CHAPTER FOUR: GOLDNIGGA IN THE NPG

Photo: Jeff Katz

The genesis of Goldnigga
In the November 1991 issue of Details, author Chris Heath wrote in an interview with Prince: “He mentions his work with other artists and says he writes songs for them ‘because they ask me.’ He names Paula Abdul, Louie Louie, and Carmen, whom, rather disingenuously (as though I wouldn’t have noticed her walking around the office or seen her photo on the hallway wall - the latest female protege on the scene) he describes as ‘this new girl out of Cincinnati.’ He raves about the New Power Generation, genuinely thrilled. ‘Rosie,’ he says, ‘is like a tornado. There’s never enough hours in the day for her voice. There’s never enough tape for her voice. And my dancers, they’ve waited seven years for this..’”

The dancers were the Game Boyz, Tony Mosley, Damon Dickson and Kirk Johnson who were a part of Prince’s band The New Power Generation. On 3 January 1991, Prince had recorded the guitar-rocking song Call The Law with Tony M. on lead vocal and it was released as the B-side of the Diamonds And Pearls single Willing And Able on 3 March 1992. A video was also made for the song.

Call The Law spawned the idea to do a whole album with The New Power Generation centered around Tony M. now that singer Rosie Gaines was on her way to a solo career. At a club-gig in Melbourne, Australia, 22 April 1992 on the Diamonds And Pearls tour, Tony M rapped some lines that would end up in the NPG song Deuce And A Quarter a few days later besides performing Call The Law. A relaxed funk jam was also played that was reminiscent of Gold Nigga that would also be recorded just a few days later.

When the tour hit Sydney 24 April to 3 May 1992, Prince rented Studios 301 and started recording songs with The New Power Generation (The NPG). Black M.F. In The House was possibly recorded 25 April. It was a sort of humorous duet between Tony M. and Prince with Prince acting as a racist. Then Goldnigga, Deuce And A Quarter and Goldie’s Parade followed. When the album eventually got finished, the title track became Gold Nigga, but the song got split up in three parts before inclusion.

NPG recordings for Goldnigga
In 2019, Tony M. reminisced about the recordings in an interview with The Violet Reality: “What I took out of it, what I saw happening – it kind of felt like a solo project, but it was an NPG project and there was no discussion about concept and what we wanted to portray. All of a sudden, I’m in the studio at Abbey Road with Prince and we’re kicking it and he said, ‘Can you drop some nails on this?’ ‘Yeah, I’m cutting, I’m cutting.’ It felt like a Morris Day and The Time kind of scenario where Prince and Morris basically cut everything and brought in Terry. He ain’t even hiring musicians. Prince is the band. So, he’s trying to get me mentally to the next level.”

In May 1992, Black M.F. In The House was immediately scheduled as the B-side to Sexy M.F. – the first single from Prince’s forthcoming O(+> album, but it got replaced by a couple of tracks from the Diamonds And Pearls album and saved for the now projected NPG album.

At an aftershow at Les Bains Douches club in Paris, France, the night between 11 and 12 July 1992, the recently recorded Goldnigga and Black MF In The House were performed, as was Call The Law.

Following the tour, additional NPG songs were recorded at Paisley Park in August 1992. The song Guess Who’s Knockin’ was based on the 1976 song Let ‘Em In written by Paul McCartney and released by his group Wings. The instrumental Oilcan was also recorded, as well as a number of segues. An early sequence of the Gold Nigga album was then assembled. It included the O(+> album outtakes Do U Wanna Rock? and Peach. It is unknown if they feature Tony M. on lead vocal.

The New Power Generation: Goldnigga (August 1992)
1. Goldnigga Pt.1 (3:13)
2. Do U Wanna Rock?
3. Guess Who’s Knockin’ (3:24)** - partly based on Let ‘Em In written by Paul McCartney
4. Segue (0:16)
5. Deuce And A Quarter (3:19)
6. Segue (0:21)
7. Black M.F. In The House (5:09)
8. Goldnigga Pt.2 (2:52)
9. Segue (0:35)
10. Oilcan (0:42)
11. Segue (0:45)
12. Peach
13. Segue
14. Goldie’s Parade (2:22)
15. Instrumental
16. Segue (1:13)
17. Goldnigga Pt.3 (2:38)

Afterwards, Prince decided to update and include the O(+> album outtake Johnny. It now featured keyboard player from Carmen Electra’s band Morris Hayes’ graduation to The NPG and recording with them in the studio for the first time besides Prince himself on vocal. Also, the song 2gether was likely recorded as the last song for the album.

Between 8 March and 17 April 1993, Prince toured in support of the O(+> album in the USA. These Act I concerts were divided into two sets. The first was devoted to the O(+> album and included the NPG song Johnny. The second set primarily included older songs, but also an NPG song, Goldnigga. Black MF In The House was included in a couple of the shows, as well as a few aftershows.

On 18 June 1993, the NPG played an hour-long set at Paisley Park early in the morning with O(+> working the soundboard. Invitations were given out at Glam Slam earlier in the night. The NPG played tracks from the Goldnigga album. Prince had announced he was “separating from the NPG” in a press release on his birthday because The Game Boyz were not intended for any part in the upcoming Act II show. Instead, plans were made for a US “solo” tour by The NPG incorporating The Game Boyz and Magoo.

Goldnigga became obscure collector’s item
By late June 1993, Prince was now calling himself by the title of his latest album, O(+> and he had completed work on the Goldnigga album with The New Power Generation. However, the album was rejected for release by Warner Bros. They told Prince that the company had no interest in the album. O(+> felt censored, but not even the band members who had helped create the album believed that Goldnigga was worth fighting very hard over. Most of the group was perplexed that after being critically lambasted for his concessions to the rap marketplace on Diamonds And Pearls and O(+>, Prince would build an entire record around Tony Mosley. “Prince really did believe in Tony M., even if no one else did,” keyboardist Tommy Barbarella recalled in Alex Hahn’s 2004 biography Possessed – The Rise and Fall of Prince.

Sadly, most of the NPG, like so many of Prince’s fans, had lost their confidence that this once-vibrant artist had much to offer in the way of groundbreaking work. “After 1992, we really did nothing to contribute to raising the bar,” conceded drummer Michael Bland to Alex Hahn. “What did we stand for? Was there a reason for what we were doing other than just good entertainment?”

Alan Leeds, president of the Paisley Park record label since 1989, told Prince biographer Matt Thorne for his 2012 book Prince: “We had a conversation where he said we had to start releasing records on our own because Warners couldn’t absorb the product that he was putting out quickly enough and this was a precursor to downloading music. He said the idea of going to record stores is old and it’s not necessary. We should make a record, put it on our own label and buy advertising space on late-night television and sell it mail order. And I said, ‘Prince, we can’t do that. It’s in violation of your deal with Warners.’ He wanted me to do it and I told him, ‘I can’t be the figurehead because I run a joint venture with them!’ So, he said, ‘Let’s put in Gwen (Leeds’ wife)’s name and she’ll go on TV and advertise these records.’”

O(+> printed up copies and sold the Goldnigga album on the Act II tour in Europe before making it available later in the year at the NPG store in Minneapolis. The album never received large-scale distribution and remains very much a rare collector’s item for O(+> fans.

Do U Wanna Rock?, a segue and an instrumental had been removed to make room for Johnny and 2gether. Oilcan and Goldie’s Parade were moved up on the track list and the previously released oldie Call The Law replaced Peach as the album rocker.

The New Power Generation: Goldnigga (late June 1993)
1. Goldnigga Pt.1 (3:13)
2. Guess Who’s Knockin’ (3:24)** - partly based on Let ‘Em In written by Paul McCartney
3. Oilcan (0:43)
4. Segue (0:16)
5. Deuce And A Quarter (3:19)
6. Segue (0:21)
7. Black M.F. In The House (5:09)
8. Goldnigga Pt.2 (2:52)
9. Goldie’s Parade (2:22)
10. Segue (0:36)
11. 2gether (5:32)
12. Segue (0:45)
13. Call The Law (4:16)
14. Johnny (10:20)
15. Segue (1:13)
16. Goldnigga Pt.3 (2:38)

Rare 2gether single releases

A second printing of the Goldnigga album omitted Guess Who’s Knockin’ because of copyright issues. In a 2019 interview with The Violet Reality, Tony M. was hit for a comment on this: “With your album, one thing that happened is that the track Guess Who’s Knockin’ got taken off because the hook came from a Wings song by Paul McCartney.”

“It wasn’t even a hook,” Tony M. replied. “It was a phrase in the song, you know, ‘Guess who’s knocking on the door, guess who’s ringing the bell’ so we got in problems with the Wings. I guess when it went out, Paul Mccartney heard the lyrics, so… If you got that CD with Guess Who’s Knockin’ on it, that’s worth some money. So, we did a reprint (without that song).”

A CD single of the song 2gether from Goldnigga was also sold at some European concerts. A rarely aired video of the song exists. Also, a cassette single of 2gether was released.

N.P.G.: 2gether CD-single (1993)
2gether (5:35)
2gether (12 Inch Mix) (6:53)
2gether (Interview) (4:21)
2gether (Enlightenment) (5:19)
2gether (Jeep Mix) (5:34)
2gether (Instrumental) (5:39)

A 2Gether (R&B Edit) was also made of the track, but it was only released on the cassette single.

N.P.G.: 2gether cassette-single (1993)
1. 2Gether (R&B Edit) (4:03)
2. 2gether (Interview) (4:21)

An edit of 2gether would get included on O(+>’s 1994 compilation 1-800-NEW-FUNK that featured songs from artists at his record company at the time.

The end for Tony M. in the NPG
On 11 and 12 July 1993, the NPG opened with a set centered around the Goldnigga album before Paisley Park performances by O(+>. They performed Guess Who’s Knockin’, Deuce And A Quarter, 2gether, Johnny and Goldnigga. Call The Law was played in O(+>’s show. Both Nona Gaye and Mayte were in attendance.

Between 26 July and 8 September 1993, O(+> toured Europe with his new Act II show. The NPG were only the 20-30 minute opening act of a few shows on the tour and often just playing instrumentals because O(+> and Tony M had an argument according to Uptown magazine. O(+> performed The NPG song Johnny as an often played encore number in his own show anyway. He also performed 2gether a few times. Johnny was also performed at aftershows, as was Black MF In The House and Call The Law. On 6 March 1995, a home video entitled The Sacrifice Of Victor was released of an aftershow in London from the last night on the tour. It featured a performance of Call The Law.

After the tour, the Game Boyz disappeared, but the rest of The New Power Generation remained with O(+>, now featuring Mayte instead. She wrote in her 2017 book My Life With Prince – The Most Beautiful that Prince tried to orchestrate a soft landing for Tony, Damon and Kirk with Goldnigga, an album that gave them a way forward without Prince. When she asked Prince about why he let them go, he said, “I don’t want guys onstage with me. Just you.”