Everybody loves a good Prince story. Hell, people love Prince stories so much they they even love made-up ones (remember that time Prince went on OKCupid under the screen-name BabyImAStar? Him neither) but nothing is as satisfying as a real-life TACKAP sighting complete with all the major sacraments of musical genius, royal arrogance and, preferably, a mysterious disappearance in a puff of purple smoke. As it happens, Okayplayer TV recently found itself at the epicenter of real-life Prince stories, which is to say backstage at Carnegie Hall’s Music of Prince Tribute and the “rehearsal performances” which took place all day the day before at City Winery with The Roots + Special guests–”special guests” in this case including D’Angelo, Chris Rock, Elvis Costello, Bilal, Booker T. Jones, Alice Smith & Citizen Cope, Talib Kweli, Maya Rudolph & Gretchen Lieberum AKA Princess, as well as The Family (now playing as fDeluxe) and members of The Revolution. With personages like Nelson George and Touré on hand–not to mention Wendy Melvoin (of The Revolution andWendy & Lisa) her sister Susannah of (The Family) as well as saxophonist Eric Leedsand his older brother Alan Leeds–Prince’s longtime tour manager–the tribute was in fact something like a 48-hour family reunion and convention of amazing Prince stories, as well as testimonials from the younger musicians who’s musical worldview has been irrevocably shaped by the purple legacy. We’ve saved some of the best war stories for closer scrutiny at a later date, but for now get a feel for the vibe backstage with this sizzle reel of reminiscences and insights from ?uesto, D’Angelo, Wendy and Susannah, Bilal, Booker T, Eric Leeds, Talib Kweli, Princess, Elvis Costello, Alice Smith, Citizen Cope and Nelson George on the artist formerly known as “Steve” (true story! watch below). Let’s talk about Prince:

Okayplayer TV is proud to present ?uestlove and D’Angelo, starring in Let’s Talk About Prince, Part 2 (the electric boogaloo, as it were). In this exciting episode we get the real-life origin story of the dynamic duo who called themselves Brothers In Arms for their recent and brilliant 2-man show at Brooklyn Bowl–and who are undoubtedly the heart of the whole Soulquarian moment which is the foundation of Okayplayer-ism. Turns out that the guiding spirit that brought these two jukebox heroes together was none other than Prince–in particular a Prince song (“6″? Or maybe “10″? No. Definitely “4.”) that ?uestlove snuck into a performance by The Roots while onstage at a Fugees show in L.A.–the very first time he and D’Angelo ever linked. We could go on but…trust, it’s waaay more fun to hear ?uesto and D tell it in this split-screen interview conducted backstage at Michael Dorf‘s Music Of Prince Tribute at Carnegie Hall. Press play below for an extremely entertaining 2 minutes and some seconds:

like D's & ?u3st cool friendship. They seem like they have a bond 4ever through of course....