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Emancipation is the 20th 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.

Emancipation
Studio album by Prince
Released	November 19, 1996
Recorded	January 1995–October 1996
Genre	Pop funk R&B[1] hip-hop dance Rock
Length	180:00
Label	NPG EMI
Producer	Prince
Prince chronology
Chaos and Disorder (1996) Emancipation (1996) Crystal Ball (1998)
Singles from Emancipation
"Betcha by Golly Wow!" Released: November 13, 1996 "The Holy River / Somebody's Somebody" Released: January 13, 1997 "Face Down" Released: April 1997 (promo)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Blender	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B[3]
The Guardian	[4]
Los Angeles Times	[5]
Music Week	[6]
NME	5/10[7]
Q	[8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[9]
Spin	7/10[10]
The Village Voice	A−[11]

Overview

Emancipation is something of a concept album, celebrating his release from Warner Bros. as well as his marriage to Mayte Garcia, who became his wife on Valentine's Day earlier that year. With his newfound freedom, Prince experimented more openly with varying genres, including house and blues. He also freely commented on his fame and dealings with Warner Bros. ("White Mansion", "Slave", "Face Down") while also returning slightly to the "computer" theme he explored a decade earlier ("Emale", "My Computer").

"Jam of the Year" is the opening song on the album. It features Prince singing in his falsetto range and Rosie Gaines on backing vocals. It later became the name of the tour for the album and a live version of the song was released as part of a single called "NYC Live" in 1997.

Prince wrote several songs and ballads dedicated to his wife, Mayte Garcia, and his unborn child, most of which appear on the second disc of the album. The child, born in October 1996 (about one month before the album's release), suffered from Pfeiffer syndrome type 2, a rare skull disease, and died shortly after birth. A recording of the child's heartbeat is featured as part of the percussion in the song, "Sex in the Summer".

"My Computer" is a collaboration with British art pop musician Kate Bush, featuring lyrics examining the burgeoning online dating scene and its implications on how romantic relationships can develop in the internet age. Prince previously collaborated with Bush on the song "Why Should I Love You", released on Bush's 1993 album The Red Shoes.

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 👁 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".[12]

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.[13]

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 was 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 earlier that year.

Track listing

All tracks written by Prince except where noted.

Notes:

• Every use of the pronoun "I" throughout the song titles and liner notes is actually 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.
• "Style" contains a sample of "Atomic Dog" (1982) by George Clinton.
• "Sleep Around" contains a sample of "Squib Cakes" (1974) by Tower of Power.

Personnel

• Prince – lead vocals and various instruments
• Mr. Hayes – keyboards (1–6, 2–10, 3–10), backing vocals (1–4)
• Tommy Barbarella – keyboards (1–6, 2–10, 3–10)
• Tom Burrell – additional keyboards (1–10)
• Joe Galdo – music programming
• Ricky Peterson – piano (2–1), additional keyboards (2–10)
• Kathleen Dyson – guitar (2–1, 2–4, 2–6, 3–11), backing vocals (1–4)
• Mike Scott – guitar (3–5)
• Rhonda Smith – bass (1–4, 1–7, 1–10, 2–1, 2–6), backing vocals (1–4)
• Sonny T. – bass (1–6, 2–10, 3–10)
• Michael B. – drums (1–6, 2–10, 3–10)
• Kirk Johnson – drums (unspecified tracks)
• Eric Leeds – saxophone and flute (1–1), saxophone (1–4,1–7, 1–10, 2–4, 2–6, 3–6)
• Walter Chancellor Jr. – saxophone (1–1, 3–6)
• Brian Gallagher – tenor saxophone (1–5, 1–9, 2–10, 3–7)
• Kathy Jensen – baritone saxophone (1–5, 1–9, 2–10, 3–7)
• Brian Lynch – trumpet (1–7, 2–4, 3–6)
• Steve Strand – trumpet (1–5, 1–9, 2–10, 3–7)
• Dave Jensen – trumpet (1–5, 1–9, 2–10, 3–7)
• Michael B. Nelson – trombone (1–5, 1–9, 2–10, 3–7)
• Rosie Gaines – backing vocals (1–1)
• Kathleen Bradford – backing vocals (2–12)
• Rhonda Johnson – backing vocals (2–12)
• Chanté Moore – backing vocals (3–5)
• Kate Bush – backing vocals (3–9)
• Mayte – Spanish spoken word (1–9), backing vocals (3–10)
• Ninety-9 – vocal sample (1–2, 3–4), spoken word (2–7)
• Scrap D. – rap (1–11, 3–8)
• Michael Mac – scratches (2–7)
• Savion Glover – tap performance (2–7)

Singles and Hot 100 positions

• "Betcha by Golly Wow!" (#31 US Airplay, #10 US R&B Airplay, #11 UK, #20 Australia)
  1. "Betcha by Golly Wow!"
  2. "Right Back Here in My Arms"
• "The Holy River" (UK CD 1) (#58 US Airplay, #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) (#15 US R&B Airplay, #19 UK)
  1. "Somebody's Somebody" (radio edit)
  2. "Somebody's Somebody" (album version)

Charts

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[33]	Platinum	100,000^
Japan (RIAJ)[34]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA)[35]	2× Platinum	666,666^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

На других языках

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[de] Emancipation (Album)

Emancipation (englisch für Emanzipation) ist das 19. Studioalbum des US-amerikanischen Musikers Prince. Es erschien am 19. November 1996 als CD-Dreifachalbum bei dem Musiklabel NPG Records / EMI Group. Emancipation ist Prince’ erstes Album, das nicht über Warner Bros. Records vertrieben wird; aufgrund von Differenzen mit Warner hatte er seinen Künstlernamen 1993 abgelegt und trug stattdessen ein unaussprechbares Symbol als Pseudonym.

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- [en] Emancipation (Prince album)

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[es] Emancipation

Emancipation es el decimonoveno álbum de estudio del músico estadounindese Prince, lanzado el 19 de noviembre de 1996 por NPG Records y EMI Records. El título hace referencia a la ruptura del músico con su anterior disquera, Warner Bros. Records, luego de 1 década, y con los que había mantenido malas relaciones en el último tiempo.[1] El álbum fue la tercera producción de Prince en 1996 luego de Chaos and Disorder y Girl 6), y consta de tres discos.[2]

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[ru] Emancipation

Emancipation (с англ. — «Высвобождение, раскрепощение») — девятнадцатый студийный альбом американского певца Принса, выпущенный 19 ноября 1996 года и впервые на лейблах NPG Records и EMI Records. Ранее 18 лет музыкант издавался на лейбле Warner Bros. Records и название как бы свидетельствует об этом освобождении от кабального контракта (с которым он боролся несколько последних лет)[8].

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