Artists abandoning projects is more common than most people know. It can happen as the result of various reasons. The artist could have suffered a major blow to their career, such as being dropped from their record label, or they could simply have lost the time and interest for it. But while they have put it in the past for the moment, some fans sit around wondering what could have been.
There are many different stages at which projects are abandoned. Some arise as an idea, while others were in the works. But at the end of the day, nothing gets released. Let’s look at a bunch of projects that fans never had the satisfaction of experiencing, either in its entirety, or at all.
- ‘Pink Slime’ – Mac Miller & Pharrell Williams
The Pittsburgh rapper and former member of ‘The Neptunes’ were said to be working on the joint project as far back as 2012. Miller released the project’s first single, “Onaroll“, on June 5 of that year, and performed it at Bonnaroo only days later. Just two months later, those who were impressed with the first track were presented with a follow up. Miller dropped “Glow” on August 7, and reassured fans that they would be getting the project soon. But with those words, there was no action. The two tracks were the only ones that fans ever got to hear, better than nothing one would assume. To make matters worse, the MostDope rapper continued to make claims that the project would reach fans. In a December 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Miller said Pink Slime would be released the next year. Two-and-a-half years later, one can only shake their head at the bogus claim. Finally, in September of last year, Miller spoke to ItsTheReal, where he discussed the failed project. “It was dope! We put an EP together. And that was right before the resurgence of Pharrell happened,” Miller had to say in the interview. It seems clear that if there are any people hopeful for a resurrection of the project, the chances are slim to none.
- ‘Beauty N the Beast: Slowed Down Sessions Chapter One’ – A$AP Rocky
Back in June of 2013, the leader of the Harlem collective announced he was going to release an instrumental-tape. It wasn’t until February of the following year that the project gained any momentum, when Rocky premiered the song “Riot Rave” from a car at the intersection of Broadway and Lafayette, causing a riot which resulted in 15 arrests. On March 3, Rocky officially released Riot Rave, as well as an unheard track, “Unicorn,” a trippy, chopped and screwed version of Tame Impala’s “It Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.” Beyond these two releases, the project was never heard of again, and Rocky himself has said nothing of the project. Later that year, Rocky released “Multiply,” which featured Juicy J. This officially ushered in the era of his latest album, At.Long.Last.A$AP. Any fans still waiting for the instrumental tape will most likely be waiting for a long time, if not forever.
- ‘King Capital’ – Capital Steez
Originally slated for a Summer 2013 release, the posthumous project by the late ProEra member has not been heard of for a while now. There were a few songs released here and there, most notably “Apex,” but an entire project has yet to be seen. That said, the Era has not completely let go of the project, as it is still in the talks of being released. In an interview with XXL, ProEra member CJ Fly claims that the project is “in a few different places,” which could be taken literally or figuratively. “He did it on some unoriginal beats, [so now] we wanna get the beats made over so we can get the album sold. Give the proceeds to the family. The same thing that he would’ve done if he was here, help his family.” Capital Steez died on Christmas Eve of 2012, due to an apparent suicide. During his tenure with the collective, Steez released only one solo project, Amerikkkan Korruption, and was featured on numerous songs from the group’s collective mixtape.
- ‘EarlWolf’ – Tyler, the Creator & Earl Sweatshirt
Unlike the previous items on the list of projects that ought to have been completed, EarlWolf was never started. It was only something that was prospected, but was never confirmed to have been started. That said, it would have been a great project, with songs such as “Couch” from Earl’s self-titled solo project, and “Orange Juice” from Odd Future’s Radical tape, serving as crucial evidence. The future of this project is also more questionable than any of the others. Back in March of 2014, Tyler expressed that he no longer wished to create the collab tape with Earl. “I don’t want to do it. maybe one day when I don’t want to make clothing and furniture and gay ass fruity music about lakes and shit, I’ll get back around to hard hitting raps, but the way things are looking, it’s only gonna get worse until I turn full fag,” the leader of the rap collective had to say in response to a question he received on Formspring. While Tyler might not admit it, some have speculated that the project was abandoned due to the apparent disconnect between Tyler and Earl, which arose when Earl appeared to take a more independent route in his music career.
These are only a few, but there are certainly many other hip-hop artists that have abandoned projects. An honorable mention: Chief Keef, who announced numerous projects and even promoted them continuously on social media, but never produced anything. Some titles of said projects include Mansion Musick, Thot Breaker, and Bang 4 (which Sosa had slated for release before Bang 3). HotNewHipHop compiled a list of all of Keef’s proposed but non-produced projects. If you know an artist with an abandoned project, expose them in the comments. And if the status of that one is like any of these, then good luck to the fans waiting for it.
Curtis A. Ashley, Contributing Writer