Prince 2005–present
 The Diamonds and Pearls album in 1991 gave Prince his fifth U.S. number one single with the song Cream. Diamonds and Pearls also marked the debut of Prince's new band, the New Power Generation featuring rapper Tony M, Rosie Gaines on vocals, Michael Bland on drums, Levi Seacer on guitar, Sonny T on bass, and Tommy Barbarella on keyboards.
After thanking Kate Bush in the credits of his Diamonds and Pearls album, Prince worked on Bush's 1993 album, The Red Shoes. Collaborating chiefly on the song Why Should I Love You, Prince added bass, guitar, keyboards, his vocals and other arrangements to the mix. This would be the final Prince credit, until 2000. Kate Bush reciprocated in 1996 and is featured on background vocals on the Emancipation track, My Computer.
Prince's twelfth album was titled with an unpronounceable symbol, dubbed by some the Love Symbol album. It reached the top ten of the U.S. album charts. In 1993, he also changed his stage name to the Love Symbol, which is a combination of the symbols for male (?) and female (?). Because the symbol was/is unpronounceable, he was often referred to as Symbol, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, or simply The Artist. In 1993, at the request of Warner Brothers, Prince released a 3-CD greatest hits compilation entitled The Hits/The B-Sides. The first two discs were also sold separately as The Hits 1 and The Hits 2. In addition to featuring the majority of Prince's hit singles (with the exception of Batdance, which was omitted), The Hits includes an array of previously hard-to-find recordings, notably B-sides spanning the majority of Prince's career, as well as a handful of previously unreleased tracks, such as the Revolution-recorded Power Fantastic. A new song, Peach, was chosen as a promotional single to accompany the album. Unfortunately, neither the album nor single performed as well on the charts as Prince and Warner Bros. would have hoped. To this day, however, The Hits remains the closest thing to a definitive overview of Prince's musical output from 1978 - 1993.
Name change
In 1993, during negotiations regarding the release of Prince's album The Gold Experience, a battle between Warner Bros. and Prince ensued, struggling over the artistic and financial control of Prince's output. During that time, Prince only appeared in public with the word slave written on his cheek. Prince explained his name change as follows:
The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to [the Love Symbol]. Prince is the name that my Mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros.… I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was [the Love Symbol], a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.
Prince's strategy behind the name change seems to have been to reinvent himself, going back to a smaller audience to redevelop his style. One commentator noted:
Prince started his career as a big R&B star with limited mainstream success. At that point, he left the middle of the road and headed for the ditch. In 1980, it was risky to record new wave songs with lusty lyrics that assured no radio airplay (the classic Dirty Mind), but it paid off. Critics took notice and he became an underground favorite. This paved the way for his huge success with 1999 and Purple Rain. Certainly that was the pinnacle of his career, as far as worldwide earnings and universal adulation are concerned. But by heading for the ditch again, by changing his name and experimenting with his style, by lowering his stock value and escaping his record contract, Prince has become an underground artist again. In late 1996, the first collection of Prince music since his break with Warner Bros. appeared in record stores, a sprawling three-hour extravaganza integrating great dance grooves and slow-burning ballads. Critical response has been overwhelmingly positive, and sales have been brisk despite the high price of a 3-CD set. It's no coincidence that he titled this album Emancipation.
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