The Prince Estate and Sony Music have released “Born 2 Die,”is the second single made available from Prince’s upcoming, previously unreleased 2010 studio album“Welcome 2 America.” According to the announcement, song was recorded during a flurry of studio activity in the spring of 2010, when President Obama was just a year into his first term and Prince was reflecting deeply on the issues affecting the Black community and the role he hoped to play in the social justice movement.
The song was first recorded by Prince, the bassist Tal Wilkenfeld, and the drummer Chris Coleman, and with vocals added by Shelby J., Liv Warfield, and Elisa Fiorillo. Morris Hayes added final production to the track.
“We got to‘Born 2 Die,’and Prince said, ‘I’ll tell you how that came about,’ Hayes said. “He had been watching videos of his friend Dr. Cornel West on YouTube, and during one speech Dr. West said, ‘I love my brother Prince, but he’s no Curtis Mayfield.’ So Prince said, ‘Oh really? We will see.’”
Also recently announced,SiriusXMkicked off Black Music Month on June 1 with a relaunch ofThe Prince Channel, which features music from Prince’s vast catalog and favorites from those who knew Prince best. The limited-run channel is available now on SiriusXM ch. 333or listen on the SiriusXM app for free though June 8 athttp://siriusxm.us/PRINCE.
Additionally, Prince’s 1998 album“The Truth”will be issued for the first time as a stand-alone release on June 12 as part of Record Store Day’s first RSD Drop.“The Truth”was originally released as an accompaniment to the triple-album Crystal Ball, and is considered by many fans to be one of Prince’s underappreciated hidden gems. The RSD Drop marks the first timeThe Truthis available on vinyl.
