With only a month left until it's officially summer, I'm sure you're wondering like the rest of us, what musical surprises are in store. Well, seems as though XXL magazine was able to talk to a few artist and got the scoop on future collaborations. Some may come as a surprise, but who doesn't like surprises?
As stated, these are only rumored to be in the process, which is why XXL rated each collab by the likelihood of the project actually coming in to play.
Here's a list of 18 rumored collabs expected to drop already or during the remainder of the year. Which one's are you excited about? Which could you do without?
#1 Cam'ron and A-Trak
Rumored Project: EP
Title: Federal Reserve
Release Date: Spring 2014
Title: Federal Reserve
Release Date: Spring 2014
What They've Said: "This is something brand-new to me," Cam'ron told Complex. "I didn’t even know nothing about this world or this culture. [Miss Info] mentioned he was one of the biggest people to do it. So when Dame [Dash] called me and said we should do an EP together, I was like, 'Let’s do it. Sounds good.'"
What We Know: Very little, except that Cam had no idea who A-Trak was until Dame Dash introduced them. Sound familiar? The two dropped a teaser vid on Instagram in January, then dropped the first track from the project—the smokin' hot "Humphrey"—and then went completely silent. The only rumors since have been that Just Blaze is a part of the production team; otherwise, nothing.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 75 percent
#2 Bishop Nehru and MF DOOM
Rumored Project: The legendary MF DOOM and the young Bishop Nehru teaming up for a huge LP
Title: Nehruvian DOOM
Release Date: 2014
Title: Nehruvian DOOM
Release Date: 2014
What They've Said: In August 2013, the 16-year-old spitter announced via Twitter that he was working with the reclusive DOOM on an EP. Details have been scarce, but Bishop updated fans once again in April 2014 by stating it’s going to be a full-length LP. “Hey Nehruvians NEHRUVIANDOOM is no longer an EP and it's officially going to be an Album. K bye.” Stay tuned.
What We Know: XXL’s Video Director Luke Tedaldi traveled to DOOM's home studio in London to get a closer look at the recording process. The pair says the project was done over the past year. Bishop also says he’s inspired to strengthen his rhymes because of DOOM’s stature and the fact that’s its his favorite rapper. The same sentiments goes for Doom, who called the studio sessions “organic.”
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 100 percent
#3 Killer Mike and El-P
Rumored Project: Second album
Title: Run The Jewels 2
Release Date: 2014
What They've Said: "Run The Jewels 2 is gonna be angrier, darker, harder, meaner, and funnier than Run The Jewels 1, which was angrier, darker, meaner and funnier than anything else that dropped last year," Killer Mike told XXL in January. They've been in the studio working since September, and just last night El-P posted an Instagram photo of the two in the studio prepping RTJ2.
What We Know: Well, what Mike said is a good start. If it's anything like the first album, it's going to be pure fire; the only question that remains is when it's dropping, though it seems a summer target is probable.
Title: Run The Jewels 2
Release Date: 2014
What They've Said: "Run The Jewels 2 is gonna be angrier, darker, harder, meaner, and funnier than Run The Jewels 1, which was angrier, darker, meaner and funnier than anything else that dropped last year," Killer Mike told XXL in January. They've been in the studio working since September, and just last night El-P posted an Instagram photo of the two in the studio prepping RTJ2.
What We Know: Well, what Mike said is a good start. If it's anything like the first album, it's going to be pure fire; the only question that remains is when it's dropping, though it seems a summer target is probable.
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Likelihood Of It Dropping: 100 percent
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 100 percent
#4 Chance The Rapper and James Blake
Rumored Project: Absolutely no idea
Title: N/A
Release Date: N/A
Title: N/A
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: "We’re probably going to make a bunch of shit every day,” Chance told the NME late last year. “I don’t know what we’re going to do with it. We might give some shit to other artists. We’re getting a compound so we figure we might invite people round to the crib and make some music in the house, then kick them out and bring in some new people.”
What We Know: The two moved into a house together in California at the top of the year to focus on making music, but they've collaborated before in the past, most notably on the remix to Blake's "Life Round Here." But the two also just make great, dreamy music together, and so while everything seems pretty up in the air at this point, surely they can scrap enough songs together for an EP that will be perfect for those nights when you can't sleep at 3 am?
Likelihood Of It Dropping: Somewhere around 60 percent
#5 Action Bronson and RiFF RAFF
Rumored Project: Album
Title: Galaxy Gladiators
Release Date: N/A
Title: Galaxy Gladiators
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: "Every track that me and Action Bronson do is a hit song," RiFF RAFF told MTV when announcing the project, but didn't mention anything else outside the fact that the two are best friends. This has been in the works since at least the beginning of 2012, though, which doesn't bode well. No word from Bronson, either.
What We Know: What we know for sure is that RiFF RAFF can't even get his own album out—Neon Icon has been delayed more times than most can count at this point—while Bronson has a lot on his plate for this year, too, with his own major label debut on the way on Atlantic. The two would definitely make something memorable—maybe the most ridiculous album in hip-hop history, if they put their minds to it—but we don't see it coming any time soon.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 10 percent
#6 Cam'ron and Smoke DZA
Rumored Project: A collaborative EP
Title: N/A
Release Date: 2014, potentially
Title: N/A
Release Date: 2014, potentially
What They've Said: After Cam'ron mentioned the project was in the works to Miss Info in Feb., Smoke DZA confirmed it to XXL, saying, "Project with Cam isn’t all the way done; we’re like six songs in, maybe five because the sixth song was ‘Ghost Of Dipset’ [off DZA's April 1 debut album, Dream.Zone.Achieve]... Probably six songs in.”
What We Know: The two Harlem natives linked together through Dame Dash at a Ski Beatz show at Mercury Lounge, and started working shortly thereafter, producing at least one track—DZA's "Ghost Of Dipset"—and presumably a whole host of others. If Harlem can get together, surely they can rescue this one from purgatory and actually put it together. But with Cam already having a lot on his plate—his collab project with A-Trak, Federal Reserve, is on deck for him, as well as hisFirst Of The Month series—and DZA likely heading out on tour to promote Dream.Zone.Achieve, this one might not see the light of day this year.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 25 percent
#7 Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug
Rumored Project: Mixtape, or "RI5H Tape"
Title: Rich Homie Thug
Release Date: "I can't tell you when, just know when we do it it's gonna crash the Internet."
Title: Rich Homie Thug
Release Date: "I can't tell you when, just know when we do it it's gonna crash the Internet."
What They've Said: They've said that they're the best duo since OutKast, which is obviously disputable. They also mentioned that it might be an EP, just because they "might not even give ya’ll no more free music.”
What We Know: That if it's anything up to the quality that they've been dropping individually, it's going to be awesome. Thugga has swept the Internet in the past four months or so, while Quan can lay claim to the entire summer before, and the two of them getting together for a high-quality project is something hood dreams are made of.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 40 percent
#8 Young Thug and Metro Boomin
Rumored Project: Album
Title: Metro Thuggin
Release Date: Spring 2014
Title: Metro Thuggin
Release Date: Spring 2014
What They've Said: Not much outside of constantly retweeting people asking for "The Blanguage," which they finally dropped last month.
What We Know: We know that this will be the definition of Young Atlanta getting together, if it comes to fruition. Metro has laced up many high-profile tracks to date, and Thugga can't seem to miss at this point with a lot of the recent tracks he's dropped. It definitely looks plausible, though both seem to have full slates.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 65 percent
#9 DJ Premier and Pete Rock
Rumored Project: Their long-awaited collaborative project
Title: Pete Rock Versus Premier
Release Date: N/A
Title: Pete Rock Versus Premier
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: During the Global Spin Awards in January 2014, ThisIs50’s Jack Thriller caught up with the hip-hop legends and they hinted at their collaborative project dropping soon.
What We Know: Pete Rock and DJ Premier have their hands in a lot of different ventures, so it’s hard to say if this will actually see the light of day. But, the superproducers have announced a collaborative tour in Australia that’ll kick off on May 1. Maybe the start of their promotional run? Only time will tell.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 20 Percent
#10 Chief Keef and Fredo Santana
Rumored Project: Album
Title: Blood Thicker Than Water
Release Date: 2014
Title: Blood Thicker Than Water
Release Date: 2014
What They've Said: Fredo has merely tweeted it into existence; all else is a mystery.
What We Know: Fredo said it would be a Glo Gang / Savage Squad Records project, which kind of doesn't mean very much at this point. With Keef seemingly dropping projects at random these days and Fredo still searching for a breakthrough to justify his growing buzz, it would seem that Fredo would push for it to come out more than Keef would. The probability that the two already have enough material for it is high; the probability that something coherent will come from it is much, much lower.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 20 percent
#11 Mac Miller and Pharrell
Rumored Project: Album
Title: Pink Slime
Release Date: End of 2014
What They've Said: "Last time we talked, we were just talking about that we still wanted to do it," Mac said to XXL in December. "We had a quick checkup, like, ‘Hey man, do you wanna do this?’ ‘Yeah. You wanna do this?’ ‘Yeah.’ ‘Okay, well I’m gonna come to Miami.’ He’s like, ‘Perfect.’ But I gotta really find out when I gotta go to Miami. We gotta do it."
What We Know: The album was shelved after Mac didn't feel worthy, but the project is back on the table after the duo had more than solid years in 2013. He's said repeatedly to multiple publications that they're going to work on and finish the album in Miami, but that there's been no time frame in which to get it done. With Pharrell's solo album, G I R L, out last month, he might have some free time to work on it; either way, Miller hopes it's out by the end of the year.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 30 percent
#12 Method Man and Redman
Rumored Project: Album
Title: Blackout 3
Release Date: N/A
Title: Blackout 3
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: They've said a lot of things since dropping the second Blackout in 2009, but with Meth caught up in the Wu-Tang albums—whatever they are at this point—it's been left to Red to speak on the collabs. “After the solos we’re gonna do Blackout 3, we got like three songs done on it, just sitting and planning,” he said last August. He's got an EP and his Muddy Waters 2 project on deck before they delve into the Blackout series again, however.
What We Know: That it will come at its own pace. The first two came a full decade apart, and if it takes that long for a third, people might not wait around. RZA, Erick Sermon and Rockwilder are set to contribute beats for the album, and Redman recently said, “Once we get our beats from RZA, Erick Sermon and Rockwilder, then we can take other producers that wanna be a part of the Redman and Method Man experience.”
Likelihood Of It Dropping: In 2014? Zero.
#13 Birdman and Lil Wayne
Rumored Project: A follow-up to their 2006 release Like Father, Like Son
Title: Like Father, Like Son 2
Release Date: 2014
Title: Like Father, Like Son 2
Release Date: 2014
What They've Said: Birdman has been open about the sequel since December 2011, initially stating that they’ve done a lot of songs before Wayne went to jail at Rikers Island for gun possession. In January 2012, Stunna tweeted a tentative title, Like Father, Like Son 2: Tha Last Mob, which furthered the anticipation. Recently, Wayne told MTV News that they’ve recorded plenty of material to put it together. "We haven't started working on that yet, but we have so many songs together, so all it takes is a little sharpening, and we have an album," he said.
What We Know: Lil Wayne is currently working on his so-called last album, Tha Carter V, which is slated for a summer release. On the other hand, Birdman seems to be busy chilling with Justin Bieber and Young Thug rather than getting to work in the studio.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 30 percent
#14 Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole
Rumored Project: Album
Title: N/A
Release Date: Ha!
Title: N/A
Release Date: Ha!
What They've Said: Just because they've been talking about it doesn't make it any closer, but the two haven't mentioned it recently. Over a year ago, they both spoke on it, with Kendrick saying it would come when people least expect it. "We gon drop that out the sky," he said. "I ain’t gonna give no dates, no nothing. I'm just gonna let it fall."
What We Know: This type of project would benefit Cole way more than it would Kendrick, not that that's necessarily something they're thinking of right now. But the fact of the matter is, with the way Kendrick is setting himself up, he needs to focus fully on his followup to gkmc and make sure that the people that called his debut a classic aren't slapped in the face with a lame duck followup. Put this on the backburner for now; we'll get back to it in a couple years, a la The Throne.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 0 percent in 2014
#15 Yasiin Bey and Mannie Fresh
Rumored Project: Album
Title: OMFGOD
Release Date: N/A
Title: OMFGOD
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: "When I thought we were finished, anywhere we go we bump into cats like Just Blaze or whatever that are just like, 'Man whatever y'all need. We got y'all,'" Mannie told MTV last year. Later in October, he put the holdup on Mos' movie schedule, saying that the songs are done but they need to get together to tweak things whenever their schedules clear.
What We Know: They dropped at least one track, and we bet there's more than enough interest from both sides to get it done. But whether or not that translates into actual work or whether it puts the entire project into Juelz Santana/Lil Wayne territory, only time will tell.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 10 percent
#16 Nas and DJ Premier
Rumored Project: Album
Title: N/A
Release Date: N/A
Title: N/A
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: It’s coming,” Premier said last October. “[Nas] has another project to drop with Def Jam, and then he’s a free agent. I’ll let him get that out, and that will give me time to get my artists prepped and ready. Maybe we can all tour together.”
What We Know: Preem has also said that work on the collab wouldn't begin until Nas was released from his Def Jam deal, which would presumably happen whenever he drops his highly-awaited 11th album, possibly later this year. This has been a dream idea for many disciples of the boom bap sound, but it's not likely to happen any time soon, at least not as a full-length. Fans should probably be focusing more on the duo's other projects in the meantime and wait for a seismic shift somewhere down the road.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 15 percent
#17 Yelawolf and Big K.R.I.T.
Rumored Project: Full-length of some sort, whether an album or tape
Title: Country Cousins
Release Date: N/A
Title: Country Cousins
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: "We're both obviously down to do it, we're just always out grinding," Yelawolf said...in 2012. "I personally wanted to sit down in the studio and knock it out, but at this point, we might as well be doing an album. I definitely don't want to go and just throw anything out there; it would have to be the best that we could actually put together, and that doesn't happen often in a week. Sometimes it does…but it's hard to do it. Now, I'm growing more and more picky, too, about beats and songs." K.R.I.T. confirmed that it was "still coming" more recently, towards the end of 2013, but the optimism wanes with each passing year.
What We Know: Both of them need their respective sophomore solo projects to come before they can focus on anything else. K.R.I.T.'s Live From Cadillactica will look to redeem his rather tame solo debut, while Yela's Love Story looks to get his momentum back after taking a while since dropping an official project. This one looks to be back on the backburner for the rest of this year.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 1 percent
#18 Jay Z and Kanye West
Rumored Project: Followup to Watch The Throne
Title: Watch The Throne 2
Release Date: N/A
Title: Watch The Throne 2
Release Date: N/A
What They've Said: Not much from Jay since last August, when he mentioned that the plan was sort of there, saying, "...we definitely spoke about dropping solo albums and then going back to do Watch The Throne 2, so we'll see what happens." Those solo albums are out of the way now, though Kanye's promised another from him in the near future. He also mentioned that the two are constantly working, but that they have no material for a rumored followup yet. Mike Dean made a reference to it in 2012, but that's so long ago at this point that it barely bears repeating.
What We Know: If this happens, it will come under even more scrutiny than the first one. Both have gone in different, highly-scrutinized directions since dropping the original WTT, and neither really need it right now to further their careers or legacies. It will come to to whether or not they feel like doing it, and not much else.
Likelihood Of It Dropping: 3 percent
That's a pretty diverse list of possible collaborations in the works. Even though some may not be dropping his year, we can only hope that we can get some concrete music out of these artists. Some of these team-ups are too good to pass up. What do you think?
