A crippled economy and continued drops in physical album sales halted projects from even some of Hip Hop’s most notable major label artists. As 2009 gets underway, releases from Lil Wayne, Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and critical darlings the Clipse are all expected to drop within the calendar year. In hopes of avoiding the inevitable let down that comes with pushed back album release dates, HipHopDX rounded up the latest news on this year’s most anticipated albums.
With a release that is rivaled only by his labelmate Axl Rose‘s Chinese Democracy in terms of delays, Dr. Dre is sticking to his word that Detox will be released sometime this year. His longtime collaborator, producer Mike Elizondo, whose work was found on 2001, echoed earlier statements made by Dre collaborators such as Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik [click to read] and Bishop Lamont [click to read].
“He wants to shock the world and put something out that no one would have ever thought possible from a Hip Hop artists,”Elizondo said of the album.
Meanwhile, the Clipse have been busy working on their upcoming album ‘Til the Casket Drops. Last December, the brothers Thornton hooked up with Complex magazine to release their Play ClothsRoad to Til the Casket Drops mixtape. Pusha T offered a brief explanation of what fans can expect this time around.
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“The title comes from us continuing to do what we do till the wheels fall off,”Pusha recently told Billboard magazine. “We still have infections beats and East Coast, boom bap shit that caters to what the Clipse fans love.”
Finally, as DX reported last week, Jay-Z is working on his last album (at least for now) with Def Jam [click to read]. That album is the highly anticipated Blueprint 3. However, after signing with LiveNation, the company that also signed U2 and Madonna [click to read], there has been some confusion as to who the album will be released by.
Jay-Z spoke on the matter earlier last week.
“Well, whatever it is, it’ll be Roc Nation. It’s gonna be a partnership with someone,” he told MTV. “So whether it’s going to be Def Jam or someone [else], that’s yet to be determined.”
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With Jay-Z‘s work ethic, as shown through the years, it may come to a surprise that this latest album has yet to be released. But, Jay spoke on that as well, adding that he has no limitations or time restrictions, which he claims is both good and bad.
“I don’t have any quotas, and that’s a good thing,” he said before admitting that it’s not entirely a positive. “It may be too freeing. It’s a good thing and a bad thing. You know, I think I need some restrictions. ‘Cause if I had restrictions, I would have done it in three weeks. I would have made what I believe to be a great piece of art.”
No official word has been given in regards to Blueprint 3‘s release date. DX will keep you posted.
Additional reporting by Andres Tardio.
