Apparently, one record for the end of 2015 isn’t enough for Prince. The Purple Rain singer just surprise-released Hit N Run: Phase Two, the follow-up to September’s Phase One, on the Jay Z-owed music streamer Tidal. The 12-track collection features the protest song Baltimore, the funky, upbeat single Stare (which was released on Spotify over the summer), a variety of songs he’s previously performed live, and other new tracks. As shown by the track list on Tidal, Phase One and Phase Two are specifically meant to be two parts of the same project.
While this is the Purple one’s fourth project in two years, he’s doesn’t think of himself as prolific. In September, he explained in an interview that he creates lots of material because it’s his job. “When you’re committed to something like we are, when you spend the amount of time on something that we do, then you’re bound to create a lot. This is what we do.”
Over the summer, the legendary musician signed a deal with Tidal to release music through the streamer. “After one meeting, it was obvious that Jay Z and the team he has assembled at TIDAL recognize and applaud the effort that real musicians put in2 their craft 2 achieve the very best they can at this pivotal time in the music industry,” explained Prince in a statement.
On Twitter, Prince urged listeners to buy the record after streaming it. Non-subscribers can purchase the record through Tidal.
In other Prince news, the artist known for being very stringent with regards to the rights of his work recently allowed his celebrated ’08 Coachella cover of Radiohead’s Creep to hit the web.
The 57 year-old multi-instrumentalist has sold over 100 million records, won seven Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award over his career. He’s ranked 27th on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.