ED NOTE: The history of hip hop and R&B is filled with broken promises. These albums,whether recorded in full, unfinished or simply hyped, have never seen store shelves. This month VIBE looks at 51 coulda-been classics from artists like Prince, 50 Cent, Lauryn Hill and Biggie Small & Jay-Z and talks to some of the forgotten few. First, we examine Label Casualties.
50 CENT
Power of the Dollar (Track Masters/Columbia/Sony, 2000)
It was the album before The Album. And it was a banger. Recorded
mostly during a burst of productivity while on a two week retreat with
the Track Masters at Bearsville Studios in upstate New York in 1999, Power of the Dollar
delivered 17 tracks of New York grit spit by a pre-Shady, pre-botched
assassination Curtis Jackson, all over a slick bed of the famed
studio’s beats—back when being from Queens and kicking that Rotten
Apple gangsta shit over Track Masters beats meant something.
Today, if you aren’t into hitting the Internet to grab tracks, you can find five cuts on Columbia’s teaser EP, Power of the Dollar (2000), and several others on the Full Clip compilation, Guess Who’s Back? (2002). But even if you cut and paste, without the full impact, it’s just loose change.
Cover art for a record that never was: 50 Cent's "Power of the Dollar"
EVEHere I Am (Geffen)
The Philly spitfire’s album should have been released on the heels of the April 2007 hit “Tambourine.” Here I Am was completed, but got jammed in the transition from former label, Interscope, to current home, Geffen. Now she just hopes to get it out.
M.O.P
Ghetto Warfare (Roc-A-Fella)
The Last Generation (Roc-A-Fella)
The Foundation (G Unit)
The victims of two superstars’ picky imprints, Brownsville’s Billy Danze and Lil’ Fame are perhaps the most unlucky (and uncompromising) rap duo ever. Only parts of Ghetto Warfare surfaced on a 2006 indie. The rest is a hardcore mystery.
MASE
Untitled G Unit Project (G Unit/Shady/Interscope, 2005)
The bizarre union between rapper-turned- evangelical-pastor Mase and hip hop’s über- bad guy 50 Cent made headlines. But, aside from a spirited feature on 2005’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ soundtrack (G Unit/Interscope) and his own Crucified 4 the Hood mixtape, Murda Mase never materialized.
Q-TIP
Kamaal the Abstract (Arista, 2002)
Repeatedly passed around but never released, the former A Tribe Called Quest frontman recently gained the rights to this bold funk- jazz–hip hop excursion. He’s (finally) planning a 2009 release.
RAS KASS
Van Gogh (Priority, 2001)/ Goldyn Child (Priority, 2002)
Though the scrapped third studio album and reconfigured replacement from the loquacious-to-a-fault MC never dropped (Ras once famously rapped of his label, “Fuck Priority Records”), both albums have become minor classics in bootlegdom. Ras’ 2003 arrest for drunk driving put the nail in the coffin for both projects.
SISTA
4 All the Sistas Around da World (Elekra/Asylum, 1994)
The all-girl quartet featuring Missy Elliott never made it beyond the compilation stage, even though their debut has become a message-board goodie. Their silky harmonies are a perfect companion to all-male DeVante Swing’s trio, Playa.
PEEDI CRAKK
Prince of the Roc (Roc-A-Fella, 2007)
Thanks to a frenetic rhyme style and a flurry of buzz, the Philly MC was briefly groomed as Roc-A-Fella’s next big thing. But when his lackluster lead single, “Take Me Home,” failed to take off, the Roc sent Peedi packing.”
KILLER MIKE
Ghetto Extraordinary (Purple Ribbon, 2005)
An energetic blend of space funk and ghetto gospel, the OutKast protégé’s would-be sophomore LP became a victim of industry rule No. 4080. Now signed to T.I.’s Grand Hustle imprint, he’s on to bigger and better things.
JOE BUDDEN
The Growth(Def Jam, 2005)
If patience is a virtue, Joe Budden fans must be saints. After years of delays, an uninspired Nate Dogg–assisted lead single “Gangsta Party,” and a perceived rift with then Def Jam Recordings President Jay-Z, he was dropped in 2007 and his sophomore album landed right back where it started—on the shelf.
HAMMER
Too Tight (Death Row, 1996)
Hammer goes gangsta? Not quite. But the dancing machine’s sidelined effort for rap’s most infamous label featured plenty of WTF? cameos, including Big Daddy Kane and 2Pac. The Death Row catalogue’s recent sale has slightly increased the odds that this random document will see daylight.
LIL JON
Crunk Rock (TVT, 2006)
Free of his East Side Boyz, Jon’s headbanger fusion project has been in limbo for years. After resolving his legal entanglements with former label TVT Records, Crunk Rock is rumored to finally be on the way this summer through a distribution deal with The Orchard.
SAIGON
The Greatest Story Never Told (Fort Knocks/Atlantic, 2008)
After becoming the inaugural signee to Just Blaze’s Fort Knocks imprint, Saigon quickly became one of the most anticipated MCs in years. But despite a handful of stellar mix- tapes, the Brooklynite threatened to “quit rap” at least twice and the album never materialized. Saigon and Fort Knocks left Atlantic last year and are preparing the album’s eventual release. We’re not holding
our breath.
JODY BREEZE
A Day in the Life of Jody Breeze (Sho’Nuff/Warner Bros., 2007)
Boyz N Da Hood’s most anticipated—after Young Jeezy—recorded his debut with Jazze Pha’s imprint, but the project sat on the back burner. It finally leaked in 2008, but too little, too late. Breeze now hopes to release his official debut this year under his own label, Young Gunna Records.
What Had Happened Was: MC Hammer
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