3121 is the 31st full-length studio album by Prince. It was released worldwide in March, 2006 (two years after the collections The Chocolate Invasion, The Slaughterhouse and C-Note, and the studio album Musicology).
Eight months after the album's release, Prince launched the Per4ming Live 3121 residency in Las Vegas, NV, USA; the setlist typically included a few tracks from the album, but was not designed to promote the album as such.
Little is known about the recording sessions for the album. It is likely that initial tracking for most tracks took place between early 2005 and early, at Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA or 3121 (Mulholland), West Hollywood, CA, USA. Some percussion overdubs on Te Amo Corazón took place at Insomnio Studios, Panama City, Panama in late June, 2005.
An early configuration of the album compiled in late 2005 included two tracks that were removed before release: „Streets Of Panama“ and „The Morning After“. „Streets Of Panama“ remains unreleased, while „The Morning After“ was included on the download version of the album Lotusflow3r (although not on the CD version of the album). This configuration did not include „Fury“ or „Beautiful, Loved And Blessed“, indicating that they may have been recorded shortly before the album's release.
The album is the first to feature a band line-up including drummer C.C. Dunham and bass guitarist Joshua Dunham, who would continue to play with Prince until 2010. It also features significant vocal contributions from Támar Davis (credited as Támar), who Prince worked with heavily in 2005 and 2006, including touring with her as her guitarist on the 2006 Támar Tour.
The album produced three commercial singles, „Te Amo Corazón“, „Black Sweat“ (both of which preceded the album) and „Fury“ (released in the UK only).
The album entered The Billboard 200 at number 1, giving Prince his first number 1 album on that chart since 1989's Batman (and his first not connected to a movie since 1985's Around The World In A Day). 3121 also reached number 1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.
Track | Duration |
---|---|
3121 | 4:31 |
Lolita | 4:06 |
Te Amo CorazÓn | 3:35 |
Black Sweat | 3:11 |
Incense and Candles | 4:04 |
Love | 5:45 |
Satisfied | 2:50 |
Fury | 4:02 |
The word | 4:11 |
Beautiful, Loved And Blessed | 5:43 |
The Dance | 5:20 |
Get On The Boat | 6:20 |