Prince’s first and only acoustic album, 1997’s The Truth, showcases the artist’s virtuosic guitar playing, clever, imaginative songwriting, and signature vocal delivery and production. But in peeling back the layers of the album’s 12 songs we discover something more: The Truth isn’t simply a collection of stripped-down tunes delivered at the height of O(+>’s pursuit of creative autonomy; it’s a masterclass in African American music, melding elements of gospel, the blues, and soul to form the connective tissue between songs exploring grief, loss, spirituality, and maturation.

Rhonda Nicole is a Los Angeles-based independent singer/songwriter, music journalist, and social and digital marketing consultant, whose life officially turned purple in 1984. As the managing editor for the now-defunct SoulTrain.com, she interviewed a number of Prince-related artists including Jill Jones, Taja Sevelle, fDeluxe, Liv Warfield, and Andy Allo. She’s currently the director of social media for the National Museum of African American Music, which opened in Nashville in January 2021. Rhonda Nicole’s 2010 debut EP, Nuda Veritas, and self-produced 2020 releases, Radical Ecstasy and Home are available on Bandcamp and all streaming platforms.