Timmy84 said:

Harlepolis said:

All this "hater" bullshit talk.

Need I remind ya'll of the infamous "Adore" performance?

Prince was all " " during that performance. Even more so than he was with Trey. And he was acting funny with Shelby lol

Shade! Prince couldn't even keep a straight face

mjscarousal said:

lastdecember said:

Well i feel Rick's words mainly are coming from a place of "i got an artist thats better", though i can agree with him about the first album, i hated it, and i thought it was overhyped, but again, she wasnt doing the hype, the machine was, if you hear 24/7 that you are this amazing artist before you even had an album, it would get into your head at some point. I wish Alicia, would have gone the route that Norah Jones went, meaning played clubs for a few years before getting signed, granted NORAH is on Blue Note and Alicia is on Clive's label which shits out money. Of course there are better singers,performers, players etc.... but thats promoting problems and label shit, its not alicias problem that say rachelle ferrel cant get played because her label doesnt push her, thats the business that they are in, and the business, SORRY to say that Rick and prince and others in the video age where your looks and videos took over, they built the beast, deal with it.

But Prince and Rick werent popular because of their looks. Even Michael in the 80s wasnt vastly popular because of how he looked although he was handsome it was mostly for their music.

I didnt find anything wrong with Ricks comments. To be quite honest, I wish ALOT more legends and artists in general were more honest about artists of today instead of giving generic responces on them or opinions people expect for them to say for T.V. Its refreshing when an artist gives an honest perspective and critique.

To me, Alicia is just okay all around, shes always been that way to me. Ive always found artists like Norah, Erykah, Jill, etc to be more talented and overall has better music.

NOW if someone was to ask me who was more talented between Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Ashanti, Rihanna etc... then Alicia definitly gets my pick in a category of artists who dont have that much raw talent.

Like you said their are always going to be better artists but I was mostly directing that to artists that are her peers that didnt or dont get that much credit for their music.

true to an extent, but the explosion of their music, Prince took off with 1999, which was benefiting from the play and it didnt hurt having flashy women in the vids, as for Rick, well having girls in Superfreak didnt hurt, and his proteges and princes were ALL about looks. And yes they are more talented, but, take away video and Prince, Madonna,MJ, JJ and many others wouldnt be the icons they became, because of the era they were in. Stevie wonder, elton john and bill joel etc didnt need video because they were the 70's pre video.

Ricks statement which i partially agree with, was made as a "sour grapes" statement because he couldnt get his own artists pushed, and Rick was making this statement when he no longer was even relevant as a voice in music. But yes again i do agree that Alicia is just pretty good but there are better etc.. but also i feel the climate around her and the way the machine moves now, i cant get an opinion on her, i mean had she been doing an album a year as opposed to one every 3 years i think it would be more beneficial, someone like Norah Jones has been out 10 years and now is aobut to release her 5th album, but she also has had 3 albums with her side bands, and about 50 albums where she was a guest artist, so her i can see diversity and artistry.

controversy99 said:

Why did Rick James end up so bitter? He had a lot of talent, but his career didn't last. Ok, but don't take it out on others.

I have mixed feelings about Alicia Keys. Her first album is just ok. But over the course of her career, she has proven to be a great song writer, when she's on. Her best songs are among the best of her generation. Only problem is that she has a lot of just average songs. But those high points are really high.

Arguably true but I think it is worth pointing out that the bar for the current generation is set very low.

dreaminaboutu said:

I wonder if Rick would have felt the same way if she covered one of his tracks instead of "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore"?

He'd probably tell the press "Heffa, better sing ON key or she'll hear from me personally".

dreaminaboutu said:

I wonder if Rick would have felt the same way if she covered one of his tracks instead of "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore"?

Rick would've talked shit about that too...lol no way would he be like "oh I dig it". Please this was Rick James.

She's no patrice rushen. Thats for damn sure. Alicia is just aight to me. She needs to thank her peers for making her look better and stronger than she actually is.

Cosign what Bobby said