#lifetimeaward

Alicia Keys, Janelle Monae, Patti LaBelle and more performed spirited renditions of the icon's classics during tribute.       

The artist who will forever be known as Prince took the stage on Sunday (June 27) to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award during the 10th annual BET Awards.

"I was pretty wild in my younger days," the honoree said.

BET's award presentation for Prince united generations and musical styles. Janelle Monae opened the tribute with an energetic cover of "Let's Go Crazy," a song that hit big a year before the 25-year-old was born. Next Up: jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding, strumming a custom electric upright bass, sang "If I Was Your Girlfriend." She was followed by five-months-pregnant Alicia Keys, who played the piano then climbed atop it to provocatively belt out "Adore." R&B diva Patti LaBelle closed out with the classic "Purple Rain" before Chaka Khan joined her onstage to introduce the man himself.

Wearing a flowing, silk pajama-like ensemble bearing the symbol that replaced his name for a time, Prince approached the mic, looking just a bit older, calmer and more subdued than his sex-fueled "When Doves Cry" days.

"You don't have to do what I did. You don't have to make any of the mistakes I made," he advised fellow musicians in the audience. Earlier in the show, R&B heartthrob Trey Songz performed his own tribute to Prince, covering "Purple Rain" during his set.