Though many fail to agree, I believe that D & P is in Prince's Top 5 Greatest Albums...Let's take a look shall we?

In response to the failed "Graffiti Bridge" (both the album and movie), and to compete with the mainstream hip-hop at the time, Prince released "Diamonds & Pearls" a significantly hip-hop album. It was also the first credited album to the New Power Generation. The album features many great songs, such as the title track, "Cream," "Gett Off," and a heavily under-rated song "Insatiable." But enough of the known, I think that the reason that this album is so great is that it was such a new experience for Prince and his fans. Instead of relying on an in-studio sound full of synthesizer work and a drum machine, Prince relies more on live, urban-sounding drums and a deeper voice. Oh yes, let's not forget the introduction of Tony M. (he was cool, give him a break will you?).

this album gets a pass for "gett off", "thunder" and "willing and able"...but there's some nausey stuff on there too.

I like half of D & P but the other half is not good att all.. Songs like Jughead, Walk don't walk, Daddy pop & Push sounds bad 2 me.. But the realy good songs on D & P is Gett Off, Diamonds & pearls, Cream, Thunder, Insatiable & Live 4 Love.. I like alot better than D & P

Strollin', Diamonds and pearls and Money don't matter tonight is the best stuff on there.

Daddy pop and Gett of are cool 2.

I think that D&P is a great album compared to the other stuff he released in the 90s besides Gold Experience. I like Gett Off, Money DOn't matter tonight, and Cream. Those three songs that I mentioned received a lot of airplay in my local station and also those three songs along made me not only started to take notice of Prince but also became a fan.

I think this album is great - I mean, its got Gett off, Cream, Willing and Able is FANTASTIC, and I absolutely LOVE Live 4 Love...Dont ask me why - I just do..

It would have been an amazing album without Push, Jughead and Tony M's crap...i meant without Tony M's rap, sorry

Certainly is very underrated, and it's one of the very best!

Yeah, the record that introduced the absolute genious of TONY FUCKIN M to the world.

Under-rated, and yet I remember at the time it got great reviews and is Prince's second best selling album, selling around 6 million. Who'd have thought the guy that did the rock album Purple Rain would do a hip-hop/funk album like D&P? But it's probably looked back on less fondly because the sound was very much rooted in that time and thus had dated somewhat.

i think of it as his vegas album. which has good and bad connotations for me. it was the first step to the tim burton-esque excesses that was his come/gold phase...and as much as i'm glad he moved past it (he did NOT seem healthy or happy at all), i love that era to pieces for how out-there he would go.

It's overrated to me; underrated are Come and NPS.

Anx said:

I don't know why, but i totally understand why you call it the Vegas album. Its a little too glitzy, a little too made up w/stuff that seems to just beg for attention.

I loved Gett Off, Insatiable, Live4Love, and thunder. Besides that

Tony M. should be drawn and quartered-- with a pubic hair plucked out per every wack bar he put on there. I don't know-- being a fan of rap-- it just hurts.

rainbowchild said:

Totally agree. NPS and Come were eccentric, quirky, dark, and unique to Prince.


("Cream" is a lift of "Bang a Gong".)


This was a back-to-basics general-audience album, not why many people who were Prince fans were fans. And those non-fans who bought the album didn't stick around for the next album.

warning2all said:

Was D&P really a 'back-to-basics' album? It is always easy to say that Prince was going for the commercial market AFTER an album has been a success, but it was a new sound for Prince and there was no guarantee at the time that it wouldn't turn people off. I remember a review of the original DJ only promo of Gett Off and it said that this song would never be released to the general public because of the risky lyrics! Cream also has risky suggestive lyrics, yes it's a homage to T-Rex's 'Get It On' as was noted by many critics at the time, but better to rip-off a fantastic song than a poor obscure one!

The inclusion of rap and the general sound of the album was like nothing that Prince had done before, although you can see it was an extension of some songs from Graffiti Bridge and the vibe of the Nude Tour, so I don't know how it could be called back-to-basics. Back-to-basics would be doing Purple Rain 2. It was Prince experimenting with a new sound and it so happened to be successful.

But I do agree with you that non-fans didn't stick around for the Symbol album. I think that really was a combination of releasing it too soon after D&P, calling it an unpronounceable symbol, and pushing it too far with the ego-centric pounding rhythms and even more outlandish lyrics of My Name Is Prince and SexyMF as singles. The actual album, as most of us agree, has lots of good stuff on it, it just wasn't presented very well at the time.

Anx said:

yeah like Thunder
[Edited 3/6/06 14:09pm]

I love "Diamond and Pearls" and the title track is my most favorite Prince song of all time .

This album is in my top 5!!
When I joined the Org,I was really shocked that a lot of
P-fans don't consider it that way.

I mean,this album IS so Prince,it combines all of the genres he has always done,
including Hiphop 4 the first time.

All time fav tracks:Get Off,Cream,Willing & Able,Money don't matter,
Live4Love,D&P.
Good tracks:Thunder,Daddy Pop.

The 90's albums:D&P, and TGE could easely compete with his 80's work.