Has anybody ever heard this unreleased track by Prince? Man, I love this song: the guitar and the strings. One of many Prince tracks that he never released, but should have. I can't stop listening to this song, I'm really diggin it.

psychodelicide said:

it's good.

i think i prefer the sonny t version.

"...oh what a joy..."

I think this song was written regarding Prince's troubles he was having with Warner Brothers. From what I've read, this song was written/recorded during the Emancipation era. It's ashame this song was not included on the Emancipation CDs.

psychodelicide said:

'94/'95. it's one of the outtakes from 'exodus.'

although to be fair, prince was already talking about 'emancipation' in early '95. for a while he said it would be four discs and fifty-one tracks. who knows what was intended for what.

stanleylieber said:

The DTT Lyrics website said about this song:

Slave 2 The System
Originally on Emancipation, it eventually evolved into "Slave" where the marching drums were retained from this laid-back funky groove. sings about his future being arranged and the future of black men in general, even before birth. It contains some nice rhythm guitar work and Clare Fischer's strings. The completed Exodus outtake by The NPG is much faster with angry vocals.

Edited to say that I do have the version with Sonny T singing lead. The beat is a lot faster than Prince's version. It's cool how Prince seems to have several different versions for most of his songs circulating around out there, somewhere.
[Edited 4/7/09 22:28pm]

psychodelicide said:

the sonny t version was on the second configuration of 'exodus':

01 Operator (segue)
02 Get wild
03 Slave (#1)
04 Acknowledge me (#4)
05 Super Hero
06 Super Hero (jam)
07 Count (segue)
08 Count The Days
09 Sonny (segue)
10 DJ gets jumped (segue)
11 New power soul
12 Mad (#2)
13 Love thy will be done (#3)
14 Funky
15 Proud mary
16 NPG Bum rush the ship (segue)
17 The exodus has begun
18 Funky design (#2)

the beat that is in the released version of 'slave' (which itself was handed out on cassette by prince at various shows in '95) is exactly the same as 'ain't no place like u' from mayte's album. i think it got a lot of mileage that year. no telling what other songs are in the vault that may also use it.

i think the dtt lyrics page is trying to say the same thing, though perhaps through a veil of impaired grammar.

The version that I have of Sonny singing "Slave 2 the System" is very short. But I like how Sonny says, "Fuck...that!" after he sings "You better fetch that water, boy".

psychodelicide said:

yep, 59 seconds.

sonny's voice was so perfect for the 'exodus' project.

i like it. I don't know where I got it or what it's from exactly but I like.
[Edited 4/9/09 8:21am]

I've always been fond of this song, though I prefer Prince's version to Sonny's.

I actually think a lot of the Emancipation outtakes are stronger than stuff that made the album.

I actually think a lot of the Emancipation outtakes are stronger than stuff that made the album.

stanleylieber said:





the sonny t version was on the second configuration of 'exodus':

01 Operator (segue)
02 Get wild
03 Slave (#1)
04 Acknowledge me (#4)
05 Super Hero
06 Super Hero (jam)
07 Count (segue)
08 Count The Days
09 Sonny (segue)
10 DJ gets jumped (segue)
11 New power soul
12 Mad (#2)
13 Love thy will be done (#3)
14 Funky
15 Proud mary
16 NPG Bum rush the ship (segue)
17 The exodus has begun
18 Funky design (#2)

the beat that is in the released version of 'slave' (which itself was handed out on cassette by prince at various shows in '95) is exactly the same as 'ain't no place like u' from mayte's album. i think it got a lot of mileage that year. no telling what other songs are in the vault that may also use it.

TwiliteKid said:

i agree. i think he shifted gears in the middle of the project.

Heard of the existance of the song, but never heard the music.

Slave is a nice track... but Mad is da real Bomb... pure Hardcore funk !!!