The upcoming Spike Lee Joint, BlacKkKlansman, will close to an unreleased song by Prince. The artist's cover of the Negro spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep” will be the last song the film's viewers will witness. Lee explained how this soundtrack selection came to be.
“I knew that I needed an end-credits song. I’ve become very close with Troy Carter, one of the executives at Spotify [and a Prince estate advisor]. So I invited Troy to a private screening. And after, he said, ‘Spike, I got the song.’ And that was ‘Mary Don’t You Weep,’ which had been recorded on cassette in the mid-Eighties. Prince wanted me to have that song, I don’t care what nobody says. My brother Prince wanted me to have that song. For this film. There’s no other explanation to me. This cassette is in the back of the vaults. In Paisley Park. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it’s discovered? Nah-ah. That ain’t an accident.”
Prince's estate has been sorting through the musician's artistic vault since his passing. Over 1000 songs are currently being sifted through. His estate is planning to release Piano & a Microphone 1983 on June 7 and another set of recent recordings on September 21.
