The Black Album is a
Prince record that was originally planned for release on December 7th 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 1987 promo-only release had no printed title, artist name, production credits or photography printed; a simple black sleeve accompanied the disc. 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 peach on the spine. The original compact disc pressing was made by Sony DADC rather than WEA Manufacturing. The album was withdrawn weeks before its release date, and was replaced with the album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.
Music
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" (later used as the title of an album of lo-fi Prince covers by
Dump).
The track is a direct answer to music critic
Nelson George, who was very critical of Prince's music in the mid-1980s. "Bob George" features a growling monologue that is slowed down to the point of being almost unrecognizable as Prince. Some interpret the track as a commentary on the glorification of
violence and
misogyny inherent in the
gangsta rap musical genre, which was in its infancy at the time. The voice at the end of the song that says "bizarre" is actually a stock sound from the
Fairlight CMI IIx library, pitched up.
The Black Album features unique songs such as the
hip-hop "Dead on It", which directly makes the accusation that all rappers are tone-deaf and unable to sing, to the playful "Cindy C.", which refers to
supermodel Cindy Crawford. The rhyme at the end of the song was originally written by
Steve "Silk" Hurley and was included on a song titled "Music is the Key", which was 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 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 its 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 and subsequent shelving
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, and several US copies that would be widely bootlegged in the coming years. Several reasons, including speculative ones, have been given 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 and violence of its lyrics. Warner Bros. Records, his record label, reached the same conclusion.
Further evidence that Prince felt The Black Album was a mistake: In his first music video for his next album, "
Alphabet St.", the video can be paused after it shows him holding an umbrella and the words "Don't buy the Black Album. I'm sorry" can be read running vertically.
- Prince decided to scrap the album after an experiment with the drug MDMA (ecstasy) that resulted in a bad trip. Former Prince associates have confirmed the Ecstasy story.
Immediately after the decision to pull
The Black Album from stores, the 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, the copyright date of 1994 (with the exception of "When 2 R in Love", which was released in 1988), 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 seven-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.
Side 1- "When 2 R in Love" – 3:59 †
Side 2- "Superfunkycalifragisexy" – 5:55
- "2 Nigs United 4 West Compton" – 7:01
- "Rockhard in a Funky Place" – 4:31
† Also appears on
Lovesexy.
Personnel
