The rivalry between ‘Mr. Cold Blooded’ and ‘The Purple One’ started when Prince and his band were the opening act on Rick James’ tour. At that time, Rick was the bigger act, but allegedly Prince was added to the tour’s line-up to boost ticket sales because Rick’s popularity was starting to suffer.
Prince’s guitarist, Dez Dickerson, told biographer, Dave Hill, that “It was a rough period for Rick. We would go over like gangbusters, because the black audience was just dying for something new.”
Rick also began to publicly take shots at Prince, here’s what he once told Rolling Stone:
“I can’t believe people are gullible enough to buy Prince’s jive records. [Prince is a] a mentally disturbed young man. He’s out to lunch. You can’t take his music seriously. He sings songs about oral sex and incest.”
Ouch!
