- Dr Dre: Detox
Rap’s Atlantis: This has been postponed so many times that its “release” has been an April Fool’s Day prank since the early days of music blogs. Most recently, news broke that it won’t even be called Detox.
- Jay Electronica: Act II: Patents of Nobility (The Turn)
The New Orleans-raised 38-year-old has made more headlines for breaking release date promises and dating a Rothschild heiress than actually capitalising on the goodwill built from two great singles released almost too many years ago.
- Saigon: The Greatest Story Never Told
Despite a recurring role on Entourage, production from Just Blaze, and collaborations with Jay Z and Kanye West, the Brooklyn rapper couldn’t get a release date for his mid-00s Atlantic Records debut. After finally getting his walking papers, he finally dropped the album in 2011 to minimal noise.
- Outkast: Untitled
Probably never coming out, but at least we got this summer’s tour.
- Lil Boosie: Touchdown to Cause Hell
The comeback from the once-incarcerated Baton Rouge rapper is the most anticipated and delayed street rap record of the moment.
- The Clipse: Hell Hath No Fury
Despite years of Jive Records doubletalk, the Thornton brothers lived up to the hype in 2006, with frigid beats from the Neptunes and more cocaine metaphors than Eskimos have words for snow.
- Rakim: Oh, My God
Simply never released due to creative differences with Dr Dre.
- Lupe Fiasco: Lasers
In which Lupe beefed with his label and demanded fans to petition for its release, only to awkwardly make O.C.-soundtrack rap.
- Lil Wayne: Tha Carter III
After multiple album leaks and a year’s worth of rumours, the 2008 hit was the last rap album to sell over a million copies in its first week.
- Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
Upon extricating himself from Jive purgatory, the other half of Outkast released one of the funkiest rap albums in memory in 2010.
