No. 1 Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain and Sign o’ the Times
But if you don’t quite grasp why people make such a big fuss over some little guy from Minneapolis that dresses funny–these are the albums that cement his greatness. Like all great art, Prince’s best work both defines its era and transcends it; on these albums (and virtually everything he did over that period) you hear the Prince that influenced everyone from D’angelo to Pharrell Williams, and you see the vision and undeniable talent of a man who shaped his era as much as any artist ever could.
