With the upcoming Billboard Awards showing us how not to do a Prince tribute. [Booking Madonna, really?] It’s time for BET to do what they do best.
It may have been tacky to say out loud in the days after Prince died, but admit it, by then end of the week, you and your friends and co-workers were debating over who the BET Awards should have in their Prince tribute. For years, the BET Awards were unofficially given the responsibility of properly paying tribute to every Black artist that died that year since it was likely that the Grammys and the MTV Video Music Awards weren’t going to do it right.
Who can forget in 2009 when they had to completely shift their entire production when Michael Jackson died just three days before the event was set to air. For the most part, they succeeded by having New Edition open up the show performing Jackson 5 songs and host Jamie Foxx wear different MJ-inspired outfits throughout the night. Even though the last-minute effort got some mixed reviews at the time, the 2009 telecast is still the highest rated BET Awards to this day.
Seeing as how the 2016 BET Awards is set to air on June 26, they will have had at least two months to figure out just how to properly pay tribute to Prince. Since his creative fingerprint can be found in almost every artist that has come after him, it’s easy to just lump together everybody for a big Purple Rain medley. But no. This night has to be properly executed or else they leave the door open for the MTV Awards or the Grammys to upstage them again.
So here it is, a list of modern, active artists the BET Awards BETTER have in their tribute this year.
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D’Angelo
Since D’Angelo came in the game in 1994, he’s drawn comparisons to Prince. He has has cited Prince as one of his main musical influences and the reason why he sought to play every instrument on his debut album Brown Sugar. Like Prince, his ability to meld soul and funk, sexuality and sensuality, is a rare talent that many artists do not have. Plus, his emotional tribute on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon is proof enough that he deserves to be called upon.
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Janelle Monáe
Janelle Monáe was already setting herself apart from the crowd as an unique artist when she signed to Big Boi’s now defunct Purple Ribbon Records and then developed a partnership with Diddy’s Bad Boy records. But in 2010 the talented singer was introduced to an even larger audience when Prince recruited her to join him on his 2010 Welcome 2 America tour. From there Prince would mentor Monáe and even appeared on her 2013 album The Electric Lady. Prince always went out of his way to work with and support women, especially Black women. If Prince were here to produce his own tribute, best believe the cyborg known as “Jane” would be on it.
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Bilal
There are very few singers who had the vocal abilities of Prince that could change from sultry baritone to a soul-shaking shriek. Bilal drew Prince comparisons on his debut album First Born Second, but he was damn near considered the second coming from the vocal performances he turned in on his eternally-shelved Love For Sale album. His live shows are also comparable to Prince’s even though he’s usually playing smaller stages with less production. His last three albums, Airtight’s Revenge, A Love Surreal and In Another Life all contain the experimental elements that you would expect from Prince album, but they also have the straight up Black music that you want too.
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Esperanza Spaulding
Esperanza has never been nominated for a BET Award and a lot of Black folks were the first to attack her when she beat Justin Bieber for the Best New Artist award at the 2011 Grammys. So, there’s a good chance that Black folks are going to give her the same “who dis” look they did when she performed at Prince’s 2010 tribute [he requested her presence by the way]. Hopefully, more people will know who she is this time around if BET were to call her up again. Sidenote: The fact that Prince is about to garner two BET tributes shows you just how bad he was to begin with.
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Miguel
Prince once asked Miguel to sing “Purple Rain” for him and Miguel said “no” out of respect, or fear. We’re guessing that if BET were to ask him to sing the classic song for a tribute he would do it in a heartbeat. Let’s just hope that they don’t call on him to do any stage jumps.
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Rihanna
Ri-Ri should get a call to sing “Gett Off” so she can come out wearing something like the assless number that Prince rocked while performing it at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Not because Rihanna is only good for sexy outfits, but because like Prince, she is completely comfortable showing her own definition of what sexy is.
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Van Hunt
Van Hunt has had one of the sickest pens in the game since he debuted in 2004. While many regular BET viewers may not know who he is, they should know that he was handpicked to perform in a Sly Stone tribute at the 2006 Grammys. Like Prince, Hunt opted to take full control of his career and release music independently as he pleases after seeing his 2008 album Popular get shelved by his then label home Capitol Records. If you’re not up on his music, listen to “Down Here In Hell” above. Then listen to “Seconds of Pleasure,” “Priest Or Police,” and “The Lowest One Of My Desires and tell us he can’t pull off a fire Prince tribute.
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Shelia E.
This is a no brainer. No Prince tribute can happen without including one of his direct protégés. Sheila E. is one of the few musicians, like Prince, who can rock a whole show while wearing heels.
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Lenny Kravitz
You can’t have a Prince tribute without including a man who was perhaps the most recognizable living Black guitarists besides him up until his death. Lenny Kravitz was one of the few musicians that Prince actually trusted enough to play alongside him and the two of them were actually friends. The clip above was recorded at a 1999 New Year’s Eve party/concert where Kravitz left his vacation in the Bahamas to join Prince in cold-ass Minnesota. Why? Because Prince called and asked, that’s why. BET doesn’t recognize Kravitz for much outside of being a piece of male eye candy, but they can really show that they know what they’re doing if they can pull off an appearance from him.
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Anderson .Paak
Tributes can also be a time for new jacks to shine and an Anderson .Paak debut at the BET Awards would be more than appropriate. Paak is emerging as one of the better, young musicians on the scene and his recent coming out party at the Coachella Music Festival was proof of that.
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BONUS: Morris Day & The Time
Eff what you heard, Morris Day & The Time are still out here doing shows and jamming, hard. Day hasn’t been seen on a grand national television stage since Rihanna brought The Time out to perform “Jungle Love” at the 2008 Grammys. So he’s long overdue to steal the show again. Now to think of it, whatever the BET Awards chooses to do, The Time [Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Jesse Johnson] should be considered as the backing band for the entire operation.
