Emancipation (Prince album)

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Emancipation is the nineteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on November 19, 1996, by NPG Records and EMI Records as a triple album. The title refers to Prince's freedom from his contract with Warner Bros. Records after 18 years, with which he had a contentious relationship. The album was Prince's third to be released that year (along with Chaos and Disorder and the soundtrack album of the Spike Lee movie Girl 6), which made 1996 one of the most prolific years for material released by Prince.

Overview

Emancipation marked the first album in Prince's career to include cover versions of songs written by other songwriters. He said that he had wanted to cover songs in the past, but was advised against it by Warner Bros. Four such covers appeared on the album: "Betcha by Golly Wow!" (previously a hit for the Stylistics), "I Can't Make You Love Me" (previously a hit for Bonnie Raitt), "La-La (Means I Love You)" (previously a hit for the Delfonics) retitled "La, La, La Means I Love U", and "One of Us" (written by Eric Bazilian, and previously a hit for Joan Osborne). Notably, Prince changed the chorus of "One of Us" from "What if God was one of us / Just a slob like one of us" to "... Just a slave like one of us".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The album is notable for its format: it consists of three discs, each containing 12 songs with exactly 60 minutes per disc. Prince insinuated to the press at the time that the number of songs, discs and length of the album had a connection with the Egyptians and Egyptian pyramids.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Response

Template:Music ratingsIn the United States, the album debuted at number 11. Though not a major seller, it did sell over 500,000 copies. Being three discs, it qualified to being certified double platinum (the RIAA certifies based on the number of discs sold - 3 disc set).

The subsequent Jam of the Year World Tour was a major success (though very few songs from Emancipation were included in the concerts and the vast majority of the album's tracks remained unperformed), resulting in a significant comeback for Prince after the commercial and critical disappointment of Chaos and Disorder from four months earlier.

The song "The Love We Make" was used as the finale of 2020 TV series We Are Who We Are.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Track listing

Notes:

• Every use of the pronoun "I" throughout the song titles and liner notes is represented by a stylized "👁" symbol. This symbol is commonly transliterated as "eye" amongst Prince fans, as "👁 No" and "I Wish U Heaven" both appeared on Lovesexy.
• "Mr. Happy" contains a sample of "What Can I Do?" (1994) by Ice Cube.
• "Sex in the Summer" contains a sample of "Good Old Music" (1970) by Funkadelic.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
• "Face Down" contains a strings sample of "Killin' at the Soda Shop" by Jill Jones, orchestrated by Clare Fischer.<ref name=":1" />
• "Style" contains a sample of "Atomic Dog" (1982) by George Clinton.<ref name=":1" />
• "Sleep Around" contains a sample of "Squib Cakes" (1974) by Tower of Power.
• "The Love We Make" was inspired by Jonathan Melvoin's death caused from a heroin overdose.<ref name=":1" />

Personnel

Adapted from Benoît Clerc<ref name=":1" />

Musicians

• Prince – lead vocals Template:Small, rap Template:Small, spoken vocals Template:Small, backing vocals Template:Small, beat box Template:Small, electric guitar Template:Small, acoustic guitar Template:Small, bass Template:Small, synthesizers Template:Small, piano Template:Small, Hammond organ Template:Small, drums Template:Small, programming Template:Small, Roland TR-808 Template:Small, finger cymbals Template:Small, percussion Template:Small, claps Template:Small, tamborine Template:Small
• Walter Chancellor Jr. – saxophone Template:Small
• Rosie Gaines – backing vocals Template:Small
• Eric Leeds – flute Template:Small, saxophone Template:Small
• Michael Mac – backing vocals Template:Small, scratching Template:Small
• Ninety-9 – vocal sample Template:Small
• Kat Dyson – backing vocals Template:Small, electric guitar Template:Small, Godin classical guitar Template:Small
• Mr. Hayes – backing vocals Template:Small, synthesizers Template:Small, Hammond organ Template:Small
• Rhonda Smith – spoken vocals Template:Small, bass Template:Small
• Brian Gallagher – tenor saxophone Template:Small
• Dave Jensen, Steve Strand – trumpet Template:Small
• Kathy Jensen – baritone saxophone Template:Small
• Michael B Nelson – trombone Template:Small
• Tommy Barbarella – synthesizers Template:Small
• Michael B. – drums Template:Small
• Sonny T. – bass Template:Small
• Brian Lynch – trumpet Template:Small
• Janice Garcia – spoken vocals Template:Small
• Mayte – Spanish spoken vocals Template:Small, backing vocals Template:Small
• Todd Burrell – synthesizers Template:Small
• Scrap D. – rap Template:Small, backing vocals Template:Small
• Ricky Peterson – synthesizers Template:Small, piano Template:Small
• Hans-Martin Buff – spoken vocals Template:Small, sound effects Template:Small
• Savion Glover – tap dance Template:Small
• Kirk Johnson – drums (not confirmed) Template:Small
• Joe Galdo, César Sogbe – synthesizers Template:Small, programming Template:Small
• Chanté Moore – backing vocals Template:Small
• Mike Scott – electric guitar Template:Small
• Smooth G – backing vocals Template:Small
• Kate Bush – backing vocals Template:Small

Technical

• Prince – producer Template:Small, arrangements Template:Small
• Steve Durkee, Shane T Keller – recording engineers Template:Small
• Ray Hahnfedt, Tom Tucker – recording engineers Template:Small
• Hans-Martin Buff, Peter Mokran – recording engineers Template:Small
• Joe Galdo, César Sogbe – recording engineers Template:Small
• Kirk Johnson – arrangements Template:Small

Singles and Hot 100 positions

• "Betcha by Golly Wow!" (No. 31 US Airplay, No. 10 US R&B Airplay, No. 11 UK, No. 20 Australia)
  1. "Betcha by Golly Wow!"
  2. "Right Back Here in My Arms"
• "The Holy River" (UK CD 1) (No. 58 US Airplay, No. 19 UK)
  1. "The Holy River" (radio edit)
  2. "Somebody's Somebody" (edit)
  3. "Somebody's Somebody" (live studio mix)
  4. "Somebody's Somebody" (Ultrafantasy edit)
• "Somebody's Somebody" (promo CD) (No. 15 US R&B Airplay, No. 19 UK)
  1. "Somebody's Somebody" (radio edit)
  2. "Somebody's Somebody" (album version)

Charts

Weekly charts

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Weekly chart performance for Emancipation

Chart (1996)	Peak position
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)<ref name="Listen">Template:Cite news</ref>	15
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	42

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Emancipation

Chart (1997)	Position
US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	146
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>	68