Crushingly funny stand-up star Patrice O'Neal, who died of a diabetes-related stroke last fall at 41, dressed like a pimp and riffed like a philosopher. On this posthumous disc, recorded last April, he brings finely-wrought nastiness (his jag on the semiotic distinction between "smelly" assholes and "stinky" ones), does racial and political dissections ("they're lining up to see who gets to rebuild Haiti...without Haitians!"),  and goes on brilliant kamikaze runs. Poignantly, some of his best riffs interrogate his own flawed soul: "You ever have trouble giving a fuck about stuff your supposed to give a fuck about?," he asks in a bit about tsunamis. It's the audacity of Richard Pryor crossed with the honesty of Louis CK. It's missed.

Listen to "Hate People Touching Me":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.