Who else thought the BET Awards sloppily and unjustly 'honored' Prince last night? The horror I experienced while listening to Trey Songz murder "Purple Rain" is indescribable! Did pregnant Alicia Keys reallly climb and slither on top of that piano during her terrible, ersatz version of "Adore U"? Well, someone needed to do something since Beyonce wasn't there to wake us up?
Poor Prince! I was feeling his OMG what the hell are they doing to my music thoughts running through his head with every camera pan shot. Oh, he tried to control his own shudders of horror by graciously applauding every performer, but I saw them -- in his eyes and smirky smile that really said OMG, this is the future of soul music?! WTF! LOL!
The highlight for me was witnessing the return of El DeBarge to the stage. What a lovely voice he still has and his ability to hit the high notes is still flawless! Regardless of your hardships and circumstances, God's gifts within you will flow forth until you leave this earth.
El looked like Rudolph Valentino, Kid Creole, a better looking, taller Marc Anthony and Ricky Ricardo all rolled into one! What a treat!
It is saddening and unfortunate to realize that no young R&B/ Soul singers are ready to accept the torch our music pioneers blazed before us. There are no more Barry Whites to look forward to -- no Teddy Pendergrasses, no Barry Whites, Luther Vandrosses and definitely no Princes or Michael Jacksons waiting in the wings.
Where are the Barry Gordys and Quincy Jones' or other music moguls who know a thing or two about artist development?
Luckily, the music of our soul masters will live on forever, because this new crap the industry is producing does not qualify for such an honor.
