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), "alt=Abstract eye shape with simple lines. Black pupil looking left with white iris with black outer border.|18x18px 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 alt=Abstract eye shape with simple lines. Black pupil looking left with white iris with black outer border.|18x18px 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".
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.
Response
In 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.
Track listing
Notes:
- "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.
- "Face Down" contains a strings sample of "Killin' at the Soda Shop" by Jill Jones, orchestrated by Clare Fischer.
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!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (AFYVE)
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Year-end charts
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|+Year-end chart performance for Emancipation
! scope="col"| Chart (1997)
! scope="col"| Position
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 146
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! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 68
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