Diamonds and Pearls is the thirteenth studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by American recording artist Prince

Prince (musician)

Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...

, released October 1, 1991, on Paisley Park Records

Paisley Park Records

Paisley Park Records was Prince's record label, associated with and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album Purple Rain...

 and Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records

Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...

. It is his first album to have The New Power Generation, his backing band at the time, receive co-billing. The album produced several hit singles, including "Gett Off

Gett Off

"Gett Off" is the lead single by Prince and The New Power Generation from the 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. The song was a last-minute addition to the album, replacing "Horny Pony", which became the song's B-side The cover uses a face drawn in...

", "Cream

Cream (song)

"Cream" is a song by Prince and The New Power Generation, from the 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. Prince states that he wrote the song while standing in front of a mirror....

", "Money Don't Matter 2 Night

Money Don't Matter 2 Night

"Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is a song by Prince and The New Power Generation from their 1991 album, Diamonds and Pearls. Co-written with Rosie Gaines, the lyrics deal directly with money, poverty, and greed. The vocal delivery is similar to that of "When Doves Cry", but more subtle...

", "Insatiable", and the title track

Diamonds and Pearls (song)

"Diamonds and Pearls" is the title track to Prince and The New Power Generation's 1991 hit album. The song is an upbeat ballad, given a rock edge with guitar and heavy drumming. The song also features the powerful vocals of NPG member Rosie Gaines. The ballad is an expression of love and not lust,...

. Dancers Lori Werner (then dancing under the stage name of Lori Elle) and Robia LaMorte

Robia LaMorte

Robia Brett LaMorte, sometimes credited as Robia La Morte, is an American actress and former dancer. She is best known as a dancer and spokesperson for the musician Prince, and for her role as Jenny Calendar in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life:LaMorte was born in the New...

, known as "Diamond" and "Pearl" respectively, are featured on the holographic

Holography

Holography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that when an imaging system is placed in the reconstructed beam, an image of the object will be seen even when the object is no longer present...

 cover (re-pressings of the album are non-holographic). Diamond and Pearl also appeared in the music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s for "Cream", "Strollin'", "Gett Off", and the title track, and also participated in Prince's Diamonds and Pearls tour.

Diamonds and Pearls featured a hybrid of music styles, from the funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 of "Daddy Pop", "Jughead", and first single "Gett Off", to some of the more mainstream pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

/rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 songs Prince had recorded in some time, such as "Cream", "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" and the title song. "Willing and Able" was used in a video montage during the closing credits of CBS

CBS Sports

CBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...

 coverage of Super Bowl XXVI

Super Bowl XXVI

Super Bowl XXVI was an American football game played on January 26, 1992 at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota to decide the National Football League champion following the 1991 regular season...

.

Track listing

Album evolution

One of the earliest songs that ended up on Diamonds and Pearls was "Live 4 Love", a track from 1989. The bulk of the material would be composed in 1990, however. A few songs evolved during Prince's Nude Tour

Nude Tour

The Nude Tour was a greatest hits concert tour by Prince. While the previous tour drew critical praise, the high cost of the concert tour production made it a financial disappointment, thus Prince eliminated much of the excessiveness of the previous tour to be more financially viable...

 in 1990, notably "The Flow", and "Schoolyard". Prince decided to place an emphasis on rap with this album, handing the reins over to Nude Tour dancer, Tony M.

Tony M.

Tony M. is a rapper best known as a member of Prince's band, The New Power Generation. Mosley began his association with Prince as an extra in the film Purple Rain. He can be seen dancing with Kirk Johnson and Damon Dickson during various performances at the First Avenue club...

  An early version of the album from November 1990 consisted of the following:

1. "Daddy Pop"
2. "Walk Don't Walk"
3. "Schoolyard"
4. "Strollin'"
5. "Willing and Able"
6. "Diamonds and Pearls"
7. "Insatiable"
8. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night"
9. "Horny Pony"
10. "Live 4 Love"
11. "Something Funky This House Comes"
12. "Call the Law"
13. "The Flow"

Most of these songs went through minor to major revisions before being released, and five of them didn't make the cut at all. However, "Call the Law" would be released as the B-side to "Money Don't Matter 2 Night", and later, on The New Power Generation album, Goldnigga

Goldnigga

Goldnigga is the 1993 debut album by The New Power Generation . It was only made available for sale at some concert venue merchandise stalls on tour in 1993, through Prince's 1-800-NEW-FUNK telephone retail outlet, and at Paisley Park during the 2001 Celebration...

, while "The Flow" would be revised for the Love Symbol Album album. A later version of the album, closer to the actual release date was identical to the official album, but still had "Horny Pony" in the place of "Gett Off", a newly written track which ended up replacing "Horny Pony" at the last minute. In fact, "Horny Pony" still exists on the track listing, written in red over "Gett Off", and is mentioned in the lyrics to "Push".

Personnel

• Prince: vocals, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, bass, drums, percussion
• Levi Seacer, Jr.: rhythm guitar
• Tommy Barberella: keyboards
• Rosie Gaines
  Rosie Gaines
  Rosie Gaines is an American vocalist, musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer from Pittsburg, California. She released a number of dance hits, the most notable being "Closer Than Close".-Ensemble career:...
  
  : vocals, keyboards
• Sonny T.: bass
• Michael B.: drums
• Kirk Johnson: percussion
• Eric Leeds: flute
• Tony M.: rapping
  Rapping
  Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
  
  
• Jearlyn Steele Battle, Elisa, Jevetta, J.D. and Fred Steele: backing vocals

Production

• Arranged & Produced & Prince & The New Power Generation
• Engineered By Keith "KC" Cohen, David Friedlander, Michael Koppelman, Matt Larson, Sylvia Massy
  Sylvia Massy
  Sylvia Massy is an entrepreneur, record producer, and studio engineer in the United States. Massy is perhaps best recognized for her work on 1993's Undertow, the full-length double platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles rock band Tool.-History:...
  
  , Steve Noonan, Tim Penn & Brian Poer
• Mixed By Michael Koppelman, Keith Cohen & Tom Garneau
• Mastered By Michael Koppelman
• All Songs Published By Controversy Music-WB Music, except "Willing & Able" (Controversy Music-WB Music-Michael Anthony Music-Mac Dog Productions), "Jughead" (Controversy Music-WB Music-Mac Dog Music-Kinky J. Music) & "Push" (Controversy Music-WB Music-Mattie Lucille Publishing).

Charts

Chart (1991)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	3
U.S. Billboard R&B Albums	1
UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	2

Chart (1992)	Peak position
Australian ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...  Albums Chart	1

Singles and Hot 100 chart placings

• "Gett Off
  Gett Off
  "Gett Off" is the lead single by Prince and The New Power Generation from the 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. The song was a last-minute addition to the album, replacing "Horny Pony", which became the song's B-side The cover uses a face drawn in...
  
  " maxi-single (#21 US, #6 R&B, #4 UK, #8 AUS)

1. "Gett Off"
2. "Horny Pony"

• "Cream
  Cream (song)
  "Cream" is a song by Prince and The New Power Generation, from the 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. Prince states that he wrote the song while standing in front of a mirror....
  
  " maxi-single (#1 US, #15 UK, #2 AUS)

1. "Cream"
2. "Horny Pony"

• "Insatiable" (#3 US R&B)

1. "Insatiable"
2. "I Love U in Me"

• "Diamonds and Pearls
  Diamonds and Pearls (song)
  "Diamonds and Pearls" is the title track to Prince and The New Power Generation's 1991 hit album. The song is an upbeat ballad, given a rock edge with guitar and heavy drumming. The song also features the powerful vocals of NPG member Rosie Gaines. The ballad is an expression of love and not lust,...
  
  " maxi-single (#3 US, #1 R&B, #25 UK, #13 AUS)

1. "Diamonds and Pearls"
2. "Q in Doubt"

• "Money Don't Matter 2 Night
  Money Don't Matter 2 Night
  "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is a song by Prince and The New Power Generation from their 1991 album, Diamonds and Pearls. Co-written with Rosie Gaines, the lyrics deal directly with money, poverty, and greed. The vocal delivery is similar to that of "When Doves Cry", but more subtle...
  
  " maxi-single (#23 US, #14 R&B, #19 UK, #18 AUS)

1. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night"
2. "Call the Law"
3. "Push" (UK)

• "Thunder" maxi-single (#28 UK)

1. "Thunder"
2. "Violet the Organ Grinder"
3. "Gett Off" (Thrust Dub)