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HITNRUN Phase One Prince album
NPG Records
albumRecord contracts are just like slavery. I would tell any young artist… don’t sign.
HITNRUN Phase One is Prince’s penultimate studio album. Its name recalls the series of short notice concerts he performed with his then backing band 3rdEyeGirl throughout 2014/15. Prince delegates the production to Joshua Welton – husband of Hannah Ford, drummer of Prince’s then backing and touring band 3rdEyeGirl.
This was Prince and Welton’s second collaboration following Art Official Age, and continues the electro-funk flair of their partnership debut. This time HITNRUN Phase One is a full co-production, unique in Prince’s catalogue, in which Joshua Welton worked at breakneck speed to mix Prince’s tracks to his style – its intent was to broaden his appeal to younger audiences.
The album features reworked versions of four older tracks: This Could Be Us and Clouds that debuted on Prince’s previous record Art Official Age in 2014 are remixes done in 2015 by Joshua Welton – Clouds is retitled Mr. Nelson. A 1,000 Hugs And Kisses which Prince recorded in Sydney April 1992 during the Australia leg of the Diamonds And Pearls Tour and originally featuring the backing vocals of Rosie Gaines was rerecorded in 2014 and renamed 1000 X’s & O’s. Finally, Fallinlove2nite originally a stand-alone single in March 2014, 18 months prior to the release of HITNRUN Phase One, remains unaltered save for the vocals of Zooey Deschanel being omitted in the album version.
The remainder of the recording took place between September 2014 and June 2015 in sessions taking place at Paisley Park Studios. Striving to reach a new generation of fans, HITNRUN Phase One features vocal contributions from emerging artists: Michael Jackson’s former backing singer Judith Hill appears on Million $ Show, and sisters Dani and Charli Curiel rap in Like A Mack. Having made waves with her album debut Ora in 2012, Prince invited Jay-Z discovery Rita Ora to Paisley Park in 2013, during which they recorded Ain’t About 2 Stop intended for her second album Champagne Kisses, for which Prince also wrote the title track and The Single Most Amazing. A resulting legal challenge by her record label, Atlantic, led to the removal of Prince’s tracks from the album, which she eventually released in 2018 retitled Phoenix. Ain’t About 2 Stop was re-homed to HITNRUN Phase One however Prince and Rita’s two other collaborations remain unreleased.
HITNRUN Phase One produced two digital singles. The lead Hardrocklover was recorded in late June 2015 along with the track June – the final track recorded for the project. Hardrocklover, released days after recording on 7 July and at that point unattached to a wider project, failed to chart. The second single This Could B Us followed that August, two weeks ahead of the release of the album. A nostalgic ballad inspired by an internet meme of Prince riding his motorbike with Apollonia in the movie Purple Rain, This Could B Us reached number 19 on the Billboard R&B chart. HITNRUN Phase One premiered on 13 June 2015 at a private party that followed a special performance Prince played at the White House for President Barack Obama, although was not available commercially until September.
The method of distribution of HITNRUN Phase One sparked controversy amongst fans, as Prince granted exclusivity for the release to TIDAL, which streamed it from 7 September 2015. Albeit a streaming service operating an artist-friendly Prince approved royalty model, and offered music in high quality audio in lossless fidelity, TIDAL was a subscription based platform and denied fans the option to download and own the album without indefinitely subscribing to the service. TIDAL itself had been acquired by Jay-Z only that March and was in need of a big name exclusivity deal to relaunch the service. To fans relief a physical version of HITNRUN Phase One followed on 14 September. Not being a conventional Prince album, HITNRUN Phase One peaked at number 7 in the Billboard R&B chart but reached only number 70 in the main album chart on it release. It climbed to 48 in the week following Prince’s death in April 2016. In the UK the album peaked 50.
Cover story
Graphic illustrator Martin Homent created a series titled The Many Faces Of Prince which documented the evolution of Prince’s hair and fashion in every year of his career. Prince later bought the rights to these images and choose two for the covers for what would become his final albums. The image chosen for HITNRUN Phase One is a stylised depiction of Prince’s cover of his 2014 album Art Official Age as portrayed in Homent’s series.
2026 reissue
The mark the tenth anniversary of the release of Prince’s final albums, HITNRUN Phase One and its follow-up album HITNRUN Phase Two received a dual reissue on 30 January 2016, and is the first time that either was available on vinyl format.
Performers
- Vocals/Bass
- Prince
- Programming
- Joshua Welton
- Trombone
- Michael B. Nelson Million $ Show and Fallinlove2nite
- Joey Rayfield Like A Mack
- Trumpet
- Steve Strand Million $ Show and Fallinlove2nite
- Lynn Grissett Like A Mack
- Dave Jensen Million $ Show and Fallinlove2nite
- Tenor Saxophone
- Kenni Holmen Million $ Show and Fallinlove2nite
- Baritone Sax
- Kathy Jensen Million $ Show and Fallinlove2nite
- Saxophone
- Keith Anderson Like A Mack
- Marcus Anderson Like A Mack
- Guitar
- Donna Grantis Ain't About 2 Stop
- Backing vocals
- Hannah Ford Welton Ain't About 2 Stop
- Ida Nielsen Ain't About 2 Stop
- Orchestration
- Adi Yeshaya (STRINGenius) Million $ Show and Fallinlove2nite
Data
- Producers
- Prince and Joshua Welton
- Label
- NPG Records
- Distribution
- NPG Records
- Cover/Design
- Martin Homent
- Released
- 10 years ago on 7 September 2015
- Reissued
- 30 January 2026
- Running Time
- 37:53
- US Chart Peak
- 48
- US R&B Peak
- 4
- UK Chart Peak
- 50
- Prince Album
- #38
- Orig. Formats
-
Tracklist
- Million $ Show [feat. Judith Hill] (3:10)
- Shut This Down (3:03)
- Ain't About To Stop [duet with Rita Ora] (3:38)
- Like A Mack [raps Danielle Leigh Curiel and Charli Curiel] (4:04)
- This Could B Us (4:11) 1
- (3:12)
- X's Face [feat. Joshua Welton] (2:38) 2
- Hardrocklover (3:42)
- Mr. Nelson [feat. Lianne La Havas] (2:27)
- 1000 X's & O's (4:27)
- June (3:21)
Released as a single
1 Remix of the studio version of This Could Be Us from Art Official Age.
2 Cowritten with Joshua Welton.
Singles from HITNRUN Phase One
Fallinlove2nite
NPG Records
- Released
- 17 March 2014
- Distribution
- Epic Records
- US Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- UK Chart Peak
- 113
- Cover/Art
- Madison Dube
- Format
-
- Fallinlove2nite [feat. Zooey Deschanel] (3:18)
Hardrocklover
NPG Records
- Released
- 7 July 2015
- US Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- UK Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- Format
-
- Hardrocklover (3:52)
This Could B Us
NPG Records
- Released
- 28 August 2015
- Distribution
- Universal Music Group
- US Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- UK Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- Format
-
- This Could B Us (4:11)
HITNRUN Phase One review
Ever since his split from the Warner Bros empire Prince fans have come highly accustomed, and dare admit, weather-worn to the shenanigans one has to endure when it comes to owning Prince’s new music thanks to his ceaseless crusade to shirk conventional music channels. The arrival of HITNRUN Phase One tasked fans to register trial account with the artist-friendly streaming service TIDAL; a route that left a foul taste in the mouths of many, since to play it beyond that month required an indefinite paid subscription. The outcome was counterproductive in that rather than promote fair royalties for artists (the founding principal of TIDAL) it drove fans to source it illicitly. So what about the music: the opener is the upbeat Million $ Show and sets the scene for what is immediately evident a very different style of Prince album. Yet different it’s supposed to be.
What becomes abundantly clear is Prince’s hands-off approach with HITNRUN Phase One, judging by the almost total departure from Prince’s usual form, helmed by co-producer Joshua Welton. HITNRUN Phase One still features Prince’s distinctive flare but the listener will have to root it out to hear it. His signature funk (thank heavens) is present in the bounciest track, the 90s throwback Shut This Down and the highly enjoyable Like A Mack. Overall HITNRUN Phase One is gloriously daring, thanks to Welton. The sound is a significant stride beyond Prince’s and Welton’s previous collaboration Art Official Age, which might divide fans in equal measure – Mr. Nelson and This Could B Us remixes from Art Official Age are though no less impactful. Owing to Joshua Welton HITNRUN Phase One comes fresh as a daisy and that sense is most evident with Ain’t About To Stop in which Rita Ora guests. The task for HITNRUN Phase One is to appeal to a younger audience, a path Art Official Age begun and HITNRUN Phase One fearlessly continues. Whether this audience subscribe to premium streaming services remains to be seen, faced with so many free alternatives. HITNRUN Phase One won’t necessarily reboot Prince’s career but it restores a sense of adventure again not felt since The Gold Experience, and a daring one at that. Because of that, traditionalists may not like it and will take a few listens to absorb – but hasn’t Prince done that throughout his career and since when was he predictable?
Production is to the usual Paisley Park standard, even possibly Prince’s slickest to date. The closing track, June, finds Prince back in ’86 form and comes as no surprise it’s also the record’s highlight. Others are the urgent Hardrocklover and the rediscovered slow gem 1000 X’s & O’s a reworking from his vaulted 1991 original. HITNRUN Phase One followed on CD on 14 September, Prince fans are known for their jitters. Yet it begs the question how many obstacles should one negotiate simply to listen Prince’s new music, high-fidelity or otherwise.
HITNRUN Phase One is rated 4.5 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.
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