Prince tributes take center stage at the BET Awards

Now that's how you pay tribute to Prince. 

After promising to outdo Madonna's tribute at the Billboard Music Awards -- "Yeah, we saw that. Don't worry. We got you," a promo read after the May 22 show -- Sunday night's BET Awards made good on that promise. Rather than having one tribute, the show opted for several, making it a night where Prince's presence was felt throughout. 

Erykah Badu and the Roots kicked it off with a simple -- and slightly disappointing -- performance of "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker." But Bilal stepped it up with a show-stopping cover of the "The Beautiful Ones," channeling the Purple One's signature sexual swagger, unbuttoning his top, writhing along the floor, and nailing the yearning falsetto. 

Credit: Getty Images for BET

Tori Kelly and Stevie Wonder followed up with "Take Me With U," which, despite the unlikely pairing, worked quite well. Then came the big finale with Jennifer Hudson's chilling and powerful performance of "Purple Rain" that had the entire crowd waving their arms back and forth in unison.

Maxwell followed with "Nothing Compares 2 U," which, despite the needless Spotify reference, was reverent and sincere. 

Janelle Monáe later followed up with a whirlwind performance, spanning classic Prince jams from "Delirious," to "Kiss," to "Pop Life" to "I Would Die 4 U." She wore an all white ensemble, a sartorial nod to the Purple One made even more perfect when she lifted her coat and turned around to reveal assless chaps, referencing the scandalous outfit he wore to the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. 

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Longtime Prince collaborator Sheila E. ended the night with a tour de force performance of multiple tracks, including the endlessly funky "Housequake," "U Got the Look," "Let's Work," "Erotic City" and "America." She was joined onstage with numerous longtime Prince collaborators, like Shelby J. and Jerome Benton.

Sheila went back and forth between drumming and strutting around the stage to sing Prince-esque howls and ad-libs into the mic, along with pulling off some of his classic moves. 

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After crushing a drum solo, then ripping out some riffs on a purple electric guitar, she wrapped her performance with the electrifying "Baby I'm a Star."

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