In what other year have Drake, Kanye West, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Chance The Rapper, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Future, Frank Ocean, Solange, Schoolboy Q, YG, and A Tribe Called Motherfucking Quest all released full-length projects? Topping 2016's output seems like an insurmountable task for 2017 to accomplish, but we can dream, can't we? As of the first few weeks of January, there's not a whole lot of big, set-in-stone release dates on the horizon yet, save for Migos and Big Sean's respective albums, but as far as rumors go... well, when have you ever known the hip hop world to be light on rumored future releases?
We've rounded up 20 in-the-works projects that we're excited about, with the stipulation that their actual existence has to be grounded in fact. In other words, there are no Madvillainy or Watch The Throne sequels to be found here. Instead, we're highlighting projects that were either announced a long time ago, have undergone delays, are consistently being teased, or are (gasp) actually scheduled to be released in the foreseeable future. We've organized all 20 alphabetically; click on to get started.
Anderson .Paak & Free Nationals - TBA
.Paak came off a hot 2015, in which he made his name guesting on The Game and Dr. Dre's albums, into an even hotter 2016, in which his solo album Malibu and NxWorries joint Yes Lawd! both dropped to acclaim. As of earlier this month, it looks like he has no plans to slow down anytime soon. The Oxnard native tweeted that he'll release a project with his touring band, Free Nationals, later this year, sharing the announcement alongside the band's logo. That's literally all the details we have now (no word on where his rumored collab with Flying Lotus will turn up), but that shouldn't stop his stans from salivating at the prospect of even more new .Paak music. It's unclear whether the snippet he recently shared with Chance The Rapper is taken from the Free Nationals album or another upcoming project, but you can check that out below.
big sean i decided
Big Sean - I Decided (February 3)
One of the few projects on this list that's getting a standard roll-out, Sean Don's Dark Sky Paradise follow-up was announced back in December, and a few weeks before its release, we've already heard a few tracks from it. Sean's doing it big for I Decided, linking up with Eminem and some other big names, and taking his show on the road for a 21-date tour and an SNL appearance, and as we know he's been working on this for quite a while, the album will probably be one of the more high-stakes releases this year. Check out the "Moves" video below, and find out the 5 things we're expecting from I Decided here.
bryson tiller true to self
Bryson Tiller - True To Self (TBA)
Pen Griffey was one of the undisputed breakout stars of 2015, with his debut album Trap Soul pushing him out of obscurity and into the spotlight. Back in October, he claimed to be "almost done" with the follow up. Then just a week ago, he officially announced it, tweeting, "im working on this album called True to Self, non-stop until it's finished. then it's yours." All we've gotten from him in the way of new music thus far is "Let Me Explain," which dropped last October without any info about it being an album track or not.
drake more life
Drake - More Life (TBA)
It's now been three months since Drizzy originally announced this "playlist," but the expected release month of December came and went without a drop. It now seems likely that More Life will arrive with little or no warning in the early months of 2017, as Drake and his collaborators have continued to drop little hints about the project in the past few weeks. Bryson Tiller, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and The Weeknd are all possibilities to show up alongside 21 Savage as guests on the tracklist.
future beast mode
Future - Beast Mode... 17? (TBA)
Future and Zaytoven's collaborative sequel to 2015's Beast Mode has been rumored for quite a while, under a title (Beast Mode 16) that suggested that it'd come out last year. Well, that didn't happen, even though Zay said the project was finished back in September. When we spoke with the producer in November, he had the following to say about the project:
"Now I’m not sure if Beast Mode 16 is about to come out or not, I’m not really sure if that’s the project that’s about to come out but that’s just a name we gave it since we have been doing so many songs. We figured if we come out with another project it will be called Beast Mode 16 but the project he comes out with can be something totally different, I have no idea what the name of the project he’s coming out with will be."
So that makes it pretty clear that the title's not set in stone, but I'd still hedge my bets on the prolific duo to drop some sort of joint project this year. I mean... you've gotta add all of those "Used To This" streams to some project to fully capitalize on those streaming equivalent units, right? Anyway, stay tuned-- it' been too long since Future's last one.
good music cruel winter
G.O.O.D. Music - Cruel Winter (TBA)
The last update we got on this long-awaited group album came back in September from its executive producer, Travis Scott, who told us to expect the project in early 2017. Since then, it's been quiet for news on Cruel Winter, and with Kanye going off the deep end, who knows how long we'll have to wait before everyone at G.O.O.D. can get on the same page and put this thing out (side note: do we think Ye and adamant Hillary supporter/label head Pusha T are even speaking to each other at this point?). So although we've known about this project for a while, and Scott seems hard at work on it, Cruel Winter's future is cloudy at best. For now, just give "Champions" a 1000th listen while we wait.
jazz cartier fleurever
Jazz Cartier - Fleurever (TBA)
During a show in his hometown Toronto last month, the young sensation Jazz Cartier announced that Hotel Paranoia's follow-up was on its way in 2017. That's the only detail we've got thus far on Fleurever, but a few weeks ago Cartier dropped off "Tempted," a track from the project that's co-produced by T-Minus, marking the first occasion (that I know of, anyway) that Cartier's deviated from his strict Lantz-only production strategy. Granted, Lantz is still on the track, but perhaps this means that Fleurever will feature some more out-of-character collabs?
joey badass aaba
Joey Badass - A.A.B.A. (TBA)
Back in October/November, Joey hit us with quite the fake-out when discussing his upcoming album A.A.B.A., first claiming that it was "90% complete," then less than two weeks later announcing that it'd be at least another two months before we got it. "I wanna say top of next year..." he tweeted in that latest statement, so even if the 90% estimation was an exaggeration, it's pretty safe to say that we'll get his follow-up to B4.DA.$$ sometime this year.
kanye west turbo grafx 16
Kanye West - Turbo Grafx 16 (TBA)
This one's definitely the least confirmed project on the list, but we included it because a bit of evidence actually exists. About a month ago, Pete Rock posted some videos captioned "playing 45s in da lab with Kanye West," and in the one below, sleuths made out a tracklist, thought to be for Ye's next album. Two weeks after The Life Of Pablo's February 2016 release, West announced that his next album would be called Turbo Grafx 16, but he hasn't explicitly mentioned that title since. Quavo did caption an Instagram of Migos, Lil Yachty, Big Sean, Vic Mensa, and Tyler The Creator "TURBO" nine months ago, and the song titles in that tracklist that Rock shared all seem to reflect the fact that Kanye was naming the album after his favorite childhood gaming system, but with his music, you never really know for sure until it's in front of you. This may be one of the "surprise projects" that he's been rumored to be working on though.
kehlani sweetsexysavage
Kehlani - SWEETSEXYSAVAGE (January 27)
Like Big Sean, Kehlani is one of the few still on a standard release schedule on this list. Like clockwork, she announced the album title in November, shared the artwork and release date about a week later, announced a tour and dropped a single in December, and gave us a few more tracks earlier this month. Listen to the latest, "Do U Dirty," below.
lil uzi vert luv is rage 2
Lil Uzi Vert - Luv Is Rage 2 (TBA)
We've got nothing other than a few snippets of the sequel to Lil Uzi vert's 2015 breakout tape, Luv Is Rage-- no release date, no tracklist, no artwork, no details on features or producers-- but he's made sure that we know that it'll be here soon. Since announcing it in late November, when he called it "the real one before the Album," he's teased some new tracks on his IG, and teased some more, always being careful to include something Luv Is Rage 2-related in the caption. Check out the latest one, thought to be titled "Forreal," below.
migos culture
Migos - Culture (January 27)
Migos are currently taking all of the oxygen out of the "anticipated albums" conversation, because they're riding insane comeback hype off of "Bad & Boujee" hitting #1, a shoutout at the Golden Globes, a crazy performance in Nigeria, an "Oscar-worthy" video for "T-Shirt"-- you name it. Migos are hitting all of the pre-release marks that they missed the first time around with Yung Rich Nation, and thanks to that, their sophomore album is looking like the consensus pick for most anticipated of the year (at least among albums that we're 100% sure exist). Check out our wishlist for Culture here.
pusha t king push
Pusha T - King Push (TBA)
At the time of King Push - Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude's release (which, by the way, is still the most convoluted album title in history), the main King Push event seemed mere months away, but as time's gone on, Push seems to have lost some steam. At the very end of 2015, just a few weeks after dropping the prelude, the G.O.O.D. Music president said that King Push would be one of the label's first two 2016 releases, along with Big Sean's Dark Sky Paradise follow-up. Clearly that didn't happen, with Kanye's Life Of Pablo rollout seeming to take up all of the label's resources in February, and HXLT, TWENTY88, and Desiigner being the only other artists who went on to release albums on the label that year. Late May brought a lead single in the form of the Jay Z-assisted "Drug Dealers Anonymous," and two more songs ("H.G.T.V." and "Circles") surfaced in October, but with no additional details on King Push. With 2017 here, and Big Sean's I Decided all ready to go, the ball's in Pusha's court.
rick ross rather you than me
Rick Ross - Rather You Than Me (TBA)
Rozay released two full-length projects, Black Dollar and Black Market, within two months of each other at the tail end of 2015, but last year, all was quiet on the album release front. Then in November, just days after releasing "Buy Back The Block" with 2 Chainz and Gucci Mane, he announced his new album at the American Music Awards. Rather You Than Me is slated for release in "early 2017," and has artwork by French artist Mr. Brainwash, who you may remember if you've ever watched Banksy's "Exit Through The Gift Shop." Check out "Buy Back The Block," thought to be the album's lead single, below.
swae lee swaecation
Swae Lee - Swaecation (TBA)
Fans of Rae Sremmurd's younger member have been demanding this for a while, but it wasn't until last August that Swae announced plans for a solo project. All we've got thus far are a few snippets via Snapchat, but it's an exciting prospect nonetheless. Slim Jxmmi also hinted that he might go the solo route, but until that's more confirmed, we'll just be banking on Swae. My vote: the brothers Sremmurd release a Speakerboxxx/The Love Below-style joint album.
syd fin
Syd - Fin (February 3)
Syd (formerly "Tha Kid") has come a long way since her days DJing for Odd Future shows. In 2015, her band The Internet hit the big time with their album Ego Death, and after a year or so of successful touring, the group's de facto leader is stepping out on her own. Two weeks ago, she shared the release date, tracklist, names of a few producers involved (MeLo-X, Hit-Boy, Haze, and Rahki), and a video for lead single "All About Me," which you can watch below.
sza untitled
SZA - CTRL Music (February 3)
As recently as three months ago, things seemed pretty hopeless for TDE's sole female signee. In response to continued delays on her debut album (she hasn't put out a project since 2014's Z EP), SZA tweeted "I actually quit" at label head Punch, but recently, things are looking up. On New Year's Day TDE CEO Anthony Tiffith hinted that SZA's album would arrive in 2017, earlier this month she performed some new songs, and then she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel with a new song and an album title. "Drew Barrymore" is the lead single to the album, which is titled CTRL Music, and you can hear it below.
tinashe joyride
Tinashe - Joyride (TBA)
Tinashe first announced her sophomore album, the follow-up to 2014's Aquarius, back in September 2015, aiming to release it that November. Over a year later, it's still not here, though she postponed a summer tour to finish the album. We did get some consolation in the form of November's Nightride project, but an update on the official sophomore album would be nice. "Superlove" (below) didn't appear on Nightride, so it's looking like an official single, and we heard a leak of the Travis Scott-featuring title track back in September... let's get this show on the road!
travis scott astroworld
Travis Scott - Astroworld (TBA)
Several months before Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight's release, back in May, Scott announced an album that was going to follow the tape, Astroworld. In October Scott shared some snippets, on New Year's Eve he promised a 2017 release date, and he's continued to drop snippets (below) and hints over the past week. This thing could arrive any day.
travis scott's 2017 shit sounding CRAZY 🔥 🔥 🔥pic.twitter.com/vUeCbnlumG
2 chainz pretty girls like trap music
2 Chainz - Pretty Girls Like Trap Music (April 7)
Tity Boi was on fire all throughout 2016, first with Felt Like Cappin, then with Collegrove, then with Daniel Son, Necklace Don, and concluding with Hibachi For Lunch. Wouldn't you know, he's already got something in the works to ensure that this year begins similarly. He first announced Pretty Girls Like Trap Music during a press conference at an Atlanta Hawks game last week, where Chainz simply said, "Be looking out for Pretty Girls Like Trap Music. That’s what’s going on." Then last week, he shared the April release date. Stay tuned.