Tonight at the BET Awards, the Roots, Erykah Badu, and Bilal performed “The Ballad of Dorothy Parker” and “The Beautiful Ones” in honor of the late Prince. Later on, Stevie Wonder and Tori Kelly played “Take Me With U," and Jennifer Hudson delivered a rendition of “Purple Rain.” Maxwell also did “Nothing Compares 2 U,” and Janelle Monae performed a medley including “Delirious,” “Kiss,” “Pop Life,” and “I Would Die 4 U.” Sheila E concluded the night of tributes with another medley. Find those performances below. Back in May, BET mocked Madonna's controversial Prince tribute at the Billboard Music Awards saying in a since deleted tweet, "Yeah, we saw that. Don't worry. We got you." Stevie Wonder and Questlove, who performed tonight, were also involved in Madonna's tribute. Questlove was quick to defend Madonna's performance on his Twitter, saying “Every Prince rendition will not be a life changing orgasmic experience. Just to SING his work is brave enough.”
Watch the Roots, Badu, and Bilal perform here and below. Watch Stevie Wonder, Tori Kelly, and Jennifer Hudson perform here and below, and catch Maxwell's tribute here. Janelle Monae's medley can be found here and below. Finally, watch Sheila E's performance here and below.
Revisit our feature “How Prince’s Androgynous Genius Changed the Way We Think About Music and Gender.”
