Hear Prince's new track 'Baltimore'

The promised Prince track about the unrest in Baltimore has dropped on SoundCloud.

The serious subject matter is juxtaposed against a bouncy, guitar-based track, recorded at the singer's Paisley Park Studios in Minnesota with a vocal assist from Eryn Allen Kane.

The Purple One begins by alluding to the 1992 Ice Cube track It was a Good Day:

Nobody got in nobody's way
So I guess you could say it was a good day
At least a little better than the day in Baltimore
Does anybody here else pray
For Michael Brown or Freddie Gray?
Peace is more than the absence of a war

The hook features Allen crooning "Baltimore," while backup singers chant, protest-style, "If there ain't no justice, then there ain't no peace."

The song ends with a radio announcer breaking in to announce the 1992 Los Angeles riots (the anniversary of which just passed), making the listener wonder if things have changed at all over the last 23 years.

Listen for yourself: