Prince featuring Q-Tip “Chocolate Box”
“I got a box of chocolates that’ll rock the socks off any girl that wanna come my way,” teases His Purple Majesty, right before he calls on the arrival of a killer Linn-Drum strut.
For any longtime Prince fan, all it takes is these simple intro ingredients from his new single “Chocolate Box” to set them in an over-excited frenzy, as they’re once again faced with the possibility that the musical icon is delivering what has been desired for far too long: a return to his late-70’s to early-90’s pop, rock, funk and soul heights with a fresh, modern twist.
For the most part, “Box” does exactly that, pulling together several familiar Prince signatures (the orgasmic moans and squeals; a fierce synthetic funk groove; the new wave-y breakdown accented with a lil’ electric guitar spark) into an enjoyable enough whole. We even get glimpses of Prince’s clever pimp gab (at times, via the Auto-Tuned effect) as he plays mind games with some hot dame desperate for his goodies (“You can try to get it/ But I can’t let you hit it, cause you’re never gonna be the same”; “What’s the deal?/ Are you gay or poppin’ pills?/ Why you still wanna take my hand”; “You know you can’t make chocolate cake if ain’t nobody ever showed you how”), as well as a solid sixteen from featured guest Q-Tip.
Of course, it’s only when it’s compared to “Erotic City”, “Baby I’m A Star”, “Gett Off”, “U Got The Look” or any one of the other numerous delights from his heyday that “Chocolate Box” comes up short. But A: that’s a bit unfair, B: we should REALLY come to grips with the sad reality that the ass-less chaps favoring, floor-grinding Prince we loved so hard is no more, and C: we should just be thankful that “Box” isn’t another one of those boring, self-indulgent, forever-long noodlers the man has fancied so much in recent years.
From the MPLSoUND portion of his newly released three-CD set (also including LOtUSFLOW3R and protegee Bria Valente showcase, Elixer), that’s only available via Target.
I think that song is hot. It’s very current. Really!!!!