Hitnrun Phase Two (stylized as HITnRUN Phase Two) is the 39th full-length studio album by Prince, and the final Prince-related album to be released during his lifetime. It was released digitally in December 2015, just three months after his previous album Hitnrun Phase One, and four months before his death.
A physical CD was first available for purchase at Prince’s two-show Piano And A Microphone Gala Event at Paisley Park Studios on 21 January 2016. Shortly after it was available via local stores in Minneapolis. A large distribution of the CD album in stores was planned by Prince and was scheduled for 29 April 2016. Although he has worked on other projects in the meantime (Black Is The New Black and Piano & A Microphone), Hitnrun Phase Two is the last album that came out during Prince’s lifetime (in digital), and the first one to hit the stores after his unexpected death. It is therefore not considered as a posthumous album.
The album contains twelve tracks, six of which were previously unreleased in any shape or form. Initially, the album was only available as a bundle with Hitnrun Phase One on Tidal. Three days later it was also available as standalone download via iTunes.
First Steps
While the use of "Phase One" on the title of its predecessor led many to assume that a follow-up using this title was planned, the album was only confirmed by Prince three months after the release of Hitnrun Phase One in a tweet.
In a response to a fan question by @_dirtydiana97 asking "is there a HitNRun Phase 2 coming out someday?", the response by @Prince3EG was:"Warner Bros. Records WB HAS IT ALREADY. PETITION THEM 2 RELEASE IT."
When the same fan asked for any titles of songs included, the account confirmed that Big City is included, followed later by re-posting a 54-second snippet of the track previously shared in October 2013. @Prince3EG also confirmed the inclusion of Revelation soon after. A few days later, @Prince3EG confirmed Black Muse as another track included on the planned album. The following day, 2 Y. 2 D. was also confirmed.
When asked why the album was given to Warner Bros. Records, @Prince3EG replied using the phrase: "OLIVE BRANCH"
The tweet that included the link to the Big City snippet read: "WARNER BROTHERS "BIG CITY" SHOUT ... C'MON U'ALL, WE CAN WORK THIS OUT!"
This phrasing was interesting, given that the unreleased 1977 track We Can Work It Out included the lyric "Makin’ music naturally, me and W.B. / Music for the young and old, music bound to be gold". However, as expected We Can Work It Out was not included on the album.
As speculated before its release other tracks debuted in 2015 were also included on the album. Two studio tracks released in 2015 that were not included, however, are Free Urself and the 2014 re-recording of If Eye Could Get Ur Attention.
Sessions and compiling
Much of the album is believed to have been recorded in early-to-mid 2015 at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA.
Some tracks were recorded earlier, however, with Groovy Potential, Screwdriver and Rocknroll Loveaffair (as 'Rock And Roll Love Affair') dating back to 2012, 2 Y. 2 D., Xtraloveable and Big City to 2011 while Black Muse and When She Comes are believed to originate from 2010.
- Black Muse was debuted live during the opening night of the Welcome 2 America Tour on 15 December 2010, Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ, USA, in its only known performance (although the performance included lead vocals by Shelby J., Elisa Dease and Liv Warfield while Prince was offstage. A studio version is thought to have been recorded in 2010 at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA. On the album, Black Muse is followed on the same track by an unlisted song 1,000 Light Years From Here. It is not known why Prince chose to sequence the two songs as one track on the physical and digital releases of the album and not as separate tracks.
Promotion
Four singles from the album have been released, although none specifically to promote the album, instead between 2011 and early 2015 respectively.
Charts
The album reached position 13 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums in January and 41 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts (when it was still a digital release). Hitnrun Phase Two re-entered the charts after the CD release (which ultimately came a few days after Prince’s passing) and reached number 40 on the Billboard 200 and number 3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.
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Personnel
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Musicians
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- Prince - Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted (assumed)
- Michael B. Nelson - trombone on Baltimore, Rocknroll Loveaffair, Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here)
- Steve Strand - trumpet on Baltimore, Rocknroll Loveaffair, Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here)
- Dave Jensen - trumpet on Baltimore, Rocknroll Loveaffair, Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here)
- Kenni Holmen - tenor sax on Baltimore, Rocknroll Loveaffair, Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here)
- Kathy Jensen - baritone sax on Baltimore, Rocknroll Loveaffair, Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here)
- Stringenius - strings on Baltimore
- Ida Nielsen - bass guitar on Rocknroll Loveaffair, Screwdriver and Big City
- John Blackwell - drums on Rocknroll Loveaffair, 2 Y. 2 D., Look At Me, Look At U, Xtraloveable, When She Comes, Screwdriver, Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here), Revelation and Big City
- Justin Stanley - keyboards and handclaps on 2 Y. 2 D.
- Michael B. - drums on Groovy Potential
- Andrew Gouché - bass guitar on When She Comes and Revelation
- Xavier Taplin - keyboard on Look At Me, Look At U and Revelation
- Shelby J. - background vocals on Big City and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here) (assumed)
- Elisa Dease - background vocals on Big City and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here) (assumed)
- Liv Warfield - background vocals on Big City and Black Muse (and 1,000 Light Years From Here) (assumed)
- Andy Allo - background vocals on Rocknroll Loveaffair (and 1,000 Light Years From Here) (assumed)
- Eryn Allen Kane - vocals on Baltimore
- Ledisi - background vocals on Big City
- Cassandra O’Neal - keyboards on Big City
- Marcus Anderson - flute on Look At Me, Look At U, tenor saxophone on Stare and Big City, soprano saxophone on Revelation (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Keith Anderson - tenor saxophone on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Lynn Grissett - trumpet on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Joey Rayfield - trombone on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Adrian Crutchfield – flute on Groovy Potential, alto saxophone on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- BK Jackson - baritone saxophone on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Sylvester Onyejiaka - baritone saxophone on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Steve Reid - trumpet on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Phil Lassiter - trumpet on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (credited as Philip Lassiter, as part of NPG Hornz)
- Nick Marchione - trumpet on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (credited as Nicholas Marchione, as part of NPG Hornz)
- Roy Agee - trombone on Look At Me, Look At U, Stare, Revelation and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
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Production
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Thanks
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