A Look Into Hip Hop's Most Anticipated Artists And Projects In 2021

By: James Teague

As we’re gearing up for an amazing new year (and yes it’s still going to be a great year regardless of everything covid-19 related), more new music is on the horizon for this new year to continue serving as our life soundtrack for the year. Even though there were some great gems that dropped last year, music 2020 was said to not really have a lot of impact due to the world getting altered because of COVID-19.

With everything going on whether it was with COVID, the presidential election, or the protests/riots that were all going on in America, I found lots of music lovers were not necessarily keeping up with all the latest new music that released each and every week. Hence why some of the albums released that I thought were going to do well actually didn't due to COVID-19. Luckily this year is a fresh start and we’re starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel with this entire living situation. Here are some of my most anticipated artists that I'm looking forward to releasing new music this year. 

TDE

The current Best Rap Label Top Dawg Entertainment has had a very quiet 2020 for the most part but it appears since SZA dropped her singles, the label is getting up for another busy year. It wouldn't feel right for me if i did each artist alone so i decided to do the entire roster in its entirety in this section. 

• KENDRICK LAMAR  - Between the numerous rumors surrounding his upcoming album, him moving in silence for the entire year and only popping out to the public on several occasions, there is no telling of what's going to happen with this next Kendrick album. What we can all say is that a lot has gone on since his last album DAMN, which was released in 2017, and everybody is wondering what he has to say for this next go round. This is one of the reasons why I'm going to always be excited for a new Kendrick release. 

• SZA - Just like Kendrick, SZA has also been under radar since her debut album CTRL and pops out seldomly. Her two brand new singles “Hit Different” and “Good Day” have me ready and anxious for SZA’s upcoming album. The people have been very very anxious for SZA to release new music and were to the point of frustration where they were taking things out on Punch through Twitter. Between that and watching SZA through her social media living and experiencing life, I expect the new album to be as amazing as her debut. 

• JAY ROCK - The OG member of the label Jay Rock has been quietly working since his last album Redemption dropped in Summer of 2018. Since the pandemic, he’s grown his hair out and looks like he’s been in the zone with making music and living life. I'm interested in hearing what he has to say this time around whenever it's time to release his new album. 

• SCHOOLBOY Q - Coming off his last album Crash Talk, Schoolboy Q has always been staying busy on the feature tip. It’s either the features or social media whenever we see him, whether it's playing the daddy role with his daughter or if he’s out playing golf. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed Crash Talk as an album from front to back, I can also understand why some of the fans felt like they were let down by this album. Q has said sometime after the album dropped that he was already back to work on his next album. From what I’ve heard through the grapevine, I'm hearing that Groovy Q is back on his Blankface/Habits and Contradictions vibes for the next album. 

• ISAIAH RASHAD - I don't have a clue as to why Zaywop is taking forever with releasing his album but he is the only member on TDE right next to Ab Soul who hasn't released a brand new album since 2016 with The Sun’s Tirade. He’s been previewing brand new music here & there on his instagram live. Whether he drops an album this year or not, I'm looking forward to hearing from Zaywop musically soon. He has been away for far too long. 

DRAKE 

The anticipation for his new album Certified Lover Boy is at an all time high right now. Since last year between all of the Drake leaks and his last project Dark Lane Demo Tapes, Drake has really been in his bag on the music tip. It felt like since his last interview with Elliot Wilson on rap radar, it feels like he’s been more focused than ever making sure the new album is quality material. All of the leaks and his last project have shown me that we haven't seen anything yet for Certified Lover Boy. It’s supposed to be coming out sometime this month but we shall see and find out. 

PARTYNEXTDOOR 

It felt good hearing back from Party after releasing his album PartyMobile, after being on a hiatus from releasing new music. Now that we’ve had time to properly digest the new album, I think it’s time for Party to work on a brand new album and the reason that I say that is because since he was away for so long prior to Partymobile, it feels more appropriate that new music should start dropping.

G-HERBO

I've always been a fan of G-Herbo’s music since the beginning of his career back when he was calling himself Lil Herb. But ever since hearing his new song “Statement”, it’s become my 2021 song for the year. It makes no sense how many times I’ve had this song on repeat. Between the Dipset “I Really Mean It” sample and Herbo rapping forreal, the aura of that entire song sounds so refreshing and focused. I'm looking forward to 25 The Album , the title of his upcoming album. I don't know what's going to happen this coming album, but if he has more song quality sounding like “Statement”, then I'm very excited for this brand new album coming.  

K-CAMP

After releasing Kiss 5, one of the better albums of 2020, K Camp made it clear that in 2021 he was coming for the number one spot. Every year, K Camp drops a new project and every year he always has a hit record kept in the tuck. I expect this year to be no different. 

RODDY RICCH 

I'm very interested to see where Roddy Ricch is going to go with his Sophomore Album. Coming off having such an incredible year in 2020 with his debut album, Please Excuse Me for Being Anti-Social,  Roddy has kept himself busy with doing his features while also staying out of the way during this global pandemic. Roddy said earlier that he was in no rush to put out a brand new album and that he likes to take his time with creating his next album. He was able to win a lot of people over with the music that he was making but I'm interested to see what level is going to be able to take when it comes to the sophomore. He strikes me as a young man who is about his business and wants to make sure that he shows up each day as his best self. I'm looking forward to seeing what lemons that life will give to Roddy in order for him to tell his story on the album. 

FUTURE 

Instagram pictures surfaced  of DJ Esco , Metro Boomin, and 808 Mafia all being back in the studio working together which prompted the rumors of Monster 2 possibly being in the works. Now as far as I know, I cannot say if that’s really going to be true. However, I did see that Future deleted all the pictures off of his Instagram page and whenever you see an artist do something of that magnitude, then that means get in formation because it looks like there’s going to be a new album due to us at any given day/moment. 

YOUNG THUG

Even though Thugger is always active on featured guest tracks abd collaboration projects, it almost feels like forever since we've heard a solo album from him. So Much Fun exceeded my expectations and has been in my album rotation for a while still to this very day. It appears Thugger is getting ready for Slime Language 2 with the lead single Take it to Trial Featuring Gunna and Yak Gotti. This looks like this going to be a Young thug and friends album but i'm glad to hear that Thug will be releasing brand new music this year. 

LIL BABY

Cheers to another rapper who had the best 2020 yet in regards to hip-hop music. Lil Baby has done enough hits, songs, features, all for the year to help him get to where he's supposed to be. Having said that, for some reason it feels like some people are still not giving Baby the respect he truly deserves. From the awards show not properly nominating him as one of the better artists whether the nomination is for the album or him as an artist. He’s already closed off on the features and is back in the lab cooking up brand new music from what i'm hearing. Even with all of the success coming to him, Lil Baby is still hungry to show and prove to the real ones that he’s here to stay.

NIPSEY HUSSLE 

Word has got out through J Stone, one of Nipsey’s close friends and collaborators, confirmed that there will be a brand new Nipsey Hussle album that’s going to be released soon. J Stone had revealed on the The Bootleg Kev podcast that there’s so many verses Nip has done where he thought that he's heard everything. For me personally, as long as Nipsey’s team is involved in the process of making this album, then I'm all for this release. It was messed up knowing that he was in work already with his next album and the collaboration project with Meek only for him to pass away unexpectedly. 

PUSHA-T 

Daytona came out back in 2018 and yet it feels like it's been out for almost half a decade. There’s been rumors of a Pusha/Madlib project for a while now that haven't been confirmed yet. However in another interview, Pusha had confirmed his upcoming album so far is produced by Pharrell and Kanye West. He also said that it should be almost done very soon. We’ve only heard about Pusha’s music ever so often lately. The last time we heard from Pusha was about his drake diss verse on Pop Smoke’s Posthumous deluxe album, Shoot for the Star, Aim for the Moon. I'm already expecting the music to be very superior but I'm just ready for a brand new album coming very soon.

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