Rare cassette tape of Prince’s ‘The Black Album’ goes up for auction

A rare promo cassette tape of Prince‘s ‘The Black Album’ has gone up for auction.

The LP was originally intended to be released in December 1987 but after the late icon became convinced that the album was “evil”, he ordered it to be withdrawn a week before its release date.

• READ MORE: Prince – ‘Welcome 2 America’ review: purple prophet’s message still sounds fresh on lost album

All 500,000 copies of the record were recalled and destroyed – although it was eventually released in 1994.

According to the listing, the cassette and album sleeve are promo copies which date back to 1987.

The item is available for auction up until January 13. The highest current bid is $3,384 (£2,500). You can make a bid here.

Five pristine vinyl copies of ‘The Black Album’ from the same era were previously discovered and three sold for up to $20,000 (£15,000) each. A further copy was later discovered in Canada.

Meanwhile, it was recently revealed that an agreement on the total worth of Prince’s estate may soon be reached, following court proceedings set to begin in February.

Though the final figure hasn’t been disclosed, the amount is expected to be more than US$100 million (£75m).

The estate is expected to be divided between music company Primary Wave and Prince’s three oldest heirs.

Prince died of a fentanyl overdose at his home in April 2016, leaving no will.

Last October, the estate shared a previously unheard demo of ‘Do Me, Baby’, released to coincide with the 40th-anniversary celebrations of the original release of Prince’s fourth album from 1981, ‘Controversy’.

Back in July, Prince’s “lost” ‘Welcome 2 America’ album was released. NME‘s four-star review of the album said it was one that “speaks to today’s problems and demands to be heard. It’s better to have it now than never.

“His name was Prince and he was funky, and it seems he has so much more to tell us.”

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