Hit Run Phase Two

HITnRUN Phase Two
Prince's studio album
Publication (s)	December 12, 2015
admission	2010-2015
Label (s)	NPG Records / Tidal / Universal Music Group
Format (s)	Compact disc , download
Genre (s)	R&B , funk , soul , pop music
Title (number)	12
running time	58:05
occupation	All songs were produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince . The following musicians completed the recordings: Ida Kristine Nielsen - electric bass Andrew Gouché - electric bass John Blackwell - drums Cassandra O'Neal - keyboard Xavier Taplin - Keyboard in Look at Me, Look at U , Stare Justin Stanley - Keyboard and handclaps in 2 Y. 2 D. Eryn Allen Kane - vocals in Baltimore Ledisi - vocals in Big City Andy Allo - vocals Shelby J. - vocals Liv Warfield - vocals Elisa Dease - vocals Michael B. Nelson - Arrangements of String Instruments and Brass Instruments in Baltimore , 2 Y. 2 D. , Xtraloveable , Groovy Potential , When She Comes , Black Muse Joey Rayfield, Lynn Grissett - Brass instrument arrangements in Stare Philip Lassiter - Brass instrument arrangements in Big City Adrian Crutchfield - arrangements of brass instruments in Rocknroll Loveaffair , alto saxophone and flute in Groovy Potential Marcus Anderson - arrangements of brass instruments in Look at Me, Look at U and Stare , tenor saxophone and soprano saxophone in Revelation , flute in Look at Me, Look at U NPG Hornz - brass instruments Martin Homent - cover design Prince, Dylan Dresdow, Chris James, Justin Stanley, Booker T. - sound engineers
production	Prince
Studio (s)	Paisley Park Studio ( Chanhassen )
chronology HITnRUN Phase One (2015) HITnRUN Phase Two Purple Rain Deluxe (2017)
Single releases November 23, 2011 Xtraloveable November 22, 2012 Rocknroll Loveaffair 4th February 2013 Screwdriver May 26, 2015 Baltimore

Hitnrun Phase Two ( stylized as HITnRUN Phase Two ; from "hit and run phase two") is the 39th studio album by the American musician Prince and the last to be released during his lifetime. He released it on December 12, 2015 on his own label NPG Records and initially the album was only available as a download ; the album CD was released on January 21, 2016 and was given to every concert-goer on his Piano & A Microphone tour from February 16 to April 14, 2016. The album was posthumously released on May 6, 2016 by the Universal Music Group worldwide.

Six of the twelve songs from HITnRUN Phase Two were previously available as a studio version, but could not be found on any album. The music belongs to the genres R&B , funk , soul , pop music . Guest musicians include 3rdEyeGirl , Andy Allo and Ledisi . Music critics rated the album mostly positively and from a commercial point of view, HITnRUN Phase Two was only able to achieve top ten international placements after Prince's death in April 2016.

Emergence

Prince recorded the twelve songs from the album HITnRUN Phase Two in his Paisley Park Studio in Chanhassen , Minnesota from 2010 to 2015. He previously released six of the twelve songs as studio versions , including: Xtraloveable (2011), Groovy Potential and Rocknroll Loveaffair (both 2012), Screwdriver (2013), Baltimore and Stare (both 2015).

Prince wrote the piece Xtralovable on April 3, 1982 and recorded it under the title Extra Loveable in the Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Los Angeles , California. In November 2011 he reworked the song in Paisley Park Studio and released it as a download single with Andy Allo as guest singer, who is not featured on the version of HITnRUN Phase Two . Groovy Potential recorded Prince in July 2012 at Paisley Park Studio and released it a year later on August 14, 2013 via his website 3rdEyeTunes.com. The song Rocknroll Loveaffair was played on September 17, 2012, then under the title RNR Affair , on various radio stations of the US media company Clear Channel Communications . In late November 2012, the song was released as a single under the name Rock and Roll Love Affair . The version on HITnRUN Phase Two has been subtly revised by Prince and is not identical to the previously published versions. Screwdriver was first mentioned on December 17th, 2012 by 3rdEyeGirl drummer Hannah Ford on her Facebook profile with the reference "A Taste of Rehearsal". A 30-second music video was also shown. On January 22, 2013, Screwdriver could be heard online on Prince's former website prince2013.com and on February 4, 2013 the song was released as a download single.

The song Baltimore took Prince on 29 April 2015 and published it on May 9 on his account from SoundCloud . The song was released as a download on May 26th. Stare recorded Prince in his Paisley Park Studio in early 2015 and released the song on July 30, 2015 on the music streaming service Spotify and on December 3, 2015 on the music streaming service Tidal .

Prince only played the five songs Black Muse (2010), When She Comes (2011), 2 Y. 2 D. , Big City (both 2013) and Revelation (2014) at live concerts, studio versions did not exist. Black Muse played Prince for the first time on December 15, 2010 at a concert on his Welcome 2 America tour in East Rutherford , New Jersey at the Izod Center . All that is known about the song When She Comes is that Prince played it on May 11, 2011 in West Hollywood , California in a nightclub called Troubadour. 2 Y. 2 D. Prince originally recorded in 2011 at Paisley Park Studio, but it wasn't until January 19, 2013 that disc jockey DJ Rashida performed the song publicly before a Prince concert in Minneapolis at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant. The piece Big City played Prince for the first time on 13 July 2013, the Montreux Jazz Festival . The song Revelation could be viewed on September 30, 2014 as a live stream of the Prince concert in Chanhassen in the Paisley Park Studio, on the occasion of the release of the albums PlectrumElectrum and Art Official Age , via Yahoo Life .

Nothing is publicly known about the recording of Look at Me, Look at U. After Prince's death in April 2016, the lyrics to the song were found on a music stand in Paisley Park Studio, along with Prince's handwritten lyrics to the hitherto unreleased song called Stay Cool .

After Prince's death in 2016, saxophonist Marcus Anderson said the following about the making of HITnRUN Phase Two : “He [Prince] told us what he wanted, recorded it, did the mix at night when we were gone and played us on the finished version next day. There are so many songs that I've only heard once because they were never released. "

Design of the cover

The creative director and typographer Martin Homent designed the album cover . This shows Prince's head, which was depicted in a cartoon-like manner by Homent and wears oversized gold-colored glasses.

The eight-page booklet does not contain all the lyrics of the individual album songs ; those of 2 Y. 2 D. , Black Muse , Revelation and Big City are not reproduced, that of Screwdriver is incomplete. The track list can be found on the back of the booklet. There is also a photo of Prince in the booklet.

music

The music of HITnRUN Phase Two belongs to the genres R&B , funk , soul and pop music . The lyrics of the album sings Prince, both in his characteristic falsetto vocals and in deeper tones of voice. Guest musicians include 3rdEyeGirl , Andy Allo and Ledisi .

The first track from the album is called Baltimore and the lyrics deal with the death of the African American Freddie Gray (born August 16, 1989) on April 19, 2015 in Baltimore , Maryland. He died of spinal injuries that he allegedly sustained while in police custody. The American Eryn Allen Kane (born December 13, 1989) is a guest singer. The synthesizer - motives the second song Rock Roll Love Affair remember sometimes the piece Third Stone from the Sun by Jimi Hendrix on his album Are You Experienced from 1967, as well as Prince 'own song Take Me with U of his album Purple Rain from the 1984th

The third song is called 2 Y. 2 D. and the abbreviation stands for Too Young, to Dare . The fifth song Stare contains an interpolation of the Prince song Sexy Dancer (1979) from the album Prince , as well as a sample of the Prince song Kiss from 1986. The sixth song Xtralovable is also known under the title Extraloveable Reloaded . When She Comes is a ballad that Prince sings in falsetto. 3rdEyeGirl will be the accompanist for the ninth song, Screwdriver . The tenth song, Black Muse, is 7:21 minutes long, but the last 3:05 minutes can be attributed to a previously unreleased song called 1000 Light-years Away , which Prince originally wrote in 2011.

The piece Revelation is based on the song Elixer , which Prince wrote for Bria Valente in 2009 and was released on the album Elixer . Big City is the name of the last track on the album HITnRUN Phase Two and the wind section from The New Power Generation and the American R&B singer Ledisi are involved in it . The song is 6:25 minutes long, but there is only a pause in the last 50 seconds, so the song ends after 5:35 minutes.

List of titles and publications

No.	song	author	length
01	Baltimore (featuring Eryn Allen Kane)	Prince	4:33
02	Rocknroll Loveaffair	Prince	4:01
03	2 Y. 2 D.	Prince	3:49
04th	Look at Me, Look at U	Prince	3:27
05	Starlings	Prince	3:45
06th	Xtralovable	Prince	5:00
07th	Groovy potential	Prince	6:16
08th	When she comes	Prince	3:45
09	Screwdriver	Prince	4:14
010	Black Muse	Prince	7:21
011	Revelation	Prince	5:21
012	Big City	Prince	6:25

The release of HITnRUN Phase Two on December 12, 2015 could be described as surprising at the time, because Prince did not do a music promotion for the album in advance . Three months earlier he released his 38th studio album, HITnRUN Phase One , whereupon a Prince fan asked him on Twitter if “an album HITnRUN Phase 2 [sic] would ever be released”. Prince replied, “ Warner Bros. Records already has it! Make petitions to get it published! ”. When asked why he wanted to release the album on Warner Bros. Records, Prince simply said: " Olive branch ". Ultimately, the album was only released on his music label NPG Records , with no collaboration with Warner Bros. Records.

HITnRUN Phase Two was initially only available as a download . On January 21, 2016, the album was also released on compact discs , which were first available for purchase at two concerts in his Paisley Park Studio. In addition, every concert-goer of Prince's Piano & A Microphone tour from February 16 to April 14, 2016 received a copy of the album CD.

Two weeks after Prince's death, the album was released posthumously on May 6, 2016 by the major label Universal Music Group .

Single releases

Four singles were released from the album; Xtraloveable was released on November 23, 2011, Rocknroll Loveaffair on November 22, 2012, Screwdriver on February 4, 2013 and Baltimore on May 26, 2015.

Music videos

Prince produced three music videos for songs on the album with Rocknroll Loveaffair , Screwdriver and Baltimore . The video Rocknroll Loveaffair premiered on November 22nd, 2012 and shows Prince singing the song while playing guitar and keyboard . Also are 3rdEyeGirl and Andy Allo to see. The music video was shot in Prince's Paisley Park Studio C , the rehearsal room.

There are two music videos for the song Screwdriver from 2013; the first published video is 4:28 minutes long and shows the lyrics as they are graphically represented by computer animation . Prince can also be seen with his backing band 3rdEyeGirl, how they perform the piece live on a concert stage. The second music video is 8:10 minutes long and was shot in the Paisley Park Studio. The video, shot in black and white , also shows Prince with 3rdEyeGirl and Joshua Aaron Michael Welton, the husband of drummer Hannah Ford-Welton. Prince and 3rdEyeGirl present Screwdriver on a stage at Paisley Park Studios and a multi-member dance ensemble can be seen on the dance floor performing a twist- like dance to the song .

In 2015, Prince released a music video for the song Baltimore , which included the lyrics to the song. There are also images of the April 2015 riots in Baltimore , Maryland. In addition, African Americans demonstrate for peace . Headlines from newspapers such as The New York Times reporting on the riots in Baltimore are also displayed. At the end of the video you can read the following message from Prince: “The System Is Broken. It's Going To Take The Young People To Fix It This Time. We Need New Ideas, New Life ... - Prince ". (German: "The political system is broken. This time the young people have to work to fix it. We need new ideas, new lives ... - Prince").

reception

Press

Music critics rated HITnRUN Phase Two mostly positively. Andy Gill from the British daily newspaper The Independent was even enthusiastic and gave it four out of five stars. The album was "an unexpected triumph: shiny, sexy, intelligent and full of life." HITnRUN Phase Two was "like the blind date from heaven." Matthew Horton of the English music magazine New Musical Express also gave four out of five points and represented the opinion , HITnRUN Phase Two was "a good performance after almost 40 Prince albums".

Kory Grow from the US magazine Rolling Stone gave three and a half stars out of five and said, "Prince is back in top shape". In conclusion, Grow drew: Prince's “razor-sharp, bluesy guitar solos glow everywhere (see Baltimore and Revelation ). As versatile as it can be, Phase Two [sic] is what it does best. "

Sven Kabelitz from the German-language online magazine laut.de distributed three out of five stars and wrote that Prince “played out his trademarks well, but of course at a high level.” But “the real art” would be “an interesting middle ground” between HITnRUN Phase One and HITnRUN Phase Two was found. Michael Cragg from the British The Guardian also gave three out of five stars and especially praised the songs Baltimore , Xtralovable and Groovy Potential . Songs like Stare and Big City , on the other hand, would be looking for a climax.

David Drake of the music website Pitchfork Media was more cautious about praise and gave 4.7 out of ten points. He thought HITnRUN Phase Two was a "disappointing" performance by Prince. The album sounds “polished” and “predictable”.

Geoff Nelson from the online magazine Consequence of Sound was very disappointed with the album and only gave it the grade C- , with A being the top grade. In his opinion, “There are no graceful ideas on HITnRUN Phase Two ; instead, Prince presents us with a mimicked version of his earlier vitality . "

After Prince's death in April 2016, the music journalists Albert Koch and Thomas Weiland from the German music magazine Musikexpress reviewed the album HITnRUN Phase Two and gave it five out of six stars. You wrote, among other things: “A second part rarely surpasses the quality of a first [ HITnRUN Phase One ] part? Not in this case. "In addition, Prince is working" on the optimistic basic feeling and on flirting with the sound of Sly Stone , Herbie Hancock , Weather Report or George Clinton . "

In 2017 Prince was posthumously nominated for the album HITnRUN Phase Two at the Grammy Awards 2017 in the category "Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical", but did not win. David Bowie received the award posthumously for his album Blackstar .

Charts

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK)	21st (2 weeks)	2
Austria (Ö3)	20th (3 weeks)	3
Switzerland (IFPI)	9 (5 weeks)	5
United Kingdom (OCC)	21st (1 week)	1
United States (Billboard)	40 (3 weeks)	3

In 2015, HITnRUN Phase Two could not place in the countries mentioned. Only after Prince's death did the album reach the highest ranking in May 2016. The four single releases Xtralovable , Rocknroll Loveaffair , Screwdriver and Baltimore could not place in the international singles charts either during Prince's lifetime or posthumously .

literature

• Mobeen Azhar: Prince 1958–2016: His life in pictures and text. Edition Olms, Oetwil am See / Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-283-01265-6 , OCLC 951825985 .
• Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 .
• Per Nilsen: DanceMusicSexRomance - Prince: The First Decade. Firefly Publishing, London 1999, ISBN 0-946719-23-3 , OCLC 40610683 .

Web links

• Princevault.com , information about the album HITnRUN Phase Two

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Booklet of the CD HITnRUN Phase Twoe by Prince, NPG Records, 2015.
2. ↑ Nilsen (1999), p. 262.
3. ↑ Extraloveable. In: Princevault.com. January 24, 2017, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Groovy Potential. In: Princevault.com. February 27, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Rocknroll Loveaffair. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Screwdriver. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Draper (2016), p. 203.
8. ↑ Baltimore. In: Princevault.com. March 10, 2017, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Starlings. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
10. ↑ Black Muse. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
11. ↑ When She Comes. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
12. ↑ 2 Y. 2 D. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Big City. In: Princevault.com. December 29, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
14. ^ Revelation. In: Princevault.com. October 18, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
15. ↑ Look At Me, Look At U. In: Princevault.com. October 20, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
16. ↑ Azhar (2016), p. 132
17. ↑ Martin Homet: Homepage of Martin Homet. In: Martinhomet.com. 2017, accessed on March 25, 2017 . 
18. ↑ Maryland Governor declares a state of emergency. Zeit Online , April 28, 2015, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
19. ↑ Draper (2016), p. 204.
20. ↑ ^{a b} Hit Run, Phase Two. In: Princevault.com. December 11, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
21. ^ Prince: Piano & A Microphone. In: Princevault.com. February 19, 2017, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
22. ↑ Prince - HITNRUN Phase Two. In: Discogs.com. 2019, accessed December 10, 2019 . 
23. ↑ Draper (2016), p. 193.
24. ↑ Rock and Roll Love Affair. In: Princevault.com. November 21, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
25. ↑ Screwdriver. In: Princevault.com. November 21, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
26. ↑ Baltimore. In: Princevault.com. November 27, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
27. ↑ Rock and Roll Love Affair. In: Princevault.com. February 27, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
28. ↑ Andy Gill: Prince, HITnRUN Phase Two, album review: This is like the blind date from heaven. In: Independent.co.uk. December 14, 2015, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
29. ↑ Matthew Horton: Prince - 'HITnRUN Phase Two'. In: nme.com. December 16, 2015, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
30. ↑ Draper (2016), p. 205.
31. ↑ Kory Grow: Prince: HitnRun Phase Two. In: Rollingstone.com. January 14, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
32. ↑ Sven Kabelitz: Prince - HITnRUN Phase Two. In: laut.de. December 12, 2015, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
33. ↑ Michael Cragg: Prince: HitnRun Phase Two review - patchy but improved follow-up. In: Theguardian.com. January 10, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
34. ↑ David Drake: Prince - HITNRUN Phase Two. In: Pitchfork.com. January 8, 2016, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
35. ↑ Geoff Nelson: Prince - HITNRUN Phase Two. In: Consequenceofsound.net. December 18, 2015, accessed March 25, 2017 . 
36. ^ ME editors: From the big Prince special - an overview of all albums. In: Musikexpress.de. May 22, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2017 . 
37. ↑ 59th Annual Grammy Awards - Winners & Nominees. In: Grammy.com. 2017, accessed on March 25, 2017 . 
38. ↑ Prince. officialcharts.de, accessed on February 16, 2019 . 
39. ↑ Prince. austriancharts.at, accessed on February 16, 2019 . 
40. ↑ Prince. hitparade.ch, accessed on February 16, 2019 . 
41. ↑ Prince. officialcharts.com, accessed February 16, 2019 . 
42. ^ Prince - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .