The Gloved One Vs. The Purple One

I remember seeing this footage about 2 years ago from my stepfather Greg. Who may I add, is the biggest Prince fan I personally know. I was thinking about this the other days and decided to post on it. But I did not have the complete back story.

So I decided to ask the residential music heads at Okayplayer for info. Well, after damn near causing a digital riot between MJ and Prince fans, I have the story. Check it...

This was a James Brown concert that took place in L.A in 1983, with Blues legend B.B King as the opening act. This concert was later broadcast on a earlier version of cable/subscription t.v called "ON TV" (I remember my moms telling me about ON TV).

But what is important to note is the version you are watching now is NOT the actual broadcast version. Prince did not agree to have his part shown, therefore the "ON TV" edit only showed Mike getting on stage, doing his thing, and then the show cutting to the next song. Also, note this is Prince pre-Purple Rain. As a matter of fact, this concert happened just a couple weeks after Purple Rain rapped shooting.

So with all this said, many o.g music fanatics have debating this question for a minute, who won this alleged battle? Well, put it to ya'll this way. If you have seen footage of these two perform before, you would see they added their own signatures to the stage. But if you based it off just the crowd's reaction... Mike could claim this one.

However, Prince part (regardless of how bizarre it was), had some funny ass moments (the lightpole at the end? LMAO!!!)Many see this as the "passing of the torch." And rightfully so, it was. "This shit right here" (c) Katt Williams, was legendary. But while, as I just found out today, Mike is working on a new album with Will I Am and prepping his comeback, in the long run, to quote Chris Rock... "Prince Won."

And on that note... I'm out.