You have made a ton of fine points Maxx, definitely but clearly when it comes to Prince there is a bit of a miss.

Dirty Mind, Controvery, 1999, PR going fwd bare no resemblence to Rick. From a musical perspective Rick had his thing and Prince had his. Who was funkier is even debateable when you consider Prince's work that he gave to the Time, The Family, and Vanity 6 (Nasty girl in particular).

Prince did steal Vanity from Rick - Vanity even acknowledges this. They met at the American Music Awards. Prince spotted her with Rick, waited until she went to the bathroom and walked up to her and said "give me your jacket and try mine on". She was blown away both at the fact it was Prince and that the jacket fit perfectly. She returned to her seat and Rick said "where's the jacket I bought you?" and she said "Prince has it". It was on.

This was POST Dirty Mind - this was the Controversy era and Prince had just ended his relationship with Susan Moonsie - "Baby" was bout her btw. They were living together and she thought she was pregnant. "I Hope our baby has eyes like you" - Susan Moonsie.

You are right tho, Prince would show up at Rick's shows just to create pandemonium but that was about 2 years after the Dirty Mind tour serving as the opening act.

I totally agree with you and Murph that prior to that - P's live show was more rock and a bit bland if not over the top. He was young, he was green, he was learning. However after touring with Rick - he definitely became more comfortable. Running with greatness can do that - however make no mistake about it...

Dirty Mind was already finished by the time they hit the road and songs like Head or even previous numbers like Soft and Wet, Sexy Dancer, and I Wanna Be Your Lover - were great funk/dance numbers.

You also have to consider that in addition to gettin in tour with with Rj-P was doing smaller shows and side shows.

He got better.

There is literally no connection to Rick in the studio cause honestly Rick was not on Prince's level of musicianship. No slight on Rick cause what Rick did was amazing in it's own right.

Let me prove this. You ever see Rick James perform a live guitar solo? Of course not. Bass solo? Barely. Keys? Nope - just the clavs displayign some funk chops (which he def had) and some basic keys for Big Time or a few other numbers.

Rick was a very solid multi-instrumentalist but his genius was in understanding how to really package a hot single and how to lead a band both on stage and in the studio.

that's a great trait to have. To give him that credit I don't have to down Prince cause the whole rivalry has been blown a bit out of proportion. From a stage show perspective - Prince learned from the master. he realized that funk was certainly a good thing - add the Rolling Stones debacle and he was sold.

Now if you want to discuss Prince being influenced in the studio - you wanna discuss ROGER - not Rick. That's who you should focus on cause that was the real funk trinity at that point.

Garden of Love was panned by almost every critic when it was released and Rick - being the great leader that he was - instead of moping he went back and created a masterpiece follow up.

I doubt highly that anyone pulled from Garden of Love. You sorely underestimate the legacy of the Coleman family who was very instrumental in the Around the World album. If anything that album was almost direct response to Lisa and Wendy exposing Prince to the Beatles, Indian music by Ravi Shankur, Coltrane, etc. They exposed Prince to everything he didn't get in Minneapolis - cause Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman - both - their families have one of the longest running musical legacies in Hollywood and beyond.

His original intention was a Magical Mystery Tour - not a Garden of love. MMT was critically accalaimed. Garden of love was considered Rick's worst album - why reference that?

if anything Rick showed Prince that being sexual on stage, being controversial on stage - got ppl amped, hyped, and interested in a show perhaps even more than a guitar solo.

Prince also was heavily inspired by Santana - if you listen to or watch the Controversy tour from either Houston or DC - Prince lifts Santanas Moon Flower solo - NOTE FOR NOTE. However his interplay into the construct of his own song "Head" is just - genius.

Nah Maxx, Prince is no fluke and there is no overblown hype. The man is a beast.