EchoVibe

Why These Great Hip-Hop Albums Never Happened (Including Kanye West's Yandhi)

Making music is an expensive business, let on my own crafting an album. It's not cheap as a result of all the expenses add up from renting a studio, engineering, publishing rights, and clearing samples, to paying featured artists. Besides that, an artist additionally needs to be of their inventive part at all time to verify the label will get essentially the most successful undertaking imaginable.

Related: The Biggest Activists In Rap Music, And The Causes They Fight For

With that being stated, there are plenty of "unreleased" albums in hip-hop that fell into oblivion - for whatever reasons. Some, like Eminem's Relapse 2, ended up getting shelved since the artist didn't imagine within the project's destiny anymore after its predecessor were given slandered by way of critics and lovers alike. Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne 2 fell out as a result of they shared a little bit of bad blood back within the past due 2010s. Here are one of the biggest hip-hop "what ifs" and albums that never happened.

8 What Happened To Kanye West's Yandhi?

The year was 2018, and Kanye West was hyping up his then-forthcoming ninth album, Yandhi. He was once teasing the albums for months and after a chain of delays, which is something he has a long history of, the undertaking used to be yet to peer its legit release.

The Blast originally reported that the rapper held the project hostage due to internal problems within his label. Some of the tracks eventually morphed into Jesus Is King album in October 2019, but nonetheless, Yandhi changed into any other hip-hop's unresolved "what if"s.

7 Why Eminem's Relapse 2 Wasn't Released

After years of personal issues involving substance abuse and a failed marriage, Eminem sobered up and made his go back to hip-hop in 2009 with Relapse. The Grammy-winning album explores his Slim Shady violent persona in a way that no different record had completed in a "faux-Jamaican, faux-Scottish" bizarre accessory.

He to start with had a Relapse 2 as its follow-up, however because of deficient receptions from critics and enthusiasts alike on the time, he scrapped the speculation and recorded Recovery as a substitute and put the alter ego to leisure. Decades later, the album ended up gaining a strong cult following.

6 What Happpened To Slaughterhouse's Third Album?

In the early 2010s, Slaughterhouse was once shaped, and the boys introduced a fresh breath into hip-hop. Consisted of prolific songwriters like Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, and Royce da 5'9," Slaughterhouse released their self-titled debut album back in 2009. Eminem, who's a close friend of Royce, believed that the group deserved more recognition and that their second album should be released under a major label.

He signed them to Shady Records and let them release their second album, Welcome to: Our House, in 2012. However, a series of feuds between the members led the group to be disbanded despite being in the process of launching their third album.

Related: How Jay-Z Helped Kelly Rowland Reconnect With Her Father

5 The Reason Dr. Dre's Detox Album Didn't Happen

Dr. Dre proved everybody wrong for doubting him after leaving Suge Knight's Death Row Records and the millions of dollars he'd made with his solo debut The Chronic. He formed Aftermath Entertainment, orchestrated the launch of the career of Eminem, hip-hop great, and solidified his status as a rapper with his second album 2001.

He, then, planned Detox for an encore, or in his right-hand man's own words, "the most complex rap album, musically and lyrically." It never happened because long story short, Dre was too much of a perfectionist that the album ended up becoming a popular music’s great what-if.

Two of the best rappers of this generation, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, were rumored to have a joint album for at least ten years. The news broke out back in 2010 when both rappers were still climbing up the ranks and Lamar told Vibe that they had "a large number of song" recorded. It never happened, but people from both artists' camps kept on adding fuel to the fire.

Related: How Eminem Found Success Outside Of Music

"We don’t have a title or release date yet, but J. Cole got like 90 percent of the production so far,” Lamar mentioned on the time. “One of my favourite songs of the project is a tune known as ‘Shock the World.’ Cole laid the first verse and set the tone for the entire record. It’s going to shake up numerous other folks."

3 Tupac Shakur's One Nation Was Going To Change The Rap Game

Tupac Shakur once announced in the spring of 1996 that he had a new project called One Nation, and in his own words, "it’s going to be an East Coast/West Coast collaboration." It was an exciting time, especially at the height of rap rivalry where he led the West Coast pack against Bad Boy honcho P. Diddy and The Notorious B.I.G from the East.

The project intended to serve as the bridge that connects the two different sides, but it never happened as the feud got too heated and resulted in the loss of the two biggest rap talents.

2 Andre 3000's Debut Album

André 3000 rose to fame as Big Boi's right-hand man in the southern hip hop duo Outkast. Hailed as one of the best ever to touch the mic, it may come as a surprise that the Atlanta rapper has never released a solo album. His last album, Idlewild, arrived in 2006 with Outkast. Why?

“I’d like to, but it’s just not coming. I haven't been making much music, man" Benjamin told Rick Rubin all through an episode of the Broken Record podcast. "My focus is not there, my confidence is not there."

1 Will Jay-Z & Kanye West's Watch The Throne 2 Ever Happen?

In 2011, Kanye West and Jay-Z linked up for an iconic collab album, Watch the Throne, which boasts singles like "Otis" and "Ni***s in Paris." The venture solidified their place as hip-hop's most powerful bromance after what began as a rapper-producer connection again in the 2000s.

A couple of years later, West went on a public outcry throughout his Saint Pablo Tour in 2016 on Jay and their relationship went downhill since then. However, closing year, West featured the Blueprint rapper on his hotly-anticipated Donda album. A Watch the Throne 2 coming?

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErZ%2Bippeoe6S7zGiuobFdqbWmv8Rmn6KoXZ28sXnApZmupaNiu6bCxKtkoZmgpbKvscNo

Christie Applegate

Update: 2024-05-11