Questlove responds to the hate about the tribute on Twitter. (link)

the pictures said it all and it shoul have been only that with madonna standing in front of the empty throne along with the moment of silence in service of the fact that no one compares to PRINCE.

her in that throne made me sick to my stomach. its like she waited her whole life to butcher that song.

i just can't with her. it could have been awesome. then she tried to sing.

There will be many Prince tributes in the coming months.If you didn't like this one,wait patiently for the next one.Let's not act if it's a major emergency because you didn't like this Prince tribute

4everyours said:

Bluu said:

Naw. I wasn't feeling the cemetary photos. Matter of fact I was up in here like 'what dafuq?!?' during the who headstones montage. But when they showed that first photo of him from '80-'81, that's when the waterworks came on in a rush. Thought I was done crying, but NOPE. Started crying my eyes out during the montage with all the photos of him.

Yea, I thiought this whole thing was a pile of crap! From QuestLover til the end. Not emotion, no tribute to Prince, just a weak ass performance by Madonna and Stevie. But I, like you, experienced the water works during the pics of him. Imagine that? Feeling emotion when they show photos of the guy they are supossed to be paying tribute too! Wow BB, you get a D- from me. This looked thrown together in about 2 hours. Shitty!!

Co-sign. That's just how it was coming across to me. The BBMA Prince Tribute looked like they started planning for it that morning.

luv4u said:

I know already BET will have who we were all expecting. Sheila E, Chaka Khan, Morris Day & the (original) Time, Apples, Revolution and NPG members and everyone'e favorite Mr. Larry Graham!

spastic78 said:

luv4u said:

Once Madonna started singing that song I fricking lost it

That's the perfect song for Prince...especially coming from Madonna. MJ, Prince and Madonna shaped the '80s; they broke down barriers and eradicated taboos with regards to dance, music, sexuality and race. They made it possible for the darlings of '90s Britnay Spears and Justin Timberlake to soar. More importantly, Prince and Madonna supported each other for decades -they borrowed fashion ideas from each other as well as music (and had lots of us kids of the '80s wearing dome pretty funky outfits). And at one point they were romantically involved but both were so passionate and devoted to their artistic productions that there wasn't enough energy left to sustain a relationship. They also did collaborate and briefly thought about touring together. More importantly, they taught the world that music wasn't black or white; it was just meant to be enjoyed. Sadly, most of the world has apparently missed this message. As Madonna is the last of the three '80s cultural icons standing (MJ, Prince and Madonna)and as she enjoyed a friendship with him that spanned decades she was/is a fitting choice to do a Prince Tribute. Both she and Prince were the purveyors of sexy dancing and were considered too risqué and avant grade back in the day -much like how many on this board are outraged by Britney Spears' seven minutes of gyrations. Anyways, how relevant are the Billboard awards?🙄

Great post I also noticed during Britney's peformance how Slave 4 U is a rip off of Nasty Girl by Vanity 6, written and produced by Prince!

Goddess4Real said:

Great post I also noticed during Britney's peformance how Slave 4 U is a rip off of Nasty Girl by Vanity 6, written and produced by Prince!

Here is your 14.5-year-old late pass!

suomynona said:

Goddess4Real said:

Great post I also noticed during Britney's peformance how Slave 4 U is a rip off of Nasty Girl by Vanity 6, written and produced by Prince!

Here is your 14.5-year-old late pass!

I know. Well I don't pay much attention to "artists" like Britney, Christina etc

Hopefully they retire Purple Rain from just any body trying 2 sing it. This was so sad 2 watch and disappointing at the same time. Seeing the photomontage had me over here crying like a baby. What a loss. Knowing this beautiful man is physically gone 4ever from our lives is unbelievable. RIP my Purple One. NOTHING COMPARES 2 U

BTW, I don't mind at all that Madonna was part of this tribute, or that she sang NC2U. The tribute was too short and there should have been more artists, more biographical info on Prince's life and career. Madonna should not have been the focal point artist to carry the torch for this tribute, is all. I don't get the impression she loved him. Stevie loves Prince, almost like a son or brother. Quest loves Prince almost like a father or uncle. That sh*t is REAL. I don't pick up on that from Madonna so her being the main person doing the tribute felt very hollow and unsatisfying to me for that reason. The outfit was great--appropriate. Her singing was fine--her value there was as a longtime peer, rather than to be the best voice in the room--but I would have had at least two other artists doing Prince's songs. Shoot, just sitting Stevie at a piano to play Purple Rain would have been more moving to me than Madonna's piece, because Stevie's whole heart and soul would have been put into it.

.

There's only one person who I would have been okay with sitting in his throne. Just imagine if when the purple throne turned around to the audience...and Joni Mitchell was sitting in it, strumming a guitar, singing "A Case of U" while photos of prince played in the background. Dammit I'm about to cry again just picturing it... Tears of joy this time. God, what a proper send up that would be.... U know Prince would have come back down to Earth just to watch Joni play for him in his honor. He wouldn't miss that for the world.

.

Imagine if she was singing ACOU, with a video of Prince in the background on the big screen, also singing his accoustic cover of ACOU on piano... Kind of in the spirit of the Natalie Cole/Nat King Cole duet. It always seemed like he thought of Joni as his spirit/musical mother.

.

I could drink a case of you, darling

still I'd be on my feet

I would still be on my feet...

.

.

[Edited 5/22/16 23:27pm]

pennylover said:

Hopefully they retire Purple Rain from just any body trying 2 sing it. This was so sad 2 watch and disappointing at the same time. Seeing the photomontage had me over here crying like a baby. What a loss. Knowing this beautiful man is physically gone 4ever from our lives is unbelievable. RIP my Purple One. NOTHING COMPARES 2 U

It has already been announced that LeAnn Rimes will be doing her version of Purple Rain at the BET Awards.

I had low expectations when I read Madonna was doing the tribute. But I expected more..what was up with the cemetary photos in the background? They had a little less than 10 minutes, Madonna reallly could have done a song more suited for her and then brought Stevie Wonder out for Purple Rain.

I was really disappointed at the lack of tribute to Natalie Cole by the Grammys, but the B.B. King tribute was on pont; they didn't go looking for his "contemporaries" to do, they choose folks who were equipped to do a tribute. Chris Stapleton very impressive for a country songwriter turned singer with Bonnie Raitt and Gary Clark. That was a tribute worthy of a King.

There is only 1 Prince .....

Bluu said:

suomynona said:

Watching this now... and I must be old, because most all the music performances have sounded the same to me like bland dance pop. All with the same style of singing and repetitive mantra like melody. Everyone is singing in the same style.

What happened to variety?

Haven't hit the tribute.

I'm not sure if any body else hears this but.... does the insturmental performance and arrangement sound more like Sinead's cover?

Why not just air the NOTHING COMPARES 2 U video sung superbly by PRINCE & Rosie?

[Edited 7/11/20 22:15pm]

GuyBros said:

I'm not sure if any body else hears this but.... does the insturmental performance and arrangement sound more like Sinead's cover?

Yes, she did it Sinead style, but that is the version that got played nonstop as a hit single. Okay, I think thry could have mixed her vocals up a bit stronger and boosted it with an effect... the mix cold have been strengthened.

but I couldn't help get that bad feeling again seeing Madonna and Stevie Wonder singing to a huge auditorium... about Prince being gone. Why is this reality? What is this twist?

suomynona said:

Questlove responds to the hate about the tribute on Twitter. (link)

Well done him.

docinwestchester said:

suomynona said:

I just watched this online and it creeped me out, those grave images at the start so creep - the only time I cried was seeing the Prince images - the rest was a train wreck. The only thing I thought was good was the outfit Madonna wore, that was sensational, but the rest was dreadful and even the photos they chose of Prince were not good quality ones............Epic Fail.