Drake, André 3000 and More – New Hip-Hip Projects

November 17, 2023 463 60 4

As the holidays quickly approach and the end of 2023 grows closer, impressive new hip-hop releases have continued to pour in before the year is out. This week, rap’s biggest star puts out a surprise project, two rap superstars link up for a joint project fans have been clamoring for for years, an Atlanta icon proves his flute has something to say with his debut solo album and more.

Drake Drops New For All the Dogs: Scary Hours Edition Project

Despite saying the night before For All the Dogs dropped that he’d plan to take a break from music, Drake revealed on Thursday (Nov. 16) that he’d be dropping the third installment in his Scary Hours series.

For All the Dogs: Scary Hours Edition marks the third installment in Drake’s EP series that began back in 2018 and expands FATD into a deluxe album. The first Scary Hours pack came with his diamond-certified, Grammy-award-winning hit “God’s Plan.” 2021’s Scary Hours 2 included features from Lil Baby and Rick Ross.

The 6 God announced his surprise return with an EP of songs via a trailer posted on Instagram. In the video, which can be seen below, Drizzy pulls up to a venue to see an orchestra performance where he is the sole concertgoer. Drake narrates the video.

“I feel no need to appease anybody,” Drake said in the trailer. “I feel so confident in the body of work that I just dropped, that I know I can go and disappear for whatever. Six months, a year, two years…It’s not like I’m picking up on some unfinished s**t. It’s happening on its own. Who am I to fight it, right?”

Drake dropped off his eighth studio album For All the Dogs on Oct. 6.

Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz Drop Off Joint Sequel Welcome 2 Collegrove

While 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne have long teased a follow-up to their beloved joint 2016 album Collegrove, fans finally get their wish. The pair return in the form of Welcome 2 Collegrove, which was promoted by two previously released singles, “Long Story Short” and “Presha.” The duo performed the latter song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon back on Oct. 20. They then performed “Long Story Short” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this past Monday (Nov. 13).

50 Cent added to the hype earlier this week when he narrated two trailers to promote the collab project between Wayne and Chainz. The trailers also revealed 21 Savage and Usher would be featured on the project. 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne have been teasing Welcome 2 Collegrove for a while now. During a 2022 sit-down on DJ Akademiks’ podcast Off the Record, Tity Boi spoke on how different the new album is from its predecessor.

“I feel super excited about this f**king project because it don’t sound like nothing I’ve ever heard before,” he said. “And doing something like that with Wayne, it’s welcoming, it’s warming and it’s going to be accepted.”

André 3000 Drops Debut Solo Album New Blue Sun

André 3000 shocked his longtime supporters on Tuesday (Nov. 14) by announcing he’d be returning with his first-ever solo album before the end of the week. While New Blue Sun is an instrumental affair and contains no rapping, it’s still nice to have the OutKast legend back in the rotation. After the entire internet lost their minds over not being able to hear the elite MC spit new rhymes, Three Stacks addressed the concerns by revealing that a potential hip-hop project down the line is not off the table.

“There’s this misconception that I just won’t do it,” André said of releasing a rap album, in a press release for New Blue Sun. “I think people feel like I’m sitting around on rap albums, or sitting around and I’m just not putting them out in that way. And no it’s not like that.”

He continued: “In my mind, I really would like to make a rap album. So maybe that happens one day, but I got to find a way to say what I want to say in an interesting way that’s appealing to me at this age.”

Danny Brown Returns with Highly-Anticipated Quaranta Album

Danny Brown finally revealed in October that Quaranta would drop after years of delay. The 11-track album has been pegged as the “spiritual bookend” to his breakout 2011 project, XXX. Ahead of the Quaranta‘s release, Danny Brown rolled out two singles in support of the project, “Tantor” and “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation.”

During an episode of The Danny Brown Show back in the spring, the Detroit native used his platform to speak on the reason for Quaranta’s lengthy delay.

“I don’t know what’s going on with Warped, I don’t know what’s going on with management. I turned my album in two years ago,” Brown recalled, placing the blame on his label and his team. “I will say, yeah, we’re still working on the album and s**t’s getting doper and whatever the f**k, but at this point man it’s like, where’s the urgency?”

The highly anticipated release of Quaranta follows Danny Brown’s joint effort with JPEGMAFIA, Scaring the Hoes, which dropped in March of this year.