i watched it for the first time and i remembered the stories and how he and prince battled it out on stage. at first I was like ricks background singers suck,,lol but then I watched Rick move and dance and even the call and response thing prince does. The horn section rocked (something prince has been reaching for in alot of his recent work) and then right after rick performed luv gun... his guitarist rocks out a solo. And actually I had turned away from the screen and then i swear to you i heard lets go crazy's guitar finale solo. I was shocked and slightly disappointed. Im sure at that time Prince went back and watched these tapes and saw rick's strong points and reworked his performance, presence and really stepped up his guitar skills. I mean bambi rocked we know Prince shreds like crazy but it wasnt until this point that he seams complete on all levels.
And honestly I think thats teh key thing missing with Prince now...There really isn't anyone out that can compete with him and even ,,,umm inspire him to step it up.
[Edited 8/8/07 7:01am]
[Edited 8/8/07 7:06am]

I wish I had been able to see this tour because both Prince and Rick and my two favorite artists of all time. Prince definately learned some things from Rick when he was on that tour. The main thing he learned was to be shocking....the audience loves it.

Also James Brown, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Larry Graham etc ...

Prince didn't invent those dance moves. He just perfected them!

ERR WEARS RICJAMES ORG

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[Edited 12/19/12 18:20pm]

There are no more original ideas or people
Everything has been said or done.
Including what I just wrote...I got it from someone else.

fonkee said:

'Ain't No Doubt A Bout It' is, in my view, a truly classic Funk album.

Larry & GCS clearly inspired Prince and if you listen to that album (reissued on CD) you realise why he rates them so highly.

what you have all said is 100% correct. prince has borrowed from any and made it his own. I think I was just surprised when i saw how much he had borrowed from rick. And connsidering I was always on prince side during there battles. I now see that rick really had his point and wasnt really exaggerating.

Prince had been fairly tame before the "Fire It Tour" tour and became wild and outrageous after seeing the audience's response to Rick's wild and outrageous behaviour on stage. Even in the music, Rick had started out singing about drugs, prostitution, the ghetto, and outrageous topics. Prince had previously pushed the envelope a little with songs like "Soft and Wet" or "Bambi" but nothing like Rick at the time with songs like "Mary Jane", "Sexy Lady", "Fire It Up", Love Gun", etc. Then Prince started getting wild in his lyrics also with songs like "Head", "Do It All Night", "Dirty Mind", "Sister", etc.

It even spilled over into the side groups. Rick came out with Stone City Band albums before Prince had created The Time. Rick had been talking about putting out a girls group previously and, all of a sudden, here comes Prince with Vanity 6, including Vanity who had previously been with Rick James. Prince got his girls out before Rick could get The Mary Jane Girls out and, by then, the fight was really on. Not to mention, Jill Jones had previously been with Teena Marie, a Rick James protegee, who became Prince's opening act on his "Dirty Mind" tour....the tour Prince had when he got finished with Rick's tour.

Rick had talked for years on "Soul Train" and in the "Right On" magazines about making a film called "Alice In Ghettoland" starring Teena Marie as Alice. Prince beat him to the punch with that one also and made the movie "Purple Rain".

Prince was definately getting a lot of ideas from Rick, either by observing for himself, or by Rick's inside sources. Rick was furious. Of course, George Clinton had previously had side projects before both of them and James Brown even before that. However, at the time, Rick and Prince were the two hottest things on R&B radio so it was all out war!
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[Edited 8/8/07 10:40am]

thepope2the9s said:

Not only does Prince take from Rick James, he takes from many artists, but he improves on it and makes it his own. Artists have been doing it for years..
It is called influences..

pplrain said:

pplrain said:

To this day,
I'm still being influenced by the Mary Jane Girls.

Well....
the Mary Jane part, mostly....

While we love and adore P it is still imperative that we give Rick his props so not to lose all our crediblity. Rick was a great musician and performer u can't deny that. It is almost inconceivable that P could go on tour with Rick and the Stones and not pick up something...

adorable2 said:

I agree. I saw Prince for the first time on this tour. I went to see Rick, and ended up becoming a bigger Prince fan. Rick was an amazing performer. And if he hadn't indulged in drugs, etc., he may have still been around today to grace us with his presence. I last saw him in Indiana around 2003, right before he died. The show was awesome!

Prince doesn't owe Rick or anyone else anything! Prince is a hardworking artist and deserves all the accolades that come his way. Anyway Prince is much more famous and has many more hits than Rick.

He's dead, who cares?!
[Edited 8/8/07 18:15pm]

wlcm2thdwn said:

Classy.

I hate that some people can't be modest about "Prince" for one second (And I am a "Hardcore" Prince fan, myself).

wlcm2thdwn said:

Rick James should be in the Rock and Roll hall of fame yesterday. Amazing performer and musician. MTV refused to play Rick, he was just too black and too strong for them. He never compromised the funk.
And yeah Prince did take a lot from Rick, he was doing all of Rick's moves when he was on tour with Rick giving the impression that they were his because Rick came on after him. That nobody can deny.
I can understand not liking Rick but at least fucking respect the guy's talent cause he has bucketloads of it.

sexxydancer said:

He may be dead, but a lot of people care because the music always lives on. Should we not talk about him otherwise? Should people not care or talk about Marvin, The Beatles, Luther, Otis Redding, James Brown?

What's your point?

VonMarie said:

WELL SAID VON MARIE! Some people on here really have no idea!

But how much did Rick James borrow from George Clinton and P-FUNK?

Answer: A LOT!

wlcm2thdwn said:

Because he's Rick James BITCH!!!

OperatingThetan said:

No one is denying that. It's just that there are some folks here that seem to think that funk begins and end with Prince.

rebelsoldier said:

AMEN!

sexxydancer said:

That ain't funny

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Consider ur source.