there was a particular moment in time when kind of the collective masses accepted the Prince had earned a seat at the table of Outstanding Live Performers as far as the Funksters are concerned..

the tours through the 1999 tour were all great and very distinctive....Prince brought it...lots of origniality...and really his formula for his live show as far as the sequence of the songs was pretty much set..

but really...folks give him his super dap when he did this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqaCj7sitBw

and this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyh_U32gbOo

Why??? because of his role as the BAND LEADER....Big band....playing on the one....horns...breakdowns...etc.

He didn't have that before the Purple rain tour really.....by then he was locke in..

But ask yourself...can you bite James Brown any harder than he is during those performances???

or this...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgnc3t_prince-purple-rain-live-20-minutes-version_music

there is no way Prince would have brought it like that if he hadn't seen this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBNJ52YSKww

from the guitar solos to what Prince is wearing.....to the guitar itself...to the stage lighting...

When you reach to that level of greatness....you're gonna resemble the great ones that did it before you....

I think if D'Angelo had put out more material over the years...sure he would have had some things that would have distinguished him more....but I certainly think he's..even with the layoff remained above his peers....hell, nobody has even tried to put a funky concert tour on like that since Voodoo...muthafukkas is lip syncing and dat playing they asses off right now..lol. Doing Cirque De soleil shit on stage and shit.....lol.

I see your point..but to me there really have only been 2 live performers that at their best were totally original and that's James Brown and Jimi Hendrix....(I would say P-Funk but I think Pfunk was PURPOSELY a manifestation of various styles that proceeded them...done in a super unique and ground breaking way) Other then them everybody is rockin it like somebody else...Unique, yet conjuring spirits past...

I've never been mad at D'Angelo for that....because I'm gonna roll with the guy who is doing it the RIGHT way when er'body else around him is faking and fabricating shit....