Here Are 21 Hip-Hop Projects That Fans Were Really Excited About But Never Happened

For decades, hip-hop fans have been leaning on the anticipation and excitement about a new project coming out. Some of the genre's greatest albums were sought after for some time, whether it was after a rapper revealed the project was coming in an interview or on social media and then delivered was an official album in a major fashion.

The feeling of listening to a rap album you waited forever for, and being happy with it, is incomparable. But there's another side to that anticipation, that rears its head when the project you seek never releases. This leads to decades later of disappointment. Hip-hop history has plenty of albums that never saw the light of day, and here, XXL highlights 21 of those highly anticipated projects that rap fans were really excited about but never happened. Some you may know well, and some you might've missed.

There have been some unreleased, highly-anticipated hip-hop albums that nearly every rap fan knows about for different reasons. Dr. Dre's Detox is an all-timer in that regard, as it was announced in 2002, and still hasn't come out, but has been teased multiple times along the way. André 3000's solo album is another world famous unreleased album because it's been sought after for so long, and has bounced between "coming soon" and a figment of rap fan's imaginations the whole time.

Then, there's the collab albums that never came. Lil Wayne has two prominent projects featured here, including one with Young Money superstar Drake. This project was all but guaranteed to tear the Billboard charts down, but it's looking unlikely that it will see a release this year. Weezy also had a collab project that was talked about with Dipset's Juelz Santana, which was announced in the mid 2000s, and is still a "maybe" in 2021. But Wayne isn't alone in the unreleased joint projects category. There's Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, Nas and DJ Premier, and Childish Gambino and Chance the Rapper. There's even a Ski Mask The Slump God and Juice Wrld joint effort that fans were eager to hear before Juice's tragic passing in 2019, and quite a few more.

Learn a little more about your favorite unreleased projects in the gallery below. Check out 21 hip-hop projects that fans were really excited about but never happened.