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The Slaughterhouse Prince album
NPG Records
album“Trax From The NPG Music Club: Volume 2”
In the end it ain’t about the dollars but the seeds you’ve sown.
Originally available throughout 2001 and 2002 as individual MP3s offered to subscribers of Prince’s official website NPG Music Club, the tracks were reissued as one of two digital albums in March 2004: The Slaughterhouse and its companion The Chocolate Invasion.
Both volumes contain tracks Prince wrote and recorded throughout 1999 to 2002 at Paisley Park Studios. He created them at the time of reclaiming his birth name, previously being Prince Love Symbol to highlight his fight for creative freedom in the mainstream music industry. The Slaughterhouse continues this common theme in Prince’s mid-career output: Golden Parachute, 2045: Radical Man and Y Should I Do That, When Eye Can Do This, he brands the ownership of his intellectual property by non musicians who “created nothing. In essence a fraud.”
Prior to its inclusion on The Slaughterhouse, 2045: Radical Man was issued in the soundtrack CD of Spike Lee’s movie Bamboozled, released under Motown Records on 26 September 2000, he had helped the director previously with a full soundtrack for his movie Girl 6. Prince hoped to release all the songs from NPG Music Club in physical format as a 7-CD set, however just two digital volumes, The Slaughterhouse and The Chocolate Invasion came to fruition, given the subhead “Trax From The NPG Music Club”. The Daisy Chain features a rap performed by 19-year-old Minneapolis graphic artist David Max Schwartz “DVS”, introduced to Prince by Morris Hayes when on the lookout to commission artwork. DVS also appears with Prince in the song’s promotional video shooting basketball hoops. DVS would join Fonky Bald Heads as opening act on Prince’s 2001 Hit N Run Tour, the group comprised Kirk Johnson and Kip Blackshire of the NPG, who also appear on The Slaughterhouse.
The albums’ artwork are the designs of Sam Jennings, webmaster of NPG Music Club, they incorporate figure illustrations by Debbie McGuan also featured on the website. Jennings also devised the track configurations of both The Slaughterhouse and The Chocolate Invasion, as well as titling the packages. CD sleeves and disc designs were also produced. Despite that production of the albums on CD was thwarted by manufacturing logistics, two singles packaged into The Slaughterhouse were issued on CD: Peace and The Daisy Chain, both available from the merch tables of the live shows of Prince’s Hit N Run Tour of the US and at Paisley Park’s week-long Prince: A Celebration open house event during 2001. Along with 2045: Radical Man (included as B-side to Peace), the three tracks were originally envisaged to form the fourth album of the New Power Generation, which along with the physical issue of NPG Music Club content, never materialised. The Slaughterhouse is noteworthy as it is Prince’s final release to be credited to the New Power Generation.
Cover story
The album’s artwork is the design of Prince’s webmaster Sam Jennings, tasked to layout the design for the CD packaging for volumes 1 and 2 which never went into production. Released as digital albums instead in 2003 from NPG Music Club no official artwork was made public, until 2015 when Prince granted TIDAL rights to stream the album and Jennings’ work was confirmed as official design. The characters featured in the design of The Slaughterhouse and The Chocolate Invasion are the illustration of clothes designer Debbie McGuan in 2001, which featured throughout the club website’s design. The figure in the cover of The Slaughterhouse portrays S&M Groove.
Performers
- Vocals / all Instr
- Prince
- Drums
- Michael Bland Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This?
- Programming
- Kirk Johnson 2045: Radical Man
- Bass Guitar
- Larry Graham Peace and The Daisy Chain
- Flute
- Najee Golden Parachute and Northside
- Backing vocals
- Kip Blackshire Northside, Peace and 2045: Radical Man
- Rap
- DVS The Daisy Chain
- Baritone sax
- Kathy Jensen Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This?
- Saxophone
- Kenni Holmen Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This?
- Trombone
- Michael B. Nelson Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This?
- Trumpet
- Dave Jensen Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This?
- Steve Strand Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This?
Data
- Producer
- Prince
- Label
- NPG Records
- Distribution
- NPG Records
- Cover/Design
- Sam Jennings and Debbie McGuan
- Released
- 22 years ago on 29 March 2004
- Running Time
- 55:02
- US Chart Peak
- Ineligible
- UK Chart Peak
- Did not chart
- Prince Album
- #30
- Orig. Format
-
Tracklist
- Silicon (4:16)
- S&M Groove [feat. Marva King] (5:09)
- Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This? (4:33)
- Golden Parachute (5:37) 2
- Hypnoparadise (6:03)
- Props N' Pounds [feat spoken voice of Kurt Loder] (4:38)
- Northside (6:33)
- Peace [feat Morris Hayes and Larry Graham] (5:34) 1
- (6:36)
- The Daisy Chain [rap DVS] (6:14) 1 & 2
Released as a single
1 Sold as a CD single on Hit N Run Tour.
2 Intended for the aborted High album.
Singles from The Slaughterhouse
Peace
NPG Records
- Released
- 14 April 2001
- US Chart Peak
- Ineligible
- UK Chart Peak
- No Release
- Cover/Art
- Sam Jennings
- Format
-
- Peace [feat. Morris Hayes and Larry Graham] (5:34)
- 2045: Radical Man (6:36)
The Daisy Chain
NPG Records
- Released
- 14 April 2001
- Distribution
- Sam Jennings
- US Chart Peak
- Ineligible
- UK Chart Peak
- No Release
- Cover/Art
- Sam Jennings
- Format
-
- The Daisy Chain [rap DVS] (6:14)
- Gamillah (3:18)
The Slaughterhouse album review
Volume two of NPG Music Club’s supposed seven disc set, The Slaughterhouse was released accompanying volume one, The Chocolate Invasion. The digital album takes its name from Silicon, opening with “Welcome to the slaughterhouse”. The songs are a collection of earlier available MP3s from NPG Music Club and repackaged as two albums when the club itself was in need of a reboot. The Slaughterhouse is often excluded in Prince’s discography as one of his studio albums but is in essence a compilation of previously unreleased and studio-finished music and so deserves counting. If you are seeking rarities from Prince’s vault consider yourself in the right place.
The songs of note are Silicon for its pulsating backdrop. Y Should Eye Do That, When Eye Can Do This? is refreshingly bonkers. Props N’ Pounds, The Daisy Chain and Northside maintain the usual Prince quality, but the best is Peace, NPG outtake and one of the top finds of the club. It is also a pleasure to see 2045: Radical Man packaged into a proper Prince collection. The turn of the Millennium was an off-period for Prince and one fans don’t often return to, this collection still shows his spark during that period, which N.E.W.S and Xpectation succeed only to consign 2000 to 2003 to Prince’s flattest period and lowest appeal. NPG Music Club was the light nestling at the end of ’03s dark tunnel.
The Slaughterhouse is rated 3.5 out of 5 by Goldies Parade.
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