"Prince Igor" is a 1997 song inspired by the Polovtsian Dances of Borodin's opera '' Prince Igor''. It was released as the lead single from the album, ''

The Rapsody Overture ''The Rapsody Overture: Hip Hop Meets Classic'' is a concept album of remixes consisting of Hip hop music, hip hop and Classical music, classical, which combined American rappers with European opera singers. It was released in 1997 by Mercury Rec ...

'' in October 1997. The main vocals are performed by Warren G, the Russian

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

by acclaimed Norwegian soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø and the instrumental background is provided by

The Rapsody ''The Rapsody Overture: Hip Hop Meets Classic'' is a concept album of remixes consisting of hip hop and classical, which combined American rappers with European opera singers. It was released in 1997 by Mercury Records and distributed by Def Ja ...

. Warren G uses the same rap lyrics as in his song "Reality", available on the album ''

Take a Look Over Your Shoulder ''Take a Look Over Your Shoulder'' is the second studio album by the G-funk rapper Warren G. It was released on March 25, 1997 under his own label G-Funk Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings. It contains the hits "I Shot the Sheriff" (US#20, UK# ...

''. "Prince Igor" was very successful in Europe, peaking at number-one in both Iceland and Norway. In addition, the single reached the top 10 in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Sweden. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, the song peaked at number six in January 1998. Outside Europe, it peaked at number 41 in New Zealand.

Critical reception

Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "Maybe it had to happen at some point... so blame the Voelker brothers (Achim and Klaus), a German production team who initially came up with the unlikely idea of an album combining rap with opera. This is the first single to be taken from the resulting long player, ''The Rapsody Overture: Hip Hop Meets Classics'' (due on November 3). The single uses Borodin's ''Prince Igor'' as a foundation over which Warren G raps and Norwegian folk singer Sissel provides "classical" vocals." Programme director Marc Stingl at German AC commercial station Radio Gong in Nurnberg, Bavaria considered the track to be "a perfect chartbreaker because of the combination of rap with classical music. The Rapsody is refreshingly different because this has not really been tried before and most other chart material is pretty old-fashioned." He concluded, "This could very well be a new trend-a band called Sweetbox have been quite successful over here with a similar approach." A reviewer from '' Music Week'' gave the song three out of five, describing it as " bizarre and haunting blend of hip hop and classical." The magazine's Alan Jones wrote, "Whether it's a groudbreaker or a dead-end mutant remains to be seen but The Rapsody, US rapper Warren G's collaboration with Norwegian opera star Sissel is both intriguing and appealing. Set against a heavy hip-hop beat, Warren struts his usual stuff but the rapper/vocalist combination is given a new spin by Sissel, whose pure

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

voice intones the melody from Borodin's Prince Igor".

Track list

*"Prince Igor" (Radio Edit) (3:52) *"Prince Igor" (Ries Class Jazz Edit) (4:03) *"Prince Igor" (Ries 7" Remix) (3:54) *"Prince Igor" (Album Version) (4:24) *"Prince Igor" (Ries Class Jazz Extended) (6:08) *"Prince Igor" (Ries Class Jazz Instrumental) (4:01)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control Songs about princes 1997 singles American hip hop songs Number-one singles in Iceland Number-one singles in Norway 1997 songs Sissel Kyrkjebø songs Def Jam Recordings singles Songs written by Warren G Macaronic songs