Every music festival had their special tributes for the late music icon Prince but the recent 2016 BET Awards on Sunday stood out from the rest and even compared to the last 2016 Billboard Music Awards in May.
The 2016 BET Awards prepared five tributes to Prince. In fact, on its promotional clip shared on its Twitter page it showed a purple image of the singer-songwriter, signing a special performance was about to come.
However, it had a shady comment, "Yeah we saw that. Don't worry. We Got You," which was eventually deleted and believed to be pertaining to Madonna's performance of "Nothing Compares 2 U" at 2016 Billboard Music Awards.
To recall, Madonna's tribute was criticized on social media for being ordinary and off. And, it looked like 2016 BET Awards did its best to give a one-of-a-kind tribute for Prince, according to E! News.
The homage was performed by Erykah Badu, The Roots, Stevie Wonder, Maxwell and Janelle Monáe and many more. Sheila E. also gave her perfect rendition to the hit songs of her colleague. They all gave their best to bring Prince's music back to life, which was not felt at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.
First off was Dave Chappelle, who sported a Prince-inspired outfit with shades and a purple-colored pocket square in his jacket. "On April 21, we got that news, and literally our hearts were broken. I was 11 years old when 'Purple Rain' came out, and by the time I was 20, Prince had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol," he started.
"We miss him dearly. And tonight we celebrate the rich legacy of this remarkable genius, who we are all so proud of," Chapelle continued. Spike Lee was seen in the audience wearing a purple hat and a gold symbol of Prince on his lapel, as per Billboard.
Later, Chapelle introduced the Roots, Bilal and Erykah Badu who sang "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" from Prince's 1987 album "Sign O' the Times." Bilal also showed his version of "The Beautiful Ones" with his falsetto voice.
Stevie Wonder and Tori Kelly collaborated to sing Prince and Apollonia's duet, "Take Me With U." When their performance ended, the 66-year-old performer went to his synthesizer while the young singer held her guitar and Jennifer Hudson emerged on stage singing "Purple Rain."
The finalist of the 2004 "American Idol" was joined by Kirk Douglas who performed a guitar solo of Prince's 1984 classic.
Moreover, after his performance of his latest single, "Lake by the Ocean," Maxwell suddenly sang "Nothing Compares 2 U." He changed the lyrics of the song to "It's been 7 hours and 66 days since you took your music away," "I went to the record store, Apple, Spotify too, and they told me 'Boy you'd better try to make some music, which you can't do -- 'cause Prince is the truth!"
Janelle Monae then performed a medley of "Delirious," "Kiss," "Pop Life" and "I Would Die 4 U." Lastly, D'Angelo introduced Prince's longtime partner, Sheila E., who was with her band members and some of the late music legend's backup singers, like Liv Warfield and Elisa Fiorillo.
Sheila E. left everyone in awe with a 10-minute medley of music that she and Prince had collaborated on throughout the years.
Watch the highlight from the 2016 BET' Awards' tribute below.
