I admit, I was one of the ones who hated on the album when it first came out, but I have to swallow my pride and come back with my tale between my legs to say that I've done a complete 180 and actually prefer this album to AOA (which I always liked, but found little desire to give it repeated listens after the intitial novelty wore off).

I was initially turned off by the fact that the first track on the album features 85% vocals by someone other than Prince and found the inclusion of the likes of Rita Ora and Curly Fryz a bit of a turn off.

After having lived with it a while, it's had the opposite effect on me that AOA had. I've grown to like it more and find the whole album an enjoyable listen from start to finish - something I haven't experienced with a Prince album since Lotus/MPLSoUND.

Anyone else humble enough to admit their initial misgivings were wrong??

[Edited 10/3/15 13:24pm]

Actually, I've arrived at the opinion that its worst than I first though, especially after evaluating the quality albums that older/ long-time artists have put out this year (Janet Jackson, Keith Richards, Marilyn Manson), I find the lack of substance and musicianship on the album rather upsetting.

I'm not someone who thinks tthat Prince fell off as badly as its often exaggerated (those 90's contract albums were good, damn it!), but listening to how on fire Prince is on recent bootleg recordings, that spark is no where to be found on the album. That's not to say there aren't any redeeming qualities, but its still a big dissapointment.

After listening to Ryan Adams's 1989 which serves as a big reminder to us old folks that at the core of every great pop record there is an actual song with real lyrics written by a SONGWRITER.

HITNRUN made clear to me that Prince no longer is a songwriter. THe only real "song" there is one he wrote more than a decade ago. He's become what his critics used to accuse him of. He's basically now a very fancy parrot who mimics the styles of other people but there is no longer a "there" there.

Writing this post almost brings a tear to my eye. Almost.

[Edited 10/3/15 15:56pm]

Actually the release of Free Urself has redeemed my thoughts on his work. Hitnrun dont belong nowhere near this song

emesem said:

THe only real "song" there is one he wrote more than a decade ago.

TWO decades.

And yes you are right. He doesn't write good SONGS anymore.

Hitnrun is his worst album by far.

[Edited 10/3/15 16:37pm]

ludwig said:

emesem said:

THe only real "song" there is one he wrote more than a decade ago.

TWO decades.

And yes you are right. He doesn't write good SONGS anymore.

Hitnrun is his worst album by far.

[Edited 10/3/15 16:37pm]

Said ballad on the album is the best track. There is plenty bad on most of the songs but there are things i like too. Still it's his worst CD release and possibly the corniest thing he's done outdoing anything released through the NPGmc.

I enjoy this fine album "HITnRUN", I like all the tracks.

it's not a classic, still I rate it: around 8/10

My fave songs are:

X's Face (best song imo)
HardRockLover (a classic)
This Could Be Us (I love both versions)
1000 Hugs & Kisses (beautiful)
June (the atmosphere wow)
FallInLove2Nite (I have liked this since day 1)

and yes I love "Ain't About 2 Stop" as well & "Shut This Down", those 2 are actually very "refreshing".

This HitNRun + Art Official Age - those are really great albums.. imho.

I am rather "surprised" about all the fan-negativity, different opinions cool, but it was almost like a shit storm here, some weeks and days ago..

I like half of the album, it kind of reminds me of Musicology where half of the album is pretty good and the rest is just meh...

I love love love 1000 X's and O's. I love Hardrocklover... X's Face is good but the monkey noises ruins the songs. June has been growing on me, very melonccholy feel to it... Ain't About To Stop is growing on me as well..

Mr. Nelson should've just been a B-Side to clouds, This Could Be Us remix, I liked the guitar solo... But the rest is just ok...

As an album as a WHOLE I like half of it. Can't say it's a strong album overall, it's ok.

^^ Doozer cool, but we feel and think 100% different

I don't like "Stare" & especially "Free Urself" yuck... I don't feel those songs at all..

thedance said:

The tracks that I didn't like so much Ive started to love, Million $ Show & Aint about to Stop. The rest of the album I already liked. I can put it on and not skip anything, which is the same with AOA, but the previous few albums there was always at least 2-3 tracks that I didn't care for.

emesem said:

After listening to Ryan Adams's 1989 which serves as a big reminder to us old folks that at the core of every great pop record there is an actual song with real lyrics written by a SONGWRITER.

HITNRUN made clear to me that Prince no longer is a songwriter. THe only real "song" there is one he wrote more than a decade ago. He's become what his critics used to accuse him of. He's basically now a very fancy parrot who mimics the styles of other people but there is no longer a "there" there.

Writing this post almost brings a tear to my eye. Almost.

[Edited 10/3/15 15:56pm]

what song is that?

This Album just is 'Not for me'! No thank you.

Are you implying that the new music seems to be lacking in 'Substance' ?

I agree!

Doozer said:

I have tried. Really have. . I keep thinking, "If we could just dispense with the whooshes and the slowdown/stutter effects, this could be much better." But if you were to remove those things, what would be left of the first five songs? . I'll give the following songs "keep" status: Hardrocklover (minus the slowed down "Paaaaahhhhhty haaaaahhd" at the end) 1000 Xs and Os (excellent) June (quirky, simple, nice) . Shutthisdown was on my list, but it has degraded after multiple listens, not improved. And TCBU remix has to be the most horrible thing Prince has put on record in 10 years. . This album is like watching a PowerPoint document put together by an 11-year-old. Look at all this transitions and effects I can add! . Stare and Free Urself give me a lot of hope that Prince and Joshua have gotten the sound of HitNRun out of their system. . "I've got a thousand whooshes and slowdowns for ya when ya listen to me, baby..."

MattyJam said:

I admit, I was one of the ones who hated on the album when it first came out, but I have to swallow my pride and come back with my tale between my legs to say that I've done a complete 180 and actually prefer this album to AOA (which I always liked, but found little desire to give it repeated listens after the intitial novelty wore off).

I was initially turned off by the fact that the first track on the album features 85% vocals by someone other than Prince and found the inclusion of the likes of Rita Ora and Curly Fryz a bit of a turn off.

After having lived with it a while, it's had the opposite effect on me that AOA had. I've grown to like it more and find the whole album an enjoyable listen from start to finish - something I haven't experienced with a Prince album since Lotus/MPLSoUND.

Anyone else humble enough to admit their initial misgivings were wrong??

[Edited 10/3/15 13:24pm]

I'm with you on almost every point except that I still like AOA a little better, and liked it pretty well from day one.

My last hold out on this album is 1000 Hugs and Kisses, only because the original with Nona Gaye was so amazing and I keep wishing I was listening to THAT version but with more Prince vocals. Had I never heard the older version, I think I might like this version a little better.

The remixes of Clouds and This Could Be Us are good, but don't really fit on this album, in my opinion.

Like a Mack is probably the song that's made the biggest turn around for me. I HATED this song at first. Really. Somewhere along the way, I started listening to it, and grew to like a few small parts of it, and then slowly, enjoy the whole thing. I cringe everytime I think about the fact that I'm listening to a rap duo called "Curly Fries", but name aside, the actually aren't bad for what they are.

Hardrocklover and The X's Face, to me, are classsic Prince songs.

1000 hugs and kisses is a very old song.

Thizz said:

emesem said:

After listening to Ryan Adams's 1989 which serves as a big reminder to us old folks that at the core of every great pop record there is an actual song with real lyrics written by a SONGWRITER.

HITNRUN made clear to me that Prince no longer is a songwriter. THe only real "song" there is one he wrote more than a decade ago. He's become what his critics used to accuse him of. He's basically now a very fancy parrot who mimics the styles of other people but there is no longer a "there" there.

Writing this post almost brings a tear to my eye. Almost.

[Edited 10/3/15 15:56pm]

what song is that?

I loved it on the first listen and still do now. Only two songs I really don't care for are Million $ show and this could be us. They are not terrible but just ok.

CLASSICS are Shut this down, aint about to stop, like a mack, fall in love 2night, the ex's face and hardrocklover. Every one of those is a five star classic to me!!

very good tracks - 1000 x's and o's and june..

To me this is a killer album and I am also surprised that the negativity its getting here. Finally Prince makes a party record and this is the funnest Prince album for me since The Rainbow Children. I love it!! I also like Free Urself even though it kind of feels unfinished and a little cheesy at times but I do like it. Stare is good also so I am really excited about the next album also. Hitnrun is not for everyone as not all people are fans of electronic and hip hopish style music, especially in the Prince world. I notice alot of Prince fans love him but they like him for different styles such as R&B, pop, rock etc. I think thats why Prince always puts every style of music on most of his recent albums so that there is something on there for everyone. I like the electro sound and more current sound as honestly I still stay up on todays music scene and this fits in nicely. ITs a great changeup and this one Prince album fits nicely into a huge discography of body of work. I have noticed though that on the facebook pages the attitude is much different than on the org. It really seems like most people really love this album but on the org it gets hate. Thank goodness the rest of the fans outside of here are not as negative as the ones here. Honestly I expect the negativity on pretty much everything he does now on this site so it really doesn't surprise me. ITs too bad people don't like it here but its ok, I will listen to it and enjoy it for the ones here that don't!! GREAT ALBUM!!

emesem said:

1000 hugs and kisses is a very old song.

Thizz said:

what song is that?

A 1000 Hugs And Kisses is from 1992,

Actually more than 2 decades ago...

thedance said:

emesem said:

1000 hugs and kisses is a very old song.

A 1000 Hugs And Kisses is from 1992,

Actually more than 2 decades ago...

I actually thought you guys were talking about the song "June". I figured I missed a thread somewhere that claimed that was an old vault track or something. Makes sense now. 1000 hugs and kisses was an Emancipation era outtake.

ThomasBjj said:

thedance said:

A 1000 Hugs And Kisses is from 1992,

Actually more than 2 decades ago...

I actually thought you guys were talking about the song "June". I figured I missed a thread somewhere that claimed that was an old vault track or something. Makes sense now. 1000 hugs and kisses was an Emancipation era outtake.

Originally recorded in 1992

http://www.princevault.co..._%26_O%27s

dodger said:

funkomatic said:

dodger said:

I have with Like A Mack. At first I thought it was some wannabe Nikki Minaj rubbish but I quite it now. Some nice horns and guitar licks - which sound very much like Beginning Endlessly. . I've started to like the 2nd half of TCBU with the guitar solo but that's only after I've got through the unnecessary almost comical sound effects in the first minute or so. . It's no coincidence the 3 stand out tracks (Hardrocklover, 1000 Hugs and June) have the least sound effects. More is less Joshy son

The ones with the most conventional Prince sound. Quite boring, I'd say. Btw: Without the new sound design I wouldn't even listen to TCBU at all.

Same here.

I never used to listen to TCBU on AOA, whereas I quite enjoy the new version, especially the last half.