The Black Album (Prince album)

Untitled

The Black Album is a Prince record that was originally planned for November of 1987 as the follow-up to Sign o' the Times. Referred to as The Funk Bible by preceding press releases and in a hidden message within the album itself, the work seemed to be a reaction to criticism that Prince had become too pop-oriented.

The album had no printed title, artist name, production credits or photography; a black sleeve was all that came with it. On promotional copies, only a song listing and catalog number (25677) were printed on the disc itself. The commercial version was to only have the catalog number printed in the color pink on the spine and was supposedly only to be released in vinyl format as an anonymous protest to the recorded industry's looming discontinuation of vinyl in favor of compact discs.

The album was withdrawn weeks before its release date and was replaced with the album Lovesexy, a brighter pop-oriented album with elements of religious affirmation.

Overview

Despite the mystique surrounding it, the Black Album has typically been viewed by fans and critics as a somewhat pro forma, rushed effort by Prince, although it is treasured by aficionados of the artist's funkier side, being as close to a straight funk album as anything he had recorded. The opening track also mentioned the title of the album as being The Funk Bible, which was a consideration during work on this project. The title refers both to the album's all-black cover design and to Prince's attempt to earn back his credibility among the Black pop audience with a release that was heavier on rhythm than its last few predecessors —in particular Around the World in a Day and Parade, both of which had been viewed as moves away from the funkier music he was known for on albums like 1999, Dirty Mind, and Controversy, that had once been his mainstay.

The album was originally intended as birthday party music for Sheila E., and it was never intended to have a public release. However, The album features one of the most shockingly unusual Prince songs, "Bob George," in which he assumes the identity of a cursing, gun-wielding alter ego who murders a woman and dismisses the figure of Prince as "that skinny motherfucker with the high voice." It is a direct answer to music critic Nelson George, who was very critical of Prince's music in the mid-1980s. Prince felt very attacked by him and retorted in this song. The "Bob" reference is his then manager Bob Cavallo, who found the track quite funny. "Bob George" features a growling monologue that is slowed down to the point of being almost unrecognizable as Prince. Fans not clued-in theorize that this song is intended as a commentary on the glorification of violence and misogyny often found in the form of hip-hop music known as gangsta rap, then just emerging as a style. It was more a tongue-in-cheek reference to the above named people.

Unusual features of the Black Album include the hip-hop parody "Dead on It," which disses so many emcees at the time indirectly by noting their usual status of being tone-deaf and their lack of musicality. "Cindy C." refers to supermodel Cindy Crawford, and is quite playful in nature. The rap at the end of "Cindy C" was originally written by Steve "Silk" Hurley and included on a song "Music is the Key," previously released by Chicago house-music group JM Silk, of which Hurley was the founder. Hurley would later go on to remix two of the songs from the "Gett Off" maxi-single, the Housestyle and Flutestramental versions.

The album contains several (but not first) instances of characters by way of either a sped up or slowed down vocal track by Prince (ones noted before were Camille tracks such as "If I Was Your Girlfriend," "U Got the Look," "Strange Relationship," and "Housequake," all originally intended for the aborted "Camille" project). One of the most interesting passages occurs halfway into "Cindy C.," where a woman can be heard in the right channel railing on Cindy for not being able to dress, dance, or even walk. The instrumental funk jam "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton" was revisited as a live song on the One Nite Alone... Live! album, but was hardly the same track. "Rockhard in a Funky Place" was originally a song for the aforementioned Camille project. After the album's fade out, dissonant feedback fades in, followed by Prince saying "What kind of fuck ending was that?" before fading out again. "When 2 R in Love" is the only ballad on the album, and although The Black Album was quickly pulled from distribution at the last minute, this song turned up on Lovesexy, released the same year.

Prince performed "Bob George," parts of "When 2 R in Love," and "Superfunkycalifragisexy" on his Lovesexy tour. "When 2 R In Love" was usually part of the piano medley in Act II, whereas the other two songs were part of the Act I segment, where Prince's evil side showed through (coinciding with the idea that the Black Album was evil, hence it's being pulled from release by Prince). Act II was his born-again segment, with more upbeat spiritual songs, highlighting most of the Lovesexy songs, and top-40 hits.

Withdrawal

Just before the Black Album was released to the market, Prince recalled all copies and abandoned the entire project, leaving roughly 100 European promotional copies in circulation, copies that would be widely bootlegged in the coming years. Rumors and hearsay abound as to why the release was derailed:

• Prince became convinced that the album was evil or represented an ominous portent.
• Prince experienced a crisis of conscience and marketing identity over the eroticism/violence of its lyrics. Warner Bros. Records, his record label, reached the same conclusion.
• Prince may have simply decided that the album was of inferior quality and not a wise release.
• Per Nilsen, respected author of several books on Prince, claims that Prince decided to scrap the album after an experiment with the drug MDMA (aka Ecstasy) that resulted in a bad trip. Former Prince associates have confirmed the ecstasy story.
• Prince may have simply changed his mind.

Almost immediately after the decision to shelve it, the Black Album emerged on the streets in bootleg form, arguably becoming popular music's most legendary bootleg, after The Basement Tapes and Smile. Several celebrities, including U2's frontmen The Edge and Bono, cited it as one of their favorite albums of 1988 (Rolling Stone magazine celebrity poll). By the time it was released by Warner Bros. legitimately in November 1994 (again, containing only a track listing and a new catalog number—45793—printed onto the disc itself and only legal copy appearing on the spine), almost every dedicated Prince fan already owned an illegal copy. It was released in a strictly limited edition and deleted by Warner Bros. the following January. It is believed that this release was legitimized so that Prince could get out of his new 7-album contract with the label, which he had signed the previous year and regretted instantly, because he wanted ownership of his recordings, a rarity in the music industry. Soon before the release of The Black Album, Prince started to appear with the word "slave" written on his face and changed his legal name to an unpronounceable symbol.

Track listing

(all tracks written, produced, and performed by Prince)

1. "Le Grind" – 6:44
2. "Cindy C" – 6:15
3. "Dead on It" – 4:37
4. "When 2 R in Love" – 3:59 ^†
5. "Bob George" – 5:36
6. "Superfunkycalifragisexy" – 5:55
7. "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton" – 7:01
8. "Rockhard in a Funky Place" – 4:31

^† Also appears on Lovesexy.