The Gold Experience
Released
When this dropped, Prince (known for seven years—including this one—as a male-female biological symbol emoji) had been going around claiming his recording contract was modern-day slavery, and that if Warner Bros. would only set him free, he would be capable of music like The Gold Experience: one of his greatest albums of the ’90s. R&B radio embraced “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” “Shhh,” and “I Hate U” the way pop radio should have loved “Dolphin” and “Gold.” And “Shy” was also a beaut, on an album full of them. It’s the finest Artist Formerly Known as Prince album.