“Mass media, information overload. Welcome to America,” Prince wrote as a lyric in his song “Welcome 2 America”.

Prince’s unreleased album Welcome 2 America, recorded in 2010, will be released on July 30, 2021. Welcome 2 America includes 12 tracks that have only been played at live performances and radio premieres. The 12 tracks are as follows: “Welcome 2 America”, “Running Game,” “Born 2 Die”, “1000 Light Years From Here”, “Hot Summer,” a Soul Asylum cover of “Stand Up and B Strong,” “Check The Record,” “Same Page, Different Book,” “When She Comes,” “1010,” “Yes,” and “One Day We Will All B Free.”

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince Rogers Nelson was born to John Nelson and Mattie Shaw on June 7, 1958. Having both a musician and a jazz singer as parents, Prince grew up in an environment heavily influenced by rhythm, lyrics, and instrumentation. His father, John Nelson, was in a band called the Prince Rogers Band, coining himself with his stage name Prince Rogers. Fascinated by music at a young age, Prince taught himself how to play the piano, guitar, and drums, forming a band named Grand Central in high school, with Morris Day, Andre and Linda Cymone, and William Dowdy.

Taking off in the music industry with his debut album For You of 1978 and Prince of 1979, Prince often produced the instrumental parts of his songs himself. As his band, The Revolution, launched the album Purple Rain in 1984, his career as a singer and songwriter took off and grew into a career that no one in the music industry had ever seen before. Prince’s first Top 20 pop hit was the classic “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” His music and recognition of his innovative style only grew. He accomplished much more, such as creating the soundtrack to Batman in 1989 and launching his band New Power Generation in the early 1990s.

In 1987, Prince signed with Warner Bros. Records only to leave in 1995 due to irreconcilable differences. He leaned towards using a variety of musical styles, including funk, R&B, Latin, rock, new wave, classical, soul, synth-pop, psychedelia, pop, jazz, and hip hop. Prince was a pioneer in funk-rock music, which emerged in the Minneapolis area during the late 1970s.

Unfortunately, Prince died in April 2016 at the age of 57 due to an accidental fentanyl overdose. Still, he will always be commemorated for the tremendous impact he left on the music industry using his original sound and addressing controversial topics in his songs.

As the Prince Estate has already released Welcome 2 America‘s title track on YouTube, the album is currently available for preorder and will be out digitally, on CD, and as a deluxe edition.