An incredible tribute to Prince went down last night at the BET Awards. After the Billboard Music Awards‘ less-than-stellar tribute by Madonna, the BET Awards promised an incredible and fitting tribute to The Purple One for their awards ceremony, and they certainly did not disappoint. With performances led by The Roots, Stevie Wonder, Janelle Monaé, Maxwell, and Shelia E. throughout the evening, the event truly honored the late Prince in all the best possible ways.

Just a heads up, BET sets all of their videos to Auto Play mode. For best results, pause the following videos and listen to them one at a time!

For the first tribute of the night The Roots delivered a perfect one-two punch, opening the tribute with the sultry Erykah Badu on “The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker”, followed by Bilal and his freaky dance moves on “The Beautiful Ones.”

Up second was Stevie Wonder, who brought Tori Kelly with him to sing “Take Me With U”. Kelly then moved to guitar as Jennifer Hudson emerged for an absolutely show-stopping version of “Purple Rain”.

Later in the evening, Maxwell performed the ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U” after performing a single from his new album (skip to 2:35 to watch “Nothing Compares 2 U” below)

Then, Janelle Monaé absolutely brought the house down with a four-song medely of “Delirious”, “Kiss”, “Pop Life”, and “I Would Die 4 U”.

Finally, former Prince protégé/band-leader/fiancé/ Shelia E. closed the show with an epic tribute to her fallen mentor and collaborator. Originally billed as a collaboration between Sheila E. and D’Angelo, the reclusive R&B man pulled out of the performance at the last minute, leaving her to lead the set on her own. She exceeded expectations with an electrifying performance of some of Prince’s most high-energy songs: “Let’s Work”, “U Got The Look”, “A Love Bizarre”, “The Glamorous Life”, “America”, and “Baby I’m A Star”. She busted out some of his signature dance moves with Jerome Benton from Morris Day & The Time, played both drums and guitar, and owned the room while channeling the man himself.


Shelia E. ended the performance holding one of Prince’s signature purple guitars to the sky, while tears streamed down her face. To see so many artists perform the music of Prince which such passion and joy, we have to tip our cap to the BET Awards for going above and beyond to get the best artists who could truly channel Prince’s vibe and legacy.