Today, Prince headed to Harlem to the iconic Apollo Theater to announce he would be serving as Master of Ceremonies for a new concert series called 'Welcome To America,' which will be kicking off this December.
Though he was mum on details like dates and tour stops, the 52 year-old singer/songwriter told the crowd that 'Welcome to America' will showcase some of his favorite artists including Maceo Parker, Janelle Monae, Mint Condition, Esperanza Spalding, Cassandra Wilson, Lalah Hathaway and Sheila E.
The Minnesota native also confirmed that he and the New Power Generation would also perform nightly alongside featured acts.
"If you've been to one of my shows, then you know what time it is," the usually media shy artist joked. "You need to come early and come often because every time we play it's always something new. I got a lot of hits. Bring friends, bring children, and bring foot spray because it's gonna be funky."
"I didn't want to talk too much but how many have seen 'Waiting for Superman,' " he asked before bringing out Harlem Children's Zone head Geoffrey Canada who also spoke briefly about how grateful he is Prince chose Harlem as the venue to announce the series.
Prince will play a special guitar for the duration of the concert series and then auction off the guitar for the benefit of Harlem Children's Zone.
BET's President of Music Programming Stephen Hill, a long-time fan of 'The Purple One,' introduced Prince to the throngs of media outlets present at the press conference. A few months back, the network awarded Prince with a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2010 BET Awards.
Hill reminisced on his first Prince concert in 1982 at the Apollo and more recently flying to Nice, France to see his two-hour set and another two-hour long after-hours set. "I know what I hope he's here to announce," but admitted he was out of the loop on what the big announcement was.
At the press conference, Prince also debuted the full version of his new song 'Rich Friends.'
Earlier this year, he released his album '20Ten' in newspapers across Europe and in the UK, but refused to allow access to the album to digital download services.
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