GET IT HERE!

ENIGMATIC, PROVOCATIVE AND PRESCIENT ALBUM RECORDED IN 2010 AND ARCHIVED IN PRINCE’S LEGENDARY VAULT

Deluxe Edition Includes the 12-Track Studio Album and Complete Previously Unreleased Live Concert Video (Blu-ray) of Prince and the New Power Generation From His “Twenty One Nite Stand” in Los Angeles

“Prince made ‘Welcome 2 America’ in 2010. It speaks to 2021.”

— The New York Times

“The record is a gorgeous romp through taut funk grooves and spaced-out R&B.”

—Wall Street Journal 

“In and of itself, it’s historic… a jewel from Prince’s Vault.” 

—Rolling Stone

“These songs are amongst the most socially and politically engaged of his career. As though Prince were updating Sign O’ The Times.”

– UNCUT

“‘Welcome 2 America’ is a delight. The grooves are airtight and joyous.”

– New York Magazine

“A prismatic Prince shines again on ‘Welcome 2 America.’”

– NPR

“Available at last, ‘Welcome 2 America’ suits the present moment so well it might have been written over the tumultuous past year.”

– PEOPLE

“The best album Prince made in the last two decades of his life.”

– The Guardian

“Prophetic.”

– Sunday Times

The Prince Estate and Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, have released the enigmatic 2010 Prince album Welcome 2 America —a powerful creative statement that documents Prince’s concerns, hopes, and visions for a shifting society, presciently foreshadowing an era of political division, disinformation, and a renewed fight for racial justice.  The album, which has received widespread critical acclaim, is available now. Get it here!

Leading up to the release, The Prince Estate shared the title track “Welcome 2 America.” Throughout the powerful song, Prince delivers a searing, spoken-word soliloquy set to music about golden parachutes, the superficial nature of social media, reality TV-fueled celebrity culture, and corporate monopolies in the music industry, ultimately concluding that America is the “Land of the free / home of the slave.”

Next to be released was “Born 2 Die,” a track 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. Esquire noted, “‘Born 2 Die’ is proof that his music remains necessary and timeless.”

Last week, “Hot Summer” was released on the same day that The Prince Estate launched a new season of its Webby-awarded official podcast. “The Story of Welcome 2 America” takes listeners on a journey into the studios of Paisley Park and out onto the road with Prince in 2010-2011, when he recorded his political and poignant album Welcome 2 America and then archived it, choosing to focus instead on creating unparalleled live concert residencies in cities around the U.S. Listen to Episode 1 and 2 of “The Story of Welcome 2 America” here.

Prince – Welcome 2 America

Studio Album (CD/LP/Digital)

1.    Welcome 2 America
2.    Running Game (Son of a Slave Master)
3.    Born 2 Die
4.    1000 Light Years From Here
5.    Hot Summer
6.    Stand Up and B Strong *
7.    Check The Record
8.    Same Page, Different Book
9.    When She Comes
10.    1010 (Rin Tin Tin)
11.    Yes
12.    One Day We Will All B Free

* Soul Asylum cover

Prince – Welcome 2 America (Live at The Forum, April 28, 2011)

Concert Performance (Blu-ray):

1.    Joy In Repetition
2.    Brown Skin (India.Arie cover)
3.    17 Days
4.    Shhh
5.    Controversy
6.    Theme From “Which Way Is Up” (Stargard cover)
7.    What Have You Done For Me Lately (Janet Jackson cover)
8.    Partyman
9.    Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)
10.    Misty Blue (Eddy Arnold cover)
11.    Let’s Go Crazy
12.    Delirious
13.    1999
14.    Little Red Corvette
15.    Purple Rain
16.    The Bird (The Time cover – Prince composition) 
17.    Jungle Love (The Time cover – Prince composition)
18.    A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover – Prince composition) 
19.    Kiss
20.    Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry cover)
21.    Inglewood Swinging (cover of Kool & the Gang’s “Hollywood Swinging”)
22.    Fantastic Voyage (Lakeside cover)
23.    More Than This (Roxy Music cover)

About The Prince Estate:

The Prince Estate passionately presents Prince’s life and work, and cultivates opportunities to further his legacy. As the singular, authoritative source on all things Prince, The Prince Estate inspires and educates fans, celebrates Prince in his totality, and stewards Prince’s legacy into the future.

Official Website: PRINCE.com  

Official Store: Store.PRINCE.com

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter: @prince 

About Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, is home to the world’s foremost library of historically significant commercial recordings, a peerless collection of works by the most important musical artists of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Across a variety of platforms, the label offers contemporary music fans access to thousands of meticulously restored archival titles representing virtually every musical genre.