http://launch.yahoo.com/r...tID=211496 (12/04/02, 10 a.m. ET) - Common's forthcoming album, Electric Circus, features a collaboration with Prince. The noted soul guitarist, producer, and songwriter appears on the song "Star *69 (PS With Love)," a ode to phone sex.

After Common's band accepted an invitation to play in Prince's Minneapolis recording studio, Common asked the Purple One to make a joint effort: "He invited us to perform at Paisley Park. That's how it came about. We ended up performing. He opened his studio up to me, and we just went down and worked, and I asked him to perform on a song, would he like to play on a song. And he was with playing, so. That's a blessing man. That's something that I'm going to look back on like, man, I had Prince on my album. 'Cause this dude is like, yo, one of those greats. One of those genius cats that changed music."

Electric Circus is due out on Tuesday (December 10) on MCA Records. The album's first single "Come Close," produced by the Neptunes and featuring Mary J. Blige, is Number 56 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.

--Billy Johnson Jr., Los Angeles

2 bad the world of pop music is ruled by the simplicity and dumbing bweats of the Neptunes