Image via Complex Original
It is a cold fact of life in the music industry that not every artist’s album is meant to see the light of day. While no artist deliberately sets out to make an album that will never be released, sometimes record label politics, bad timing, artistic perfectionism, or pure hubris keeps an LP from making its official street date.
Over the course of hip-hop history, there have been countless albums that got shelved. In some cases, an artist's work might be deemed too controversial for a record label to touch at the moment while in others, heavy bootlegging is the cause of an album's permanent delay. Some get released years later on a different record label, while others never make it out alive. Here's a list of Rap Albums and Mixtapes That Got Shelved Into Oblivion. May they all one day be reclaimed from the industry abyss.
B.J. Steiner is a writer living in New York. Follow him @doczeus.
KMD, Black Bastards
Planned Release Date: 1993
Was It Eventually Released?: Yes, in 2001
While KMD is most often remembered for housing a young MF Doom—then known as Zev Love X—the group’s sophomore effort, Black Bastards, remains equally remembered as one of the most infamous shelved albums in rap history. While Black Bastards featured a pronounced lyrical and sonic maturation that would make the album a cult classic amongst rap aficionados, Elektra Records reportedly refused to release the album due to the controversial cover art depicting a stereotypical “Sambo” figure being lynched. The album was eventually released in its entirety nearly a decade after its cancelation on Elektra when the LP finally dropped on ReadyRock Records in 2001.
Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, Helter Skelter
Planned Release Date: N/A
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
For the hardcore faithful of West Coast hip-hop, there are few fantasy collaborations that bring such excitement as the pairing of Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. While Dre and Cube feuded heavily in the early 1990s following the dissolution of their seminal rap group N.W.A, the pair had reconciled by 1994 when they released “Natural Born Killaz” on the soundtrack to Snoop Dogg’s short film, Murder Was the Case. After the successful release of “Natural Born Killaz,” Dre and Cube planned to collaborate on a joint album titled Helter Skelter. The album was set to be released on Death Row Records and was reported to feature contributions from frequent associates the D.O.C., Scarface, and Snoop Dogg. The album would never reach completion when a souring business relationship between Death Row and the D.O.C. led the latter to leak the unfinished reels of the album in a bitter dispute. Dre would soon stop working on the project, and Helter Skelter never came to fruition.
InI, Center of Attention
Planned Release Date: 1996
Was It Eventually Released?: Yes, in 2003.
With a pedigree lent from super producer Pete Rock and a reputation as one of the most heavily bootlegged albums of the 1990s, Long Island rap group InI’s Center of Attention was a lost rap classic. The Mount Vernon collective boasted an impressive roster of underground rap stars including Grap Luva, Marco Polo, and Rob-O whose one and only album was helmed by the Soul Brother No. 1 himself.
Center of Attention would eventually be shelved by Elektra Records with the group soon disbanding afterward. However, the album would find an eventual home with minor alterations as part of a Pete Rock double-disc retrospective, Lost & Found: Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics, in 2003.
Large Professor, The LP
Planned Release Date: 1996
Was It Eventually Released?: Yes, in 2009.
Following the dissolution of Main Source in the early 1990s, Large Professor became one of hip-hop’s hottest free agents and was signed to industry powerhouse Geffen Records by 1993. After a series of singles including “The Mad Scientist” and “IJUSWANNACHILL” failed to attract the attention that the Main Source did, Large Pro found himself being unceremoniously dropped by Geffen, leaving his solo debut, The LP, adrift. By the early 2000s, Large Pro finally regained control of the album releasing a promo-only version in 2002 before officially releasing a re-worked LP in 2009.
The Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z, and Charli Baltimore, The Commission
Planned Release Date: N/A
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
There are few potential collaborative albums that inspire as many what-ifs as the Commission. Conceived almost as Brooklyn’s answer to QB power group the Firm, the collective was set to house rap heavyweights the Notorious B.I.G., Jay Z, and Charli Baltimore amongst others. While early collaborations such as “Brooklyn’s Finest” and “I Love the Dough” showcased a promising chemistry between the group’s main events, Biggie and Jigga, an album would never come to fruition as Biggie would be tragically murdered in March 1997 before any significant recording for the album could take place.
Cormega, The Testament
Planned Release Date: 1998
Was It Eventually Released?: Yes, in 2005.
With a cosign from Nasty Nas himself, Queens rapper Cormega was signed to Def Jam Records with plans to release his debut album, The Testament, in 1998. However, Cormega would find his buzz significantly diminished after he was unceremoniously dropped from the lineup of rap supergroup the Firm in favor of fellow QB rapper Nature, and plans for The Testament’s release stalled. A few years later, Cormega would regain The Testament’s masters before releasing the album on his own label, Legal Hustle Records, in 2005 to critical acclaim.
Murder Inc.'s Collaborative Album
Planned Release Date: N/A
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
During the late 1990s, rap industry powerhouse Def Jam housed arguably the most impressive roster of artists in hip-hop. The most celebrated of the label’s artists were Roc-A-Fella’s Jay Z, Ruff Ryder’s DMX, and Murder Inc.’s Ja Rule who reportedly planned to collaborate as a supergroup under the Murder Inc. banner. Although the group released a series of classic collaborative cuts including “Murdergram,” “It’s Murda,” “Can I Get A…,” and “Money, Cash & Hoes” over the years, a full-length Murder Inc. album never came to be as money disputes and ego clashes prevented the album from ever being completed.
N.W.A, Not These N****z Again
Planned Release Date: 2000
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
By 1999, the remaining tensions and bitter sibling rivalries between the remaining members of seminal gangster rap group N.W.A, had finally eased allowing Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella to begin plans to release a reunion album titled Not These Niggaz Again. The remaining members and new addition Snoop Dogg, filling in for the late Eazy-E, began recording the group’s third LP in a mobile recording studio during the massively successful Up in Smoke Tour in 1999. However, scheduling problems, complications coordinating agendas of three different record labels (Priority, No Limit, and Interscope) and an inability to legally obtain the exclusive rights to the N.W.A name caused the project to go on the permanent back burner. The project did concede “Chin Check” that serves as N.W.A's only official single since 1991's "Alwayz Into Somethin'," and their group’s first collaboration with Ice Cube since he left the group a decade prior.
The Fugees' Third Album
Planned Release Date: 2000, 2005
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
Despite selling a metric ton of compact discs in the 1990s, it has always been one of hip-hop’s great shames that the Fugees were unable to follow up the group’s multi-platinum sophomore album, The Score. Over the years, rumors have swirled that Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Pras would reunite to release a sequel to their breakthrough album with promises even made for a release as early as spring 2002. Unfortunately, the closest group ever came to fulfilling that promise was in fall 2005 with the single “Take It Easy,” which failed to capture the public’s imaginations as the Fugees' previous work had done. After a series of reunion shows, the group permanently disbanded by 2007 when group member Pras proclaimed in an interview with AllHipHop that “you will have a better chance of seeing Osama Bin Laden and [George W.] Bush in Starbucks having a latte, discussing foreign policies, before there will be a Fugees reunion.”
Rakim, Oh My God
Planned Release Date: 2002
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
When legendary MC Rakim signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment in 2000, it was a hip-hop fan's wet dream. After all, you had one of the greatest rappers and one of the greatest producers to ever live working on the same project. The album known as Oh My God would never see the light of day as artistic differences rose over Dre’s insistence that Rakim adapt his style to a more commercial-friendly gangster rap formula. One still wonders what magic the pair could have produced if Ra and Dre could have simply reconciled these differences to create good music.
M.O.P, Ghetto Warfare
Planned Release Date: 2003
Was It Eventually Released?: Yes, in 2006.
Hardcore rap fans salivated when Brownsville bruisers M.O.P signed with hip-hop titan Roc-A-Fella Records in 2002. The group’s longtime record label, Loud Records, folded earlier in the year due to internal mismanagement. But with the success of M.O.P's 2000 classic, Warriorz, all they seemed to need for mainstream success was a push from Roc-A-Fella. However, the group would find their debut with the R.O.C., Ghetto Warfare, shelved amidst the label’s growing tensions. Upon Roc-A-Fella co-owner Dame Dash’s public split with the label, M.O.P left Roc-A-Fella, sensing that the company was heading in a new direction. Meanwhile, the remains of their songs eventually found a home in their 2006 compilation album, Ghetto Warfare, released on independent Full Clip Media.
Dr. Dre, Detox
Planned Release Date: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
For over a decade, Dr. Dre’s Detox has been considered the Holy Grail of unreleased rap albums. Despite numerous potential singles released and a half-dozen possible release dates set, Dre’s planned third album has still managed to never emerge from Dre’s laboratory. It remains unclear why the album has failed to surface, but some believe that Dre’s notorious perfectionism in the face of impossible standards set by his previous two efforts as a reason for the delay.
It’s been so long since Detox’s announcement that even the name of the album has been reportedly changed as longtime Dre collaborator Dawaun Parker revealed on popular hip-hop podcast Shots Fired back in September. Regardless if the album is ever eventually released, fans still clamor for the Good Doctor to prove that he’s “still D.R.E.”
Nas and DJ Premier's Collaborative Album
Planned Release Date: N/A
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
One part myth/One part desperate fan wish fulfillment: Perhaps there is no potential album that devout hip-hop faithfuls have been begging for longer than the promised collaboration between hip-hop legends Nas and producer DJ Premier. Loosely rumored to be on the verge of happening for almost a decade, Nas and DJ Premier have remained coy about the prospects of the long-awaited album. While the chemistry highlighted on classic tracks like “N.Y. State of Mind” and “Nas Is Like” is unshakeable, a combination of record label expectations and scheduling have largely kept the project from happening. Yet hope remains eternal for hip-hop fans as DJ Premier joked in 2012 that the album was on its way soon with a fitting name to match: Finally.
Juelz Santana and Lil Wayne, I Can't Feel My Face
Planned Release Date: N/A
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
I Can’t Feel My Face, the planned joint album from Juelz Santana and Lil Wayne, has been in the works since it was first announced in 2007. Over the years since the project’s inception, cuts, like “Black Republican,” have been leaked with several songs supposedly being re-worked and finding a home on Lil Wayne’s I Am Not A Human Being II. While the status of the album remains unclear with conflicting reports from the duo on whether it will ever see a release date—Weezy says he has moved on while Juelz believes the album will eventually come to be—hungry fans interested in sniffing the product can hear approximations of the album on various bootlegs and compilation mixtapes like My Face Can’t Be Felt and the Mick Boogie-hosted Blow.
Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt. II
Planned Release Date: 2005, 2007
Was It Eventually Released?: Yes, in 2009.
Perhaps no album temporarily shelved on this list has enjoyed a stranger odyssey before seeing an eventual street date than Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… Pt. II. Conceived as a sequel to Rae’s classic 1995 debut album, OB4CL2 was announced a decade after the release of the original in early 2005. Rae would supposedly find an initial home for the album on Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment when reports seemed to indicate that he signed with the label in June 2006. After supposedly being dropped by Aftermath in 2008, Raekwon would dispute that he ever inked a deal with Dre’s imprint stating that he was never officially signed with Dr. Dre.
Eventually, the LP would see a release in September 2009 on Raekwon’s own Ice H20 imprint in a joint deal with EMI. The album would go on to receive mass critical acclaim as one of the best hip-hop releases of the year and serve as worthy follow-up to his seminal debut.
Scarface and Beanie Sigel, Mac & Brad
Planned Release Date: N/A
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
It began when Scarface joined Beanie Sigel for “Mac & Brad” on the Philadelphia hustler’s 1999 debut album, The Truth, and has grown into one of hip-hop’s most undeniable creative harmonies. For over 15 years fans have been proposing a joint album from the pair, but it didn’t seem like a potential reality until Beans and Face announced that they were planning a collaborative LP, Mac & Brad, in 2012. While Scarface told MTV’s RapFix Live in May 2012 that there were over a dozen songs completed for their collaborative project, the Houston rap legend would later reveal to FUSE TV that the project was not going to happen citing an over-saturation of rap albums being released at the time.
Ghostface Killah and MF Doom, Swift & Changeable
Planned Release Date: 2007
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
The proposed combination of Ghostface Killah and MF Doom was the type of fantastical collaboration that not only gave serious hip-hop heads a severe case of the vapors but seemed to make a little too much sense on paper to actually exist. Doom and Starks were two of hip-hop’s most consciously abstract and endlessly entertaining rappers of the moment, and both derived major inspiration for their famous personalities from comic book origins. Their planned joint album, Swift & Changeable, has been on the horizon for years but has yet to see a release date despite promises from both that it is definitely coming.
Jay Electronica, Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn)
Planned Release Date: 2009
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
Over the last five years, no mystery has vexed hip-hop heads more than the strange case of Jay Electronica and his dormant debut full-length album, Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn). He gained the attention of the hip-hop world with the release of Act I: Eternal Sunshine (The Pledge) in 2007, and by the time he leaked his single “Exhibit C” to radio in October 2009, fans were clamoring for his official debut. What followed over the next five years has been a series of vague release dates, unfulfilled promises, and non-existent follow-ups as Act II has remained unreleased to this date. Even an auspicious signing to Jay Z’s Roc Nation imprint has not freed the project from Jay Electronica’s vault. While vague rumors of commercial inviolability have emerged over the long wait, nobody is quite sure what exactly is taking so long for the album to come out, despite assurances from Jay Z himself of the project’s greatness. While Jay Elect assures us that the album is finished and is still on its way, a dwindling buzz has left many fans in doubt.
Andre 3000's Solo Album
Planned Release Date: 2011, 2012, 2014
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
Music fans have demanded a proper solo album from Andre 3000 since the release of his de facto solo debut, The Love Below, in 2003. Despite the thirst from fans to see Andre go out on his own, a solo joint has never seemed to be in the cards for the rapper. 3 Stacks has expressed various levels of enthusiasm for making an album over the years, most recently intimating in an interview with Jay Z’s Life & Times blog that he was planning to get into the studio after he completed his reunion tour with OutKast in October.
OutKast's Seventh Album
Planned Release Date: N/A
Was It Eventually Released?: No.
The overwhelming success of groundbreaking hip-hop duo OutKast has had fans perpetually pining for a truly proper follow-up to Dre and Big Boi’s diamond-selling, über-classic Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. While many fans see 2006’s disappointing Idlewild as an unworthy coda to ’Kast’s storied discography, it seems like the proposed project has never been seriously undertaken over the years. Recently in a September cover story with Billboard, Andre 3000 further dampened the prospects of an OutKast reunion saying there are no plans for a new OutKast album: “It’s not like some people think: '[OutKast’s] about to drop this album!’ We don’t have, like, one song. There’s no trickery or nothing like that.”