Prince hated tributes. He yanked covers of his music off YouTube, and generally loathed it when people played his songs. How could he not? Excepting Sinead O’Connor, were they ever remotely up to par with the original?
But it’s hard to imagine that he wouldn’t have been pleased on some cosmic level with the caliber of performances at the BET Awards on Sunday.
May’s Billboard Music Awards proved that a show can get this kind of tribute terribly wrong (Madonna was still being pilloried for it on social media Sunday night; BET even side-eyed her performance to preview this set).
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But at an awards show that often flirted with political volatility, Prince’s legacy was the flip side to all that fury, a reminder that in spite of everything, music as great and singular as his can transcend while it also speaks to the particulars of black life in America.
Sheila E. celebrated Prince’s music with a rousing mini-set near the end of the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press )
First and foremost – no one was better positioned to pay homage to Prince than Sheila E., and her takes on “Housequake,” “Erotic City,” “U Got the Look” and “A Love Bizarre” were among the show’s highest points. There’s a reason Prince trusted her with his percussion duties – she plays with unmatched conviction and charisma, and if anybody on this Earth is up to the task of sending off her mentor, it’s her.
Though the BET Awards were far too long at nearly four hours (making the Grammys seem punctual by comparison), her sendoff set left the night on a resonant, exalted uplifting note and a more-than-worthy in memoriam for one of pop’s untouchables.
The decision to intersperse Prince tributes throughout the night was a smart move. It likely saved many clumsy transitions and allowed every artist who took a crack at the catalog to fully inhabit the song.
Erykah Badu marinated in a spacey take on “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker”; the oft-underrated Bilal howled to the edge of the stage on “The Beautiful Ones.”
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Tory Kelly and Stevie Wonder (making up for his ill-fated Madonna collab at the Billboard event) did better on “Take Me With U,” while Jennifer Hudson gamely lived up the impossible task of singing “Purple Rain” to an audience of Prince’s most skilled and admiring peers.
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Hosts Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson perform a skit dressed as characters from the musical “Hamilton” at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Tracee Ellis Ross, Anthony Hamilton and Anthony Anderson get into the act, performing a skit dressed as characters from the musical “Hamilton.”
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Beyonce performs “Freedom” at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar perform.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar onstage at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Taraji P. Henson presents the award for best group at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Bibi Bourelly performs “Riot” at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Deon Cole and Karrueche Tran present the award for best actor at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Dave Chappelle speaks at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Bilal, left, and the Roots perform “The Beautiful Ones” during a tribute to Prince at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Erykah Badu performs “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” during a tribute to Prince at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Tinashe
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Bobby Brown, center, and the cast of BET’s upcoming biopic “New Edition” present the award for best actress.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Taraji P. Henson accepts the award for best actress.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Fat Joe, left, Remy Ma and French Montana perform “All the Way Up” at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Yara Shahidi
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Morris Chestnut and Regina Hall.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Tina Knowles accepts the BET award for video of the year on behalf of her daughter, Beyonce, for “Formation.”
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Stevie Wonder and Tori Kelly perform “Take Me With U” during a tribute to Prince at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Alicia Keys performs “In Common” at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Future accepts the award for best group at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Jennifer Hudson performs “Purple Rain” during a tribute to Prince at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Jermaine Dupri, left, Snoop Dogg and Birdman present the award for best new artist.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Chloe Bailey, left, and Halle Bailey, of Chloe X Halle, perform “Drop” at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Laila Ali speaks during a tribute to her late father, Muhammad Ali, at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Tammy Collins, left, and Kirk Franklin accept the Dr. Bobby Jones best gospel/inspirational award.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Usher performs “No Limit.”
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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During Usher’s performance, a subtle, or not, political statement.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Future performs “Wicked (Purple Reign).”
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Maxwell performs at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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During Maxwell’s performance, a tribute to Prince, a clock displayed how long it has been since Prince’s death.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Debra Lee, left, presents the humanitarian award to Jesse Williams at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Janelle Monae reacts after performing a tribute to Prince at the BET Awards.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Samuel L. Jackson accepts the lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
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Sheila E. performs a tribute to Prince at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater.
(Matt Sayles / Invision / Associated Press)
Maxwell and Janelle Monae would each lend alternately smooth and incendiary tones to staples such as “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Kiss.” Monae even managed to make a full gospel choir seem like an afterthought to her stage moves on “I Would Die 4 U.”
But though the affection and skill levied at these songs were without equal in Prince tributes so far, they only underscored the loss of the person behind them. Prince was so much more than a songwriter, singer or musician. He was an idea – that people shouldn’t feel bound by race, gender or sexuality, and he held out the hope that we could all someday meet as equals on a dance floor. He was a weirdo that was always two steps ahead of the rest of us, and showed us a world that we probably don’t deserve.
In that sense, the best way to pay tribute to Prince is to live authentically and without fear. The BET Awards’ tributes made it clear he was a peerless musician. But his absence onstage was again a reminder of our bigger loss.
