really Rick. It wasn’t really Prince. It was more Rick than anything. I never really saw Prince feeding into it too much. It really actually saddened me because I think the two of them would have made some amazing music together. It would have been ridiculous…but you know…it was what it was…I’m not really sure why it started. Rick always said it was because Prince snubbed his mother.” Indeed, James claimed that Prince had insulted his mother at the 1982 American Music Awards by refusing to give her an autograph. The mood should have been celebratory - Teena was nominated for Favorite Soul R&B Female Artist and Rick wonBest Soul/R&B Album for Street Songs - but Rick was having none of it. Backstage, Prince’s manager at the time (the late Steve Fargnoli) hastily arranged for Prince to apologize but James ignored him. Even today, Teena views the story skeptically. “I really find that hard to believe and if it did happen, I don’t think it was intentional because Prince just isn’t that kind of guy. So it could have just been unintentional where she was around and he didn’t see her, you know what I’m saying? And Rick really knew how to take stuff and run with it…but from everything that I know [Rick] really, really did like [Prince’s] music….” Laughing, Teena adds one more caveat: “Although he would never admit to it. He would never admit to that.”

source

http://mrberre.posterous....rick-james

Btw, Have any of you read Rick James autobiography? I haven't however, I had read another persons review on it and stated that she loved the stories about Prince and that she could actually imagine Prince jumping a fence and running from Rick. With entourage and security, I kinda doubt that part was true !

Hmmm...wouldnt give Rick's mama an autograph, huh?

Story I heard was that a young woman named Denise Matthews went to the 82 AMAs with Rick, but she left with Prince.

StonedImmaculate said:

Hmmm...wouldnt give Rick's mama an autograph, huh?

Story I heard was that a young woman named Denise Matthews went to the 82 AMAs with Rick, but she left with Prince.

Heard that too. She Said that she won two ticket's to the AMA's as a consolation prize from a record company. They told her that there was absolutely NO WAY that she would make it as a singer. So they threw the tickets to her...I like Vanity but I don't blame them. What they didn't know was that they started it all for her. If they didn't give her the tickets, she PROBABLY wouldn't have met prince, Prob wouldn't have made "Nasty Girl" and that's one of my daily jams now SO thanks record guys!!

WOW wha a wild time that must have been! I would have luved 2 c that 1!

I've always heard the "He was rude to my mama"/autograph story as to the vitriol between them.

In Rick's book he admit's to being jealous of Prince's success and that he made good music, he was just being a hater, lol!!!!

I wish Rick was still alive and had had a reality show called "I'm Rick James Bitch". He would be clean, healthy, but still Rick lol, the show could document his comeback and he could talk shit about Prince weekly. VH1 would totally do it too lol.

Rick also accused Prince of stealing the ruffled shirt look

famous said:

Btw, Have any of you read Rick James autobiography?

It's well worth picking up if you are a fan

it would have been a sight to see these two strut their stuff together.

What I find a trip about Rick was right up until he died he was talkin' sh!t about P. Callin' him a fag and somethin' else and you know I was not sorry cat was dead, I lost what little respect I had for him then. He was walking comedy by that time (to me) ...

They were scorned lovers.

There was more to it I think, Prince and Rick James were very different in their approaches to music. Rick in some ways was like Prince a natural genius with Music and an inveterate womaniser. But he spent too much time smoking drugs and taking his talent for granted, and as much as I loved Rick's Music I think he could have given us more. Prince on the other hand had the work ethic and the application. Rick too may have seen the teetotaling, sober and drug free Prince as a bit of a square too.

Huggiebear said:

There was more to it I think, Prince and Rick James were very different in their approaches to music. Rick in some ways was like Prince a natural genius with Music and an inveterate womaniser. But he spent too much time smoking drugs and taking his talent for granted, and as much as I loved Rick's Music I think he could have given us more. Prince on the other hand had the work ethic and the application. Rick too may have seen the tee-totaling, sober and drug free Prince as a bit of a square too.

I think they both saw one another as a mark, for different reasons. Rick saw Prince as a square who wasn't Rock Star material. Rick saw his lifestyle as a part of the package, what you just "do" when you are the shit. Rick also viewed P as a punk, he constantly made reference to Prince's height and questioned why women were attracted to him. Rick was on some thug shit lol. Prince saw Rick as an easy mark, not so far removed from the over-bloated R&B acts with shiny assed suits. He knew he was the future, and he also knew that while Rick was getting high he was writing and cutting new music. Both men snubbed their noses, both men were crazy talented and this was a recipe for disaster.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Rick also accused Prince of stealing the ruffled shirt look

Rick was so full of shit, that look was worn by 60's rock acts long before Rick came along. Rick was a bad dude, had he stayed straight and kept his eye on the ball he would have given Prince a good run for his money.

dreamshaman32 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Rick also accused Prince of stealing the ruffled shirt look

Rick was so full of shit, that look was worn by 60's rock acts long before Rick came along. Rick was a bad dude, had he stayed straight and kept his eye on the ball he would have given Prince a good run for his money.

Yup even Jimi Hendrix wore ruffled shirts

Hell, Tom Jones wore ruffled shirts.

PurpleLove7 said:

What I find a trip about Rick was right up until he died he was talkin' sh!t about P. Callin' him a fag and somethin' else and you know I was not sorry cat was dead, I lost what little respect I had for him then. He was walking comedy by that time (to me) ...

Maybe Rick was a little jealous ?