Man, we would have figured that the upcoming release of Michael, a posthumous collection of unreleased Michael Jackson songs, would have been cause for a celebration, but it seems as if the album has been getting a raw deal as of late. First there were those reports about MJ's mother questioning the legitimacy of the recordings, calling a number of them fakes, and now Prince has had his involvement scrapped from the project.
Wait, what was that? Prince, you say? Does that mean we just missed out on some sort of Purple One/King of Pop collaboration? While that could have been incredible, Prince's qualms with the project are a little less involved then you might think. He wants his iconic symbol -- the one he used back in his "the Artist Formerly Known as Prince" days -- to be scrubbed from the record's artwork.
A report from Dr. Funkenberry [via The Daily Swarm] explains that a very small representation of the symbol appears near a tiger in the artwork, which was designed by painter Kadir Nelson. The collage motif presents Jackson as he appeared throughout his career, from his iconic "Thriller" jacket to his "Smooth Criminal" period. With such a focus on the King of Pop, it's odd that the Prince symbol popped up there, but it's also pretty weird that the Purple One's people caught it so quickly.
His people posted a statement explaining the symbol snafu. "No permission was granted. Sony Entertainment has removed the symbol."
Even without the logo, Michael will be released December 14 via Epic Records.
Wait, what was that? Prince, you say? Does that mean we just missed out on some sort of Purple One/King of Pop collaboration? While that could have been incredible, Prince's qualms with the project are a little less involved then you might think. He wants his iconic symbol -- the one he used back in his "the Artist Formerly Known as Prince" days -- to be scrubbed from the record's artwork.
A report from Dr. Funkenberry [via The Daily Swarm] explains that a very small representation of the symbol appears near a tiger in the artwork, which was designed by painter Kadir Nelson. The collage motif presents Jackson as he appeared throughout his career, from his iconic "Thriller" jacket to his "Smooth Criminal" period. With such a focus on the King of Pop, it's odd that the Prince symbol popped up there, but it's also pretty weird that the Purple One's people caught it so quickly.
His people posted a statement explaining the symbol snafu. "No permission was granted. Sony Entertainment has removed the symbol."
Even without the logo, Michael will be released December 14 via Epic Records.
