Updated 6-2-2016 by Ryan Waniata: Unfortunately, the Prince Museum has pulled this video. We’ll update this post if and when it becomes available again.
The Prince Museum has opened its vault for the first time since the iconic musician died April 21, pulling out the big guns to show off a collaborative performance between Prince and rapper Kendrick Lamar.
The five-minute cut starts as a simple repeating jam from The Purple One’s all-female backing band, then the song evolves with epic verses from Lamar and Prince, as well as an amazing guitar solo from the late singer’s lead guitarist to close it out. The performance occurred during a private event at Prince’s Paisley Park complex, which has a massive live stage that the musician famously used to prep for tours.
Fans have known that Lamar and Prince collaborated on other material, including an unreleased song for Lamar’s blockbuster album To Pimp A Butterfly, but this is the first the public has seen (or heard) of the pair playing together.
Lamar has cited the pop musician as one of his biggest influences, even going so far as to credit Prince as the inspiration for his recently released set of B-sides, untitled unmastered.
As far as rare material from the recently deceased legend, this video may actually be the tip of the iceberg. Prince was famous for his epic amount of unreleased material, which spans decades, famous musicians, and even nonmusical collaborators. We’re all still waiting on the Kevin Smith-shot Prince documentary we’ve heard so much about, for example.
But fans might have to wait a bit longer for more new (old) songs to be released. As the musician’s heirs figure out who gets the rights to his work — the songwriter apparently left no will — it’s unlikely anything else will be made public in the short term.
Still, as far as sonic appetizers go, this one sure is filling.
