one of the main criticisms of emancipation is that the songs are overlong and lacking in substance. well, i present to thee criticisers, joint 2 joint. a song which is 7 minutes long and which gives itself very very little to actually work with as a basis, but still manages to be absolutely dopealicious. and imo one of prince's best tracks of the nineties if not ever.

im a total sucker for the obvious "prince alone in the studio" cuts (i.e. the camille stuff specifically) where he really takes his self-obsessive overdubs to ridiculous levels. where half the appeal is imagining the guy in the studio recording this wacky stuff. and joint 2 joint is just basically a journey through that wonderful section of his mind.

where to start? well it contains some of the most hilarious moments in prince history. "first i need a picture of your mother, to verify that there is no other, one in the universe so supreme" is one of the most brilliantly nast-ay lyrics he's ever written. i mean it's basically saying "you're hot, but biologically there's a possibility yo mama may have been hotter...so let's see a picture just to make sure." and then, at around 1.42: "yeah, i got some hot sauce." and then, as if that weren't enough, at 1.49: "RIGHT OOONN!"....i mean, how does he come up with this shit? how does he get the idea to record a comedy "RIGHT OOONN!" away from the microphone at that particular point in the song?

musically, what's most impressive here is that at the 2 minute mark he manages to seamlessly transform the song from a smooth R&B number into a rock song via some boogie woogie piano (!). skillz!

poet 69 or whatever her name is's bit is pretty cool. not as good as that dude with the really deep voice who talks on outkast records but still cool

and then, 4 minutes in, the song seamlessly shapeshifts AGAIN into some dark funk. the 80s may have all those extended versions but i think this song represents the finest example of prince's amazing ability to make endless inventive variations on really quite simple basic musical structures.

"sitting in the corner in yo underwear / let me caress yo nappy hair" makes me smile every time. its all in the delivery.

and of course...captain crunch. with soya milk. coz cows are for calves!

so in conclusion, this song is great. eye like it. its so detailed, you could fill pages and pages with appreciation of all its little bits.
[Edited 8/19/07 19:38pm]

I agree! It is a great song. Multilayered,shifting all kinds of musical gears and on top of that funny at times.It's too bad this song seemed to have gotten lost with a few other underrated jams on Emancipation.

I like it, but the incessent "Sex me/safe" interruption is annoying and totally distracting. It's all I hear when I listen.

great usage of dopealicious.


and the cereal part is pretty much the greatest highlight of music in past tenish years (half of what makes if great is that he's actually crunching on captain crunch towards the end)

p.s. i also caused a small wave of people saying "you don't even know what kind of cereal i like" around school. it was awesome. =P
[Edited 8/19/07 21:53pm]

Great song,and the reason I love Cap n'Crunch with soy milk 2day!

I like it..but the rap part needs to go

Am totally fond of Joint 2 Joint.

Large messy noisy thing...

Could have worked well together with Big Fun and Exodus.

I like joint 2 joint.

I LOVE this song!!

It's so "out there" and FUNKY, a true showing of Prince's ability to produce and record music that is cutting edge.

Hats off to PRINCE!