| 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
The album is a selection of songs recorded from March 2010 to mid 2015 at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, Minnesota, USA.
- 2 Y. 2 D. was first recorded in early-to-mid 2011, most likely at Paisley Park Studios. While the original version (included on Hitnrun Phase Two) is a horn-driven funk version, Prince and 3rdEyeGirl re-recorded the track in early 2013 (this version remains unreleased).
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
- Michael B. Nelson - trombone on Baltimore, 2 Y. 2 D., Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1000 Light Years From Here)
- Steve Strand - trumpet on Baltimore, 2 Y. 2 D., Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1000 Light Years From Here)
- Dave Jensen - trumpet on Baltimore, 2 Y. 2 D., Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1000 Light Years From Here)
- Kenni Holmen - tenor sax on Baltimore, Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1000 Light Years From Here)
- Kathy Jensen - baritone sax on Baltimore, 2 Y. 2 D., Xtraloveable, Groovy Potential, When She Comes and Black Muse (and 1000 Light Years From Here)
- Eryn Allen Kane - vocals on Baltimore
- Stringenius - strings on Baltimore
- John Blackwell - drums on Rocknroll Loveaffair, 2 Y. 2 D., Look At Me, Look At U, Xtraloveable, When She Comes, Screwdriver, Black Muse (and 1000 Light Years From Here), Revelation and Big City
- Ida Nielsen - bass guitar on Rocknroll Loveaffair, Screwdriver and Big City
- Andy Allo - background vocals on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed)
- Marcus Anderson - tenor saxophone on Rocknroll Loveaffair, Stare and Big City, (as part of NPG Hornz), soprano saxophone on Revelation, flute and saxophone on Look At Me, Look At U and When She Comes
- Keith Anderson - tenor saxophone on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed), Stare and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Lynn Grissett - trumpet on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed), Stare and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Joey Rayfield - trombone on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed), Stare and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Adrian Crutchfield –alto saxophone on Rocknroll Loveaffair and Big City, flute on Groovy Potential (as part of NPG Hornz)
- BK Jackson - baritone saxophone on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed), and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Sylvester Onyejiaka - baritone saxophone on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed) and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Steve Reid - trumpet on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed) and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Phil Lassiter - trumpet on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed) and Big City (credited as Philip Lassiter, as part of NPG Hornz)
- Nick Marchione - trumpet on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed) and Big City (credited as Nicholas Marchione, as part of NPG Hornz)
- Roy Agee - trombone on Rocknroll Loveaffair (assumed) and Big City (as part of NPG Hornz)
- Justin Stanley - keyboards and handclaps on 2 Y. 2 D.
- Xavier Taplin - keyboard on Look At Me, Look At U and Revelation
- Michael B. - drums on Groovy Potential (sampled from an other unidentified track)
- Andrew Gouché - bass guitar on When She Comes and Revelation
- Shelby J. - background vocals on Black Muse (including 1000 Light Years From Here) and Big City
- Elisa Dease - background vocals on Black Muse (including 1000 Light Years From Here) and Big City
- Liv Warfield - background vocals on Black Muse (including 1000 Light Years From Here) and Big City
- Cassandra O’Neal - keyboards on Big City
- Ledisi - background vocals on Big City
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| Production
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| Thanks
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2015: Hitnrun Phase One ◄
