The Black Album

Artist: Prince
Released: Unofficially, 1987; Officially, 1994

Unreleased albums tend to develop their own mythology, becoming “lost classics” that reveal the genius of their composers. In most cases, however, the albums should have stayed “lost.” Prince, he of the 500 unreleased songs, is no exception to this rule. His infamous Black Album was supposed to hit the streets in late 1987, not that long after the double album Sign O’ the Times was released. Just a few weeks before its debut, the project was shelved, and all copies of the album were destroyed. Some said Prince felt uncomfortable releasing such a dark and sexually aggressive album (yeah, right), while others believed his label found it to be “unmarketable.” Some promotional copies that were sent to radio survived, so the album lived in bootlegged perpetuity until Warner Bros. quietly released it in 1994.

What’s evident upon first listen is that the album isn’t particularly good. “Le Grind” and “Cindy C.” are pretty good dance tracks that would have sounded at home on SOTT, and “Two Nigs United 4 West Compton” is grounded in a James Brown-style funk workout. The rest of the album traffics in uninspired jams (“Dead On It”), R&B treacle (“When 2 R In Love”), and an awkward rap parody entitled “Bob George,” that proves the Purple One never had a good handle on hip-hop.

One could argue that the Black Album was the beginning of the end for Prince as a consistent album artist (although Around the World In a Day, released in 1985, wasn’t exactly Revolver). Lovesexy was uneven, the Batman soundtrack forgettable, and Diamonds & Pearls half good. Even the Symbol album, his last truly consistent work, was mired in a convoluted narrative. As for the rest of this '90s and early '00s, the less said the better.