Rick James tried to fight Prince for having lacked respect to his mother

The two musicians were in a fierce quarrel for a large part of their career.


Both Prince And Rick James released their first albums in 1978, but while James, 30, turned directly to the summit with successful singles "You and I" and "Mary Jane", it would take the decade-youter " Purple rain "Singer a few more years become a star . In the years between the two, A net rivalry formed between the two funk musicians. Read the continuation for the complete story behind their legendary antagonism and how it led James to hunt prince to make amends with his mother.

Read this then: Michael Jackson said Prince was "bad and mean" for him .

The prince dethroned the king of "Punk Funk" on tour in 1980.

Prince in the
Prince / YouTube

Before his 1980 "Fire It Up" tour, James had heard Prince's second album I want to be your lover on the radio and asked for a singer's video. "I thought he reminded me a little myself, except that he did not move as much," he commented later in His 2007 autobiography written with David Ritz ,, Rick James' confessions: Memoirs of a super monster . James then invited Prince and his group to open up for him. At the time, he was worried, the act would be too soft for the tour, having only having to be that Prince was shy. He even wrote in his book that he "was sorry for him" the first time he saw Prince play in person.

To his surprise, the young and hungry singer and his group stole the spectacle with their set, increasing the feeling on sensuality with each passing night and the exhausting audience even before James was released. Fans and criticisms have taken note. According to Per Nilsen Dance music sex romance: prince: the first decade , see the show led Chicago Sun Times critical Patricia Smith To write: "Rick James considers himself the king of a R&B musical genre called Punk Funk. And until Thursday ... He was probably king. But he probably did not expect to be presented by a simple prince."

But James said that Prince had stolen the show - literally.

According to James, the prince owed more than this success. Although the two stars and their groups barely speak on the stage, the youngest singer was a passionate observer. "Whenever I was on stage, I saw Prince on the side of the scene looking and looking at everything I did, like a child in school," James wrote in his memories. "He remembered everything I did, like a computer."

The older artist said that he had quickly found prince making his signature dance movements and his crowd songs. "The boy had stolen my whole show," he wrote. "I was annoyed, just like my group."

Bass player Levin Ruffin Jr. supported James' claims that Prince had copied him in the 2021 documentary Bitchin ': Rick James' sound and fury . "Prince was like, what, 21, 22 years old? We could no longer do what a guy aged 21 or 22 could do," He said in the film , as indicated by the daily beast. "We tried! But we had a lot of b-12 and shit that we had to take."

The tensions were finally so high between the stars and their groups that they all had to sit with their managers and reach a laconic agreement. But, according to James, Prince has still not stopped, leading him to James to attack his 32nd birthday party. "I went to his table, I caught him on the back of his hair and I poured cognac into his throat," he wrote Glow: Rick James Autobiography , Ritz's Own Edit 2015 of his work with James. "He spit it and started crying like a baby. I laughed."

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Even James' mom was a fan.

Rick James and Janet Jackson in 1984
Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

James also would have less than kind things to say about Prince in the press, narrative Rolling stone , "I cannot believe that people are gullible enough to buy jive prince records" and call him "a mentally disturbed young man" whose music could not be taken seriously.

Say what he could, the youngest singer became a star - so much so that when James brought his own mother to Dick Clark 1982 American Music Awards Afterparty, Prince was one of the stars she was delighted to see, according to Shine . James was horrified to learn that not only did she ask Prince her autograph, but that he had arrogantly snubbed the request. "" When I asked him, he turned around and walked away "," he recalls his mother.

"That's all I needed to hear," James wrote. "I chased after this little barge. I caught it and I was on the device when its manager intervened."

Prince finally apologized to James and his mother, recalls the other musician. "I was a little disappointed because I really wanted to kick [explanive]," recalls James.

James had the last word.

Rick James in 2004
Kevin Winter / Getty images

At that time, James had already returned to Prince, deciding that if Prince would steal his movements, James would steal his synthesizers for us on his next album. This means that it is perhaps the Oberheim Ob-Xa Synth Prince of Prince that you hear on "Super Freak" from 1981 Street songs . AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"He took [the synthesizers] to Sausalito and he actually used them on the Street songs Album, then he sent them back to [Prince] with a thank you card, " singer Teena Marie revealed to the journalist Eddie Santiago in 2009.

James, who died in 2004 at the age of 56, would serve Prince, who died in 2016 at the age of 57, later a few years later. According Rick James Confessions , he also offered Purple One tickets to first row for his show at the universal amphitheater, then gave the seats to his boyfriend Rod Stewart instead.


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