The vulgarity of Pryor's material cannot be separated from its genius. It's easy to fall back on foul language as a blunt instrument of shock (see Clay, Andrew "Dice), but that was not what Pryor did. He used profanity as a stiletto, for shock value, yes, but a shock that drove the message home rather than drowning it out.
Profanity is not appropriate for all occasions, but why would someone who paints with words categorically take the most vivid, most shocking -- and, yes, ugliest -- colors from his palette?
If Pryor were beginning his career today, I doubt that he would embrace the profanity-laced gangsta thug culture; it's too easy. It substitutes the shock of the F-word for any real message behind it (though there are, of course, exceptions).
The comics who most embody his legacy today are Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle, who use profanity skillfully and sparingly. He would certainly lay off the N word, as he had begun to do -- and explained -- by the time of "Live on the Sunset Strip."
The oft-repeated mantra is that the use of profanity is an hallmark of limited wit or vocabulary. I disagree. Sure, profanity us a substitute for wit far more often than a tool in service of wit, but when you have both, it's a powerful combination. And a rare one. Pryor, Lenny Bruce, and only a handful of others have mastered it.
I've heard that Diceman is doing pretty well for himself in Vegas and still married to the same babe for all these years.