Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic Songwriting Credits by Prince

Released November 9, 1999, as Prince's twenty-third studio album and his first major-label release since Emancipation, the album's origins trace back to an abandoned 1988 project that he resumed in June 1998 with an array of high-profile guest collaborators including Gwen Stefani, Eve, and Sheryl Crow. Prince produced the entire album himself, recording at Paisley Park Studios in Minnesota, Electric Lady Studios in New York, and O'Henry Sound Studios in California between June 1998 and September 1999, with liner notes acknowledging that many songs were originally composed for earlier projects such as Lovesexy (1988) and Graffiti Bridge (1990). Musically the album explores pop and R&B with hip-hop features and ballads, with AllMusic noting it was stylistically related to the preceding NPG album Newpower Soul. Critical reviews were mixed: Rolling Stone awarded 3.5 out of 5 stars finding few sublime moments, while NME dismissed it with a 2/10, with praise directed mainly at the guest collaborations and skepticism aimed at Prince's pop market strategy. Commercially it was his strongest North American showing in three years, peaking at number 18 on the Billboard 200 and achieving Gold certification in the US by December 1999.