June 29, 2003 - Prince N.E.W.S. Retail Release

N·E·W·S is the twenty-seventh studio album by Prince, released on June 30, 2003, through NPG Records. It is Prince's second instrumental album under his own name, featuring four tracks, each 14 minutes long. The album was recorded in a single day at Prince's Paisley Park Studios and was first available via Prince's NPG Music Club website on June 30, 2003, before its wider commercial release on July 29. It can be considered a modern version of Madhouse, but released as a Prince album. Eric Leeds, an original member of Madhouse, contributes to the album, alongside The New Power Generation members John Blackwell, Rhonda Smith, and Renato Neto. The recording was done improvisationally.

Despite being the lowest-selling Prince album to date, with only 30,000 copies sold, it reached the top ten on the Billboard Internet sales chart and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. The album's artwork could be folded into a ninja star. Produced by Prince, it is credited as "Directed By Prince".

The track "West" was featured on the 2018 compilation Anthology: 1995–2010.

CD Digital

The compact disc version is the original issue.

North (14:00)

East (14:00)

West (14:00)

South (14:00)

The digital format is a reissue of the CD version, made available on 29 March 2004 on NPG Music Club "Musicology Download Store".

North (14:00)

East (14:00)

West (14:00)

South (14:00)

All songs written by Prince (credits say only "directed by Prince")