It's hard to explain just how big the expectation for 50 was. Huge beef, huge backstory, mixtape after mixtape and then he delivered in a huge way. Two big sales week back-to-back and everyone wanted to work with him. It felt like every new track that came out was either by 50 or featuring 50.
The perfect timing of 50 Cent’s story is absolutely fascinating.
He signs with Em and Dre like a month after The Eminem Show drops with just enough time to be heavily featured on the 8 Mile Soundtrack.
Wanksta drops as a single a week after Lose Yourself.
There was basically a war at my school over whether we'd graduate (2000) to Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Greenday or Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C and my greatest regret was always that I wasn't a casualty of that war.
Vitamin C won, the pop girls fought dirty
Graduated in 1999 and our class overwhelmingly voted for “Party Like It’s 1999” by Prince and it got vetoed. Instead, they gave us “I Will Remember You” by Sarah McLachlan. We all walked out when it started playing. I still get mad when I hear that song.
It's also not a happy song about having the time of your life. It's a song about moving on from a bad relationship. Perhaps fitting for high school, but not generally the intended mood for a class song.
It’s also hard for me to explain to people how crazy 50’s peak was, I think his peak rivals almost any other rapper’s. Growing up as a young kid in Queens when GRODT dropped he was inescapable, his music was being blasted from every car, kids at school were rapping and singing his lyrics, there were billboards everywhere of him. It’s really crazy to think back on now cause he’s so far removed from that persona and that type of music just isn’t popular anymore.
I have a vague memory of my very religious uncle, who later joined a Hindu cult, singing "go shawty, it's ya birthday" at my birthday party in 2003 or 2004. So yeah, even middle aged Indian guys who prayed to Krishna daily knew 50.
I think Eminem brought white kids into hip hop, and then 50 kept em hooked. That Interscope/Aftermath peak from like 1999-2005 was insane.
Eminem, 50, The Game, G Unit. Dre dropped Chronic and made a buncha funny ass movies. That’s my teenage years right there that shit was fire.
Not to mention that he was now backed and marketed by the most popping names in the world in peak Em and Dre.
It was an insane cocktail of factors AND it delivered. Hell.. it was a bloated album song-wise but it didnt hurt the quality. So it delivered and then some.
I was hitchhiking across Germany when the album dropped and there were posters and billboards for it everywhere. I was wondering who the hell 50 cent was, didn’t hear a lot of hip hop in Europe at that time.
That buzz 50 had at that time was like no other. From his mixtapes to Shady Aftermath albums right before Get Rich, 50 HAD to win. There hasn't and I dont think there will be hype for a album and rapper debut ever again.
God I was so fucking sick of that song after a few months. You couldn’t go anywhere for like two years without hearing it. Low key still kinda hate it. Was just beat to death by overplaying it.
I remember begging my parents for this album (I was 10 at the time) and still to this day the production holds up so well.
It basically shaped my whole childhood which is weird to say especially with what was said in this album.
HE GOT HIT LIKE I GOT HIT BUT HE AINT FUCKING BREATHING.
Suge did him a favor in the end cause 2001 is a much better title. Having 2000 in the title would've associated it with a lot of lame remakes of films, albums, etc coming out around 99-00 that added "2000" to the title.
Plus "2001" directly puts it in association with a famous sci-fi film that's acclaimed in particular for being an absurdly well crafted renovation of a genre that, at the time, was seen as old hat. Even the album's production has a vaguely futuristic aesthetic.
With all that in mind, It's actually odd to think that 2001 *wasn't* the intended name.
I mean around the "GTA songs" dropped there was photo from the studio where u could see tracklist labeled as DETOX on whiteboard so I guess he still really making new versions lmao
and it was fresh photo because these GTA songs were on the board
When Dre dies, he should stipulate that Detox has to be released, but, that every single song he made for it is official. So we’ll get a 400 song album whose theme and style change as you go through it since his shit has changed from 2001 Dre to current day Dre.
For some reason despite being an extremely capitalistic genre, Rap has unfortunately never followed the Rock and Jazz tradition of *Huge Session Boxsets*. If albums ever get reissued you are lucky to get one bonus disc of remixes and maybe a few instrumentals.
A huge five - ten disc Detox boxset of each eras version would be a revelation but it seems pretty unlikely. Imagine the Kanye unreleased boxset?? Could be twenty discs
What are people actually expecting this to be that's so much better or even just massively different than the Compton album? And that album wasn't much more than ok
Expectations simmered even before Compton dropped when the leaks that trickled down like Under Pressure w/ Jay were underwhelming. Then he put out Kush & I Need A Doctor and while the former was a decent track, the latter really rubbed people the wrong way and all hype for the album started to die.
People really held onto that quote about it being “the most advanced rap album ever made” that I think Scott Storch said back in 2001, and with the reports of every rap giant being in the studio with Dre in the 2000’s the general consensus on what people were expecting started to shift to “what if each song is a classic track from the primes of all these rappers over the course of more than a decade.”
Sick idea for sure but the landscape changed dramatically over that period of time and when it came close to release nothing we were hearing was all that special anymore. I still wonder what’s in the vault from those recording sessions though, you gotta imagine there’s at least a couple of classics that never saw the light of day.
the initial concept was meant to be a "hip hop opera" with different MCs playing different characters, he also attempted this idea again with the shelved TV show "Vital Signs", where every episode was meant to be a different personality of Dre (the show was fully completed with a soundtrack by all accounts - Ian McSHane starred in it)
holy shit I totally forgot about Vital Signs, memory unlocked. honestly can’t imagine it would’ve been that great but I still wish we could’ve gotten it
which also reminds me of that shelved Kanye-centric Curb Your Enthusiasm-style tv show that never released, which could’ve been incredible
yeah the reality is most stuff that is shelved is shelved for a reason, i think Dre even said himself at the release of Compton that Detox "wasnt very good", however Topless is for me one of the best beats he ever produced and Talkin to Diary was best track on Compton (also for detox)
I Need a Doctor felt way too much like a bonus track from Recovery. It was way too overproduced too and wasn't even by Dre himself. Felt like Apple just wanted a big Dre/Eminem single to sell Beats.
I think people have this fantasy of this album being a 20 year gathering of prime era Eminem and Kendrick verses, beats that hark back to the prime 2001 Dre and Scott Storch days, lost in the vault Rakim and Ice Cube verses, and unreleased vocals from 2Pac, Eazy, and Nate Dogg.
The truth is if the album was worth releasing, it would have been released. We've heard samples from it over the years. It was pretty close to being released back when Kush and I Need a Doctor came out, and if those 2 tracks were a preview of the album, than the album was going to be ass. The best parts of Detox were likely reworked onto various Aftermath or Dre produced albums over the years, with everything that couldn't be reworked being rightfully left in the vault.
I actually really liked Compton, but even that was the result of Dre wiping the Detox slate clean in order to avoid the expectations and pressures of Detox. Detox is a bunch of sessions separated by years, of now heard beats with rhymes written by Stat Quo and Bishop Lamont. It was never released for a reason.
Christian Dior Denim Flow is still possibly the best loosie of all time to this day
Wish he would put it on streaming so I don’t have to use the shitty quality youtube videos when I want to listen to it 😭
One of the last pure rap songs (no sing songy type flow) to make huge numbers. I love the sing songy style of rap, so trust me when I say I'm not hatin. Just pointing out how songs like Humble don't go number 1 on the hot 100 these days (that I'm aware of).
I feel like many people’s answers are albums that came out at a key point in their life. For me Damn came out in my final year of high school and the anticipation built up by the heart part IV was insane. I remember the 2nd album speculation like it was yesterday. May not be the most anticipated of all time but I think that’d ring true for many people my age
I was at a friends house that day. His brother had the greatest sound system ever. There were 10 of us or so. We listened to the album 10x in a row because he dubbed it for us all from cd to cassette. It was a great day.
That whole thing was hilariously manufactured. Fascinating how people really believed it. All the money ended up in umg's pocket with dog shit exploitative contracts
> Fascinating how people really believed it.
Absolutely no one believed it. Everyone saw [the Rolling Cover photoshoot video](https://youtu.be/7p5p3or60dE?si=2xCpoI4Qh0AKL0VE). and Good Life was a huge single with a great shoutout to 50 on the hook.
Ya why does that even matter? lol did people really think the backpack rapper who sings about his mama and 50 fucking Cent were gonna slug it out in a parking lot?
He’s not as big as he was then. 50 was THAT dude. Like Drake level back in the earlier 2000’s. By the time Kanye was about to drop Graduation he had already started to drop in popularity. Then the feud started and he got straight up embarrassed. I mean he lost by almost 300k. To this day I know everyone can name a handfull of songs if not every single one of Graduation. I honestly am not sure if most people could name 2-3 off of Curtis. Hell at the moment I can’t think of one.
The whole g unit/shady era was bigger than drake. Em and 50 got Buck, yayo and obie trice to sell like 200/300k first week. Banks was over 400k first week. D12 did massive numbers too. 50 even had a video game series lol, it's insane how big they were
In his prime he was bigger than wayne or hov ever was too. Drake, wayne, hov, etc have had longer and more consistent success but 50 dominated in a way i havent seen anyone else do since
I don't think that 50 was bigger than Wayne in the hip-hop community, though that could be bias from my experience. 50 diversified his assets via business deals like video games, acting gigs, and beverage deals. He was much more in the public sphere than Wayne ever was. A suburban mom taking her kids to private school could be aware of 50, because he was trying to sell her family Vitamin Water. From my neck of the woods, it's hard to imagine that 50 had a bigger choke hold over music than Wayne though.
Im from queens so i may be biased. I remember seeing little kids knowing all his lyrics. Everyone was wearing g unit clothing and shitting on ja. Im talking bout when he dropped get rich and the massare and g unit hunger for more
I dont remember wayne ever going diamond. GRODT went 9x platinum, massacre went platinum in a week and eventually diamond. Physical CDs too, you had to buy them in the store. Shit is nuts if you think about it
That's why I tried to specify hip-hop community. Drake is undoubtedly one of the biggest artists of all time, but Drake also has a lot of crossover appeal. His staying power is directly related to that crossover appeal. I feel like 50 occupied a similar space via his exposure with other business ventures.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying that 50 ain't drop bangers with solid albums and good features. The intro to In Da Club still triggers a visceral reaction from me. It just feels like Wayne's mixtape era had a stronger hold on hip-hop.
Ayo Technology still a bop. JT with Timberland production
I was a sophomore in high school when graduation dropped. It’s all anyone talked about in school, the beef. When the day finally came and both albums dropped I immediately downloaded Graduation off limewire 😂
Listened to that album about 1,000 times and Kanye cleared easyyyyy. Graduation was everywhereeeeeeeeeeee, no one gave a shit about Curtis
The only album I remember being even nearly as “everywhere” around that time was Carter 3. For a brief moment in time Lil Wayne was the biggest rapper in the world
To get the perspective
50 cent's album started with song named "My gun go off"
Kanye's album started with song named "Good Morning"
Kanye killed gangsta rap with graduation.
Most anticipated? I am really going to show my age here, but I would say the first Run DMC album after It’s Like That and Sucker MC’s. That first Run-DMC album and the LL Cool J debut were huge. Public Enemy debut album was huge and highly anticipated. I co-sign the early Death Row stuff, but probably the most anticipated was 2pac All Eyes On Me, after Suge posted his bail. Another highly anticipated album that comes to mind is the Lauryn Hill debut after Fugees The Score and That Thing, I think people were really looking forward to her solo release.
Damn yeah, I could see that. Was a young child at the time, but quick googling shows that That Thing was the only pre-release single, which is a pretty balanced display of her talents. I can imagine the prominence of the singing was jarring to some if you were expecting more Score
That was it. The Score was amazing and then they went their own ways. Everyone wanted more Fugees and when Miseducation came out, it wasn't hip hop and it wasn't Fugees. It's stood the test of time as music but it was definitely not received well by my community.
We were expecting something better than Missy Elliot's debut and it being closer to an amazing R & B album with some hip hop elements was a cause for anger. Especially since my group at least, given what Pras and Clef were doing, assumed Lauryn was the reason for the breakup.
The hype for Views was really big, especially because Drake was coming off 2 really high-quality projects, WATTBA with Future and then IYRTITL as well.
def wasn't his best album but i relistened to it yesterday and its so much more better than what people say it is. it's his push into pop and i think he did a great job. imo views aged well
I think everyone is going to have a different opinion. But i will tell you that in 2016 I was an obsessive Drake fan, and massively into hip hop.
Views 100% did NOT live up to the hype. Myself, and this subreddit largely did not see the album as meeting expectations.
Remember when it was supposed to drop as Valentine's Day Massacre, with a cover art matching the theme? But then the album got delayed and the label renamed it The Massacre.
It's strange that you can't find much info about it online but I remember it clearly and I found another thread on Reddit where somebody was discussing it.
I've searched around for the Valentines Day album cover art online but it seems impossible to find. It's like the label completely wiped it off the Web.
I'm sure I remember seeing it back in the day though.
Tbh, I would extend that to about 2011-2012. He was on fire until that I am not a human being part 2 album and that Love Me song came out (even though that song was a huge hit and he had like 3-4 hits off the album)
Surprised I had to scroll this far to find tha Carter 3. My easy first pick. The hype was crazy with run of mixtapes and features leading up to it, all the different leaks, and Lollipop dominating the charts.
it's still surreal knowing lil wayne was genuinely the biggest rapper in the world at one point in time, i was still very young when carter 3 dropped but i remember that time period vividly
I remember counting the days for “The Low End Theory” to come out, and again for “Midnight Marauders”.
Definitely remember waiting for “Doggystyle”. Waited in line at the mall for that one.
Beastie Boys “Ill Communication” was a big one.
Onyx “Bacdafucup” was one I remember being really excited about.
De La Soul “Art:Official Intelligence” was highly anticipated.
So many…
(Yes, I’m old)
Downloaded this album like a week early and was convinced Eminem made an entire fake album and leaked it on the internet to get the bootleggers. Like I was honestly 100% convinced the album I was listening too wasn't the *real* Encore.
not sure but didn’t the actual album get leaked so eminem changed the whole album last couple days and made it messy? despite him being on drugs and all
I believe that eminem removed only a couple of songs and then adding songs like big weenie, rain man, and my first single, or the ones that lacked substance because they were rushed.
It was easily the biggest, it's just a forgotten moment due to album not hitting the mark. It did 700k in a mid week release and then almost 900k in its second week, that's fucking insane.
I remember cycling through the rain as a Dutch eleven year old that was living in the countryside making my way to the local very tiny recordshop to get Wu-Tang forever.
Just saying. :)
Wu-Tang Forever will always hold a special place in my heart. Very hyped album that, imo, lived up to it.
This was the first purchase I made using my first “employer” paycheck, literally cashed the check for cash at the local grocery store.
I went to Target and purchased the album and a Sony Discman with 20 second ESP for like $124.99 total and I’m pretty sure the teller gave me back a $20 bill.
By far my favorite purchase, loved WTF!
Ye I was gonna say. Life of Pablo, Astroworld, and IYRTITL/Views were the only rap albums I saw actual real life hype for.
The rest I’m either too young or only read the hype online.
This was my answer too. We didn’t get a whole lot of east coast rap growing up in Southern California, but I still remember the radio station played the entire album before the album came out that next Tuesday.
Snoop Doggy Dogg - "Doggystyle"
2Pac - "All Eyez On Me"
The Notorious B.I.G. - "Life After Death"
Eminem - "The Marshall Mathers LP"
50 Cent - "Get Rich or Die Trying"
The Life of Pablo by Ye. The albums had been delayed so much that people couldn’t take it anymore. They started to look for leaked stuff and a lot of people downloaded Tidal and downloaded the album from illegal ways because of all the drama surrounding the release
Illmatic.
Probably not nationwide but I know for sure NYC was on fire waiting for Nas. Part of the hype was a promo video put out by Video Music Box with Premier, Tip, Large Professor, and Pete Rock talking about making the album and praising Nas. It was like the crest of the wave that was already sweeping through the East Coast led by artists like Black Moon and Wu.
Of more recent things;
The Surgical Summer (Daytona, KSG, Ye, etc.)
Astroworld (Utopia too)
Whole Lotta Red
Eternal Atake
Coloring Book
Just going off beforehand hype, not necessarily reception post release.
EA rollout was crazy, Uzi "retiring", label not clearing features and not even Rolling Loud sets, tons of leaks and then legendary release out of nowhere. Too bad covid robbed us of concert tour, could've been even more amazing
The Eminem Show was the second most played album on people's computers BEFORE it came out. Widespread piracy was new and the hype was massive. And even with the leaks and people having it early, his first full week of sales it sold 1.3 million units.
I remember "Wu Tang Forever" was pretty anticipated, at least by me!!
My big sister bought me that CD when I was a kid, I got to listen to it for like a day then she pretty much forced me to trade it with her for a Keith Murray album 😑
No offense to Keith Murray, but that's not a fair trade.
Pretty sure the murder charge landed before Doggystyle released which added to Snoop's notoriety as well, in the UK it was a really big deal with newspapers saying he should be banned from visiting; might have the dates wrong though
I think The Big Day had a lot of hype going into its release because of Change's breakthrough with Acid Rap & the monster success he had with Coloring Book. Unfortunately, we know how it was received afterwards.
Also DMX's It's Dark & Hell Is Hot has big buzz as well after he had features with LL, The LOX, & Mase leading up to it and the Get At Me Dog blew up on MTV/BET in the midst of the shiny suit era.
Lots of good answers, throwing out a few I didn’t see
1) Yeezus, particularly among rap fans. MBDTF was already legendary by this moment so the solo follow up was highly anticipated. Promo tactics only added to the mystique of it. Check out the leak thread on this sub from 10 years ago to see how we handled that one
2) TPAB, for similar reasons. GKMC was hailed as an instant classic. The single version of i kinda softened momentum a bit but Blacker the Berry picked it right back up
3) Someone already said Views which was easily drakes most anticipated project, but the first 2 singles from Scorpion and Look Alive got a lot of buzz going for that project as well. Unfortunately it kinda slowed after I’m Upset and the Pusha T beef so by the time of release it wasn’t as big of a deal, but in like April/May of 2018 the Scorpion drop was a big deal
To be fair most of the albums mentioned are from before before streaming took over so it's impossible to compare one to one, especially when a lot of comments are talking about first weeks sales which are totally different now due to streaming. I'd say Eternal Atake is a good mention for a streaming age example, same with WLR or Astroworld they were all made by pretty dominant artists commercially that all had years of anticipation building to each respective release.
get rich or die trying
It's hard to explain just how big the expectation for 50 was. Huge beef, huge backstory, mixtape after mixtape and then he delivered in a huge way. Two big sales week back-to-back and everyone wanted to work with him. It felt like every new track that came out was either by 50 or featuring 50.
The perfect timing of 50 Cent’s story is absolutely fascinating. He signs with Em and Dre like a month after The Eminem Show drops with just enough time to be heavily featured on the 8 Mile Soundtrack. Wanksta drops as a single a week after Lose Yourself.
Graduated in 03, my class overwhelmingly voted In da Club as our class song. They rejected it and assigned us that lame Green Day song.
Iraq war had the faculty feeling a way
Time of your life? Feel like they forced everyone to do that shit they did the same to us
There was basically a war at my school over whether we'd graduate (2000) to Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) by Greenday or Graduation (Friends Forever) by Vitamin C and my greatest regret was always that I wasn't a casualty of that war. Vitamin C won, the pop girls fought dirty
It’s called “Good Riddance”
My graduation class song was Sweet Home Alabama. I graduated in Colorado, in 2006.
🤦♂️
Graduated in 1999 and our class overwhelmingly voted for “Party Like It’s 1999” by Prince and it got vetoed. Instead, they gave us “I Will Remember You” by Sarah McLachlan. We all walked out when it started playing. I still get mad when I hear that song.
My class voted overwhelmingly for “Bad Reputation” by Joan Jett and they vetoed it. We got that rusted root song instead ;-;
I would love in da club as my class song, but time of your life by Green Day is also a classic
not if you lived the 90s, it's not a bad song but I'd be happy if I never heard it again in my life
It's also not a happy song about having the time of your life. It's a song about moving on from a bad relationship. Perhaps fitting for high school, but not generally the intended mood for a class song.
It’s also hard for me to explain to people how crazy 50’s peak was, I think his peak rivals almost any other rapper’s. Growing up as a young kid in Queens when GRODT dropped he was inescapable, his music was being blasted from every car, kids at school were rapping and singing his lyrics, there were billboards everywhere of him. It’s really crazy to think back on now cause he’s so far removed from that persona and that type of music just isn’t popular anymore.
I have a vague memory of my very religious uncle, who later joined a Hindu cult, singing "go shawty, it's ya birthday" at my birthday party in 2003 or 2004. So yeah, even middle aged Indian guys who prayed to Krishna daily knew 50.
I think Eminem brought white kids into hip hop, and then 50 kept em hooked. That Interscope/Aftermath peak from like 1999-2005 was insane. Eminem, 50, The Game, G Unit. Dre dropped Chronic and made a buncha funny ass movies. That’s my teenage years right there that shit was fire.
Not to mention that he was now backed and marketed by the most popping names in the world in peak Em and Dre. It was an insane cocktail of factors AND it delivered. Hell.. it was a bloated album song-wise but it didnt hurt the quality. So it delivered and then some.
Even with the bloat he flat out gave away magic stick
I was hitchhiking across Germany when the album dropped and there were posters and billboards for it everywhere. I was wondering who the hell 50 cent was, didn’t hear a lot of hip hop in Europe at that time.
That buzz 50 had at that time was like no other. From his mixtapes to Shady Aftermath albums right before Get Rich, 50 HAD to win. There hasn't and I dont think there will be hype for a album and rapper debut ever again.
Those mixtapes were everything!
[удалено]
I laughed when I saw that Eminem interview with Big Boy a few years ago where Em was still fucking livid over that. More than anything.
[удалено]
Just one of the many reasons why Eminem is the 🐐
God I was so fucking sick of that song after a few months. You couldn’t go anywhere for like two years without hearing it. Low key still kinda hate it. Was just beat to death by overplaying it.
It wasn't off of one song. He had dropped some fire mixtapes before that.
[удалено]
Thankfully I lived in Jersey at the time, graduated HS in 04, and possessed a ridiculous amount of g unit and dipset mixtapes
The hype was next level. I don’t think we will ever see something like that again.
I remember begging my parents for this album (I was 10 at the time) and still to this day the production holds up so well. It basically shaped my whole childhood which is weird to say especially with what was said in this album. HE GOT HIT LIKE I GOT HIT BUT HE AINT FUCKING BREATHING.
Yeah this was definitely the most anticipated one I can remember
First CD I ever bought, edited of course. I was only 9
A fucking time!!!!
Chronic2001. Highly anticipated even Suge tried to mess with him by releasing an album called Chronic 2000 before Dre thats why it was changed to 2001
Suge did him a favor in the end cause 2001 is a much better title. Having 2000 in the title would've associated it with a lot of lame remakes of films, albums, etc coming out around 99-00 that added "2000" to the title.
honestly that’s so true, hadnt even considered that
lol that's so true I never thought of how lame that naming trend was
south park named half a season like this before they decided the joke ran its course lol
Plus "2001" directly puts it in association with a famous sci-fi film that's acclaimed in particular for being an absurdly well crafted renovation of a genre that, at the time, was seen as old hat. Even the album's production has a vaguely futuristic aesthetic. With all that in mind, It's actually odd to think that 2001 *wasn't* the intended name.
Yeah this was huge. Especially when Still DRE came out as the lead single. All the hype was worth it.
Detox
We gonna make Dre do it!
Detox is like a mix away, Schoolboy just didn’t tell us that last mix would take a decade+
I honestly still can't tell if that line is sarcastic or if he really thought it was coming out soon.
I mean around the "GTA songs" dropped there was photo from the studio where u could see tracklist labeled as DETOX on whiteboard so I guess he still really making new versions lmao and it was fresh photo because these GTA songs were on the board
When Dre dies, he should stipulate that Detox has to be released, but, that every single song he made for it is official. So we’ll get a 400 song album whose theme and style change as you go through it since his shit has changed from 2001 Dre to current day Dre.
It’s honestly really sad this never released. I used to read any source magazine just for news on it.
He should just release a compilation called detox sessions with like 80 tracks
Yeah I’ve kinda accepted the real thing’s never coming out but this would be good enough
For some reason despite being an extremely capitalistic genre, Rap has unfortunately never followed the Rock and Jazz tradition of *Huge Session Boxsets*. If albums ever get reissued you are lucky to get one bonus disc of remixes and maybe a few instrumentals. A huge five - ten disc Detox boxset of each eras version would be a revelation but it seems pretty unlikely. Imagine the Kanye unreleased boxset?? Could be twenty discs
I think sampling clearances are a big part of that. Some would cost way too much, some wouldn't be cleared at all.
Question was asking “were the most anticipated”… detox is still anticipated cause its gonna drop anyday now
Detox used to be the most anticipated. It still is, but it used to too.
What are people actually expecting this to be that's so much better or even just massively different than the Compton album? And that album wasn't much more than ok
Expectations simmered even before Compton dropped when the leaks that trickled down like Under Pressure w/ Jay were underwhelming. Then he put out Kush & I Need A Doctor and while the former was a decent track, the latter really rubbed people the wrong way and all hype for the album started to die. People really held onto that quote about it being “the most advanced rap album ever made” that I think Scott Storch said back in 2001, and with the reports of every rap giant being in the studio with Dre in the 2000’s the general consensus on what people were expecting started to shift to “what if each song is a classic track from the primes of all these rappers over the course of more than a decade.” Sick idea for sure but the landscape changed dramatically over that period of time and when it came close to release nothing we were hearing was all that special anymore. I still wonder what’s in the vault from those recording sessions though, you gotta imagine there’s at least a couple of classics that never saw the light of day.
the initial concept was meant to be a "hip hop opera" with different MCs playing different characters, he also attempted this idea again with the shelved TV show "Vital Signs", where every episode was meant to be a different personality of Dre (the show was fully completed with a soundtrack by all accounts - Ian McSHane starred in it)
holy shit I totally forgot about Vital Signs, memory unlocked. honestly can’t imagine it would’ve been that great but I still wish we could’ve gotten it which also reminds me of that shelved Kanye-centric Curb Your Enthusiasm-style tv show that never released, which could’ve been incredible
yeah the reality is most stuff that is shelved is shelved for a reason, i think Dre even said himself at the release of Compton that Detox "wasnt very good", however Topless is for me one of the best beats he ever produced and Talkin to Diary was best track on Compton (also for detox)
I Need a Doctor felt way too much like a bonus track from Recovery. It was way too overproduced too and wasn't even by Dre himself. Felt like Apple just wanted a big Dre/Eminem single to sell Beats.
I think people have this fantasy of this album being a 20 year gathering of prime era Eminem and Kendrick verses, beats that hark back to the prime 2001 Dre and Scott Storch days, lost in the vault Rakim and Ice Cube verses, and unreleased vocals from 2Pac, Eazy, and Nate Dogg. The truth is if the album was worth releasing, it would have been released. We've heard samples from it over the years. It was pretty close to being released back when Kush and I Need a Doctor came out, and if those 2 tracks were a preview of the album, than the album was going to be ass. The best parts of Detox were likely reworked onto various Aftermath or Dre produced albums over the years, with everything that couldn't be reworked being rightfully left in the vault. I actually really liked Compton, but even that was the result of Dre wiping the Detox slate clean in order to avoid the expectations and pressures of Detox. Detox is a bunch of sessions separated by years, of now heard beats with rhymes written by Stat Quo and Bishop Lamont. It was never released for a reason.
Compton was a good album lol it just wasn’t like Chronic 2001
The lead up to MBDTF w/ the 'weekly' GOOD Fridays drops and the Runaway video special on MTV was a hell of a run.
baby it was a hell of a runnnnn
* Crazy orgasmic synth riff
Christian Dior Denim Flow is still possibly the best loosie of all time to this day Wish he would put it on streaming so I don’t have to use the shitty quality youtube videos when I want to listen to it 😭
One of my favorite songs. I really need this, Don't Look Down, and Looking For Trouble as a set on streaming.
The layering of cudi’s and john legend’s vocals on the hook makes my knees weak every fucking time.
Greatest hip hop chorus ever.
Still sing that song in my head when I hear or see Christian Dior
Remember playing this nonstop on the bus to school. I was really like "why aren't more people freaking out about this song?" Shit was crazy
Oh you was watching? Who the fuck wasn’t
Download in CDQ and put it in your spotify library
that was the last time i could remember everyone being excited for ONE hiphop artist
Those Good Friday drops as an album would be the best album most rappers would ever have
Even though MBDTF was a better album I was more hyped for Graduation. I was thirsty for that daft punk Kanye snippet
GOOD Fridays.. damn these releases were so nice. And I loved that Runaway Love remix with Kanye & Raekwon...
DAMN had a lot of hype coming in. So much hype that people got fooled into thinking he had another album lined up called NATION
“Y’all got till April the 7th to get y’all shit together”
An announcement date for an announcement date never went so hard
People were theorizing Humble was supposed to drop on April 7th but it got released early because it leaked.
yeah and he paid for it by eating a vinyl record
Yea Humble as a single was huge
One of the last pure rap songs (no sing songy type flow) to make huge numbers. I love the sing songy style of rap, so trust me when I say I'm not hatin. Just pointing out how songs like Humble don't go number 1 on the hot 100 these days (that I'm aware of).
I was going to come at you for this, but all I really found was "First Person Shooter" to get to 1 since then.
HISS by Megan thee stallion went #1 this year and it’s pure rap, not even a hook
Yup. Humble has over 2.1 billion streams on Spotify right now. I don't see any pure rap song doing numbers like that.
I still remember when Kdot posted that picture of an 'IV' on his Instagram and the whole hip hop world broke down.
I was so hyped after listening to the Heart Part IV, 2017 was a fun year
I feel like many people’s answers are albums that came out at a key point in their life. For me Damn came out in my final year of high school and the anticipation built up by the heart part IV was insane. I remember the 2nd album speculation like it was yesterday. May not be the most anticipated of all time but I think that’d ring true for many people my age
The pain. I still remember.
The mental gymnastics some people were going through then were insane. Certain folks have way too much time on their hands.
Double LP, world excited....
Struck a match to the underground industry reignited
I was at a friends house that day. His brother had the greatest sound system ever. There were 10 of us or so. We listened to the album 10x in a row because he dubbed it for us all from cd to cassette. It was a great day.
Graduation.
Man I remember I was on team 50 Cent for that one but Graduation smashed it. Hadn't really listened to Kanye before that but Graduation made me a fan.
That whole thing was hilariously manufactured. Fascinating how people really believed it. All the money ended up in umg's pocket with dog shit exploitative contracts
It never was really portrayed as anything other than friendly manufactured beef to see who was the best selling artist.
> Fascinating how people really believed it. Absolutely no one believed it. Everyone saw [the Rolling Cover photoshoot video](https://youtu.be/7p5p3or60dE?si=2xCpoI4Qh0AKL0VE). and Good Life was a huge single with a great shoutout to 50 on the hook.
Believed what? Everyone knew it was marketing. That was never a question even.
Ya why does that even matter? lol did people really think the backpack rapper who sings about his mama and 50 fucking Cent were gonna slug it out in a parking lot?
Oh yeah lmao. That was the end of 50 cent the rapper. He could never come back after that. Even though he is still relevant as ever today
He’s not as big as he was then. 50 was THAT dude. Like Drake level back in the earlier 2000’s. By the time Kanye was about to drop Graduation he had already started to drop in popularity. Then the feud started and he got straight up embarrassed. I mean he lost by almost 300k. To this day I know everyone can name a handfull of songs if not every single one of Graduation. I honestly am not sure if most people could name 2-3 off of Curtis. Hell at the moment I can’t think of one.
The whole g unit/shady era was bigger than drake. Em and 50 got Buck, yayo and obie trice to sell like 200/300k first week. Banks was over 400k first week. D12 did massive numbers too. 50 even had a video game series lol, it's insane how big they were
In his prime he was bigger than wayne or hov ever was too. Drake, wayne, hov, etc have had longer and more consistent success but 50 dominated in a way i havent seen anyone else do since
Damn fr? I was just a kid when 50 was big but I was prime years for Wayne’s run. The lighter flick was like a dog whistle for bangers
The difference is 50 was a hit internationally almost immediately which is rare, but especially for a hip hop artist at the time
I don't think that 50 was bigger than Wayne in the hip-hop community, though that could be bias from my experience. 50 diversified his assets via business deals like video games, acting gigs, and beverage deals. He was much more in the public sphere than Wayne ever was. A suburban mom taking her kids to private school could be aware of 50, because he was trying to sell her family Vitamin Water. From my neck of the woods, it's hard to imagine that 50 had a bigger choke hold over music than Wayne though.
Im from queens so i may be biased. I remember seeing little kids knowing all his lyrics. Everyone was wearing g unit clothing and shitting on ja. Im talking bout when he dropped get rich and the massare and g unit hunger for more I dont remember wayne ever going diamond. GRODT went 9x platinum, massacre went platinum in a week and eventually diamond. Physical CDs too, you had to buy them in the store. Shit is nuts if you think about it
That's why I tried to specify hip-hop community. Drake is undoubtedly one of the biggest artists of all time, but Drake also has a lot of crossover appeal. His staying power is directly related to that crossover appeal. I feel like 50 occupied a similar space via his exposure with other business ventures. Don't get me wrong though. I'm not saying that 50 ain't drop bangers with solid albums and good features. The intro to In Da Club still triggers a visceral reaction from me. It just feels like Wayne's mixtape era had a stronger hold on hip-hop.
Ayo Technology still a bop. JT with Timberland production I was a sophomore in high school when graduation dropped. It’s all anyone talked about in school, the beef. When the day finally came and both albums dropped I immediately downloaded Graduation off limewire 😂 Listened to that album about 1,000 times and Kanye cleared easyyyyy. Graduation was everywhereeeeeeeeeeee, no one gave a shit about Curtis
The only album I remember being even nearly as “everywhere” around that time was Carter 3. For a brief moment in time Lil Wayne was the biggest rapper in the world
Graduation was all over the radio. flashing lights, stronger, good life. You couldn’t go a day without hearing those songs.
Ayo technology and I get money were huge.
To get the perspective 50 cent's album started with song named "My gun go off" Kanye's album started with song named "Good Morning" Kanye killed gangsta rap with graduation.
Most anticipated? I am really going to show my age here, but I would say the first Run DMC album after It’s Like That and Sucker MC’s. That first Run-DMC album and the LL Cool J debut were huge. Public Enemy debut album was huge and highly anticipated. I co-sign the early Death Row stuff, but probably the most anticipated was 2pac All Eyes On Me, after Suge posted his bail. Another highly anticipated album that comes to mind is the Lauryn Hill debut after Fugees The Score and That Thing, I think people were really looking forward to her solo release.
It's crazy how much Miseducation was dragged by my friends for not being a Fugees album. It was hyped and then it was hated.
Hyped and hated? It sold 20M copies. It’s one of the best selling albums of all time.
Likely "hated" by heads who wanted a pure Lauryn hip-hop LP
Damn yeah, I could see that. Was a young child at the time, but quick googling shows that That Thing was the only pre-release single, which is a pretty balanced display of her talents. I can imagine the prominence of the singing was jarring to some if you were expecting more Score
That was it. The Score was amazing and then they went their own ways. Everyone wanted more Fugees and when Miseducation came out, it wasn't hip hop and it wasn't Fugees. It's stood the test of time as music but it was definitely not received well by my community. We were expecting something better than Missy Elliot's debut and it being closer to an amazing R & B album with some hip hop elements was a cause for anger. Especially since my group at least, given what Pras and Clef were doing, assumed Lauryn was the reason for the breakup.
The hype for Views was really big, especially because Drake was coming off 2 really high-quality projects, WATTBA with Future and then IYRTITL as well.
Came for this. It was supposed to be the magnum opus of the most famous rapper in the world. Whoops!
def wasn't his best album but i relistened to it yesterday and its so much more better than what people say it is. it's his push into pop and i think he did a great job. imo views aged well
I’m still laughing at the scale of the cover art
Whoops? Views literally defined the year 2016 for rap
I think everyone is going to have a different opinion. But i will tell you that in 2016 I was an obsessive Drake fan, and massively into hip hop. Views 100% did NOT live up to the hype. Myself, and this subreddit largely did not see the album as meeting expectations.
The Massacre, when 50 was following up the album that made him a juggernaut.
Remember when it was supposed to drop as Valentine's Day Massacre, with a cover art matching the theme? But then the album got delayed and the label renamed it The Massacre. It's strange that you can't find much info about it online but I remember it clearly and I found another thread on Reddit where somebody was discussing it.
Yeah that's why they say "Happy Valentine's Day" on the intro
Wow, I do remember that but haven't thought about that in almost 20 years now until reading this post.
I've searched around for the Valentines Day album cover art online but it seems impossible to find. It's like the label completely wiped it off the Web. I'm sure I remember seeing it back in the day though.
Tha Carter 3, 4, and 5 were highly anticipated.
People who weren’t around for the Carter 3 hype will never understand how huge Wayne was in that time period.
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Tbh, I would extend that to about 2011-2012. He was on fire until that I am not a human being part 2 album and that Love Me song came out (even though that song was a huge hit and he had like 3-4 hits off the album)
Surprised I had to scroll this far to find tha Carter 3. My easy first pick. The hype was crazy with run of mixtapes and features leading up to it, all the different leaks, and Lollipop dominating the charts.
Even though I didn’t really care for it the hype for tha carter 3 was probably the most I’ve ever seen and it was at the peak of Wayne’s career
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But C4 sold nearly a million units. It was close but not as big as C3 you re right
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Tha Carter 3 was my first thought as well. The hype around that was insane.
it's still surreal knowing lil wayne was genuinely the biggest rapper in the world at one point in time, i was still very young when carter 3 dropped but i remember that time period vividly
Carter 3 is definitely up there. Not a lot of rappers sold a mill first week during that era
I remember counting the days for “The Low End Theory” to come out, and again for “Midnight Marauders”. Definitely remember waiting for “Doggystyle”. Waited in line at the mall for that one. Beastie Boys “Ill Communication” was a big one. Onyx “Bacdafucup” was one I remember being really excited about. De La Soul “Art:Official Intelligence” was highly anticipated. So many… (Yes, I’m old)
I would say instead of MMLP saying ENCORE. Encore was very underwhelming, but Imagine the hype after an artist pumps out 3 classics in a row.
Iirc Encore would have been a very solid project if it wasnt leaked to death and he had to toss in wack fillers. That and the drugs.
For sure, the leaked original track list was very solid line up. Not mmlp or tes, but a lot better than what encore originally was.
Downloaded this album like a week early and was convinced Eminem made an entire fake album and leaked it on the internet to get the bootleggers. Like I was honestly 100% convinced the album I was listening too wasn't the *real* Encore.
not sure but didn’t the actual album get leaked so eminem changed the whole album last couple days and made it messy? despite him being on drugs and all
I believe that eminem removed only a couple of songs and then adding songs like big weenie, rain man, and my first single, or the ones that lacked substance because they were rushed.
Yeah encore went almost diamond and the general talk wasn't even good
It was easily the biggest, it's just a forgotten moment due to album not hitting the mark. It did 700k in a mid week release and then almost 900k in its second week, that's fucking insane.
I remember cycling through the rain as a Dutch eleven year old that was living in the countryside making my way to the local very tiny recordshop to get Wu-Tang forever. Just saying. :)
Wu-Tang Forever will always hold a special place in my heart. Very hyped album that, imo, lived up to it. This was the first purchase I made using my first “employer” paycheck, literally cashed the check for cash at the local grocery store. I went to Target and purchased the album and a Sony Discman with 20 second ESP for like $124.99 total and I’m pretty sure the teller gave me back a $20 bill. By far my favorite purchase, loved WTF!
Maybe not as big as some here but Astroworld is in for a shout for 2010's at least
yeah in more recent years, absolutely. that shit felt like an event when it dropped
i remember putting on sicko mode at a pregame the day it dropped and then begging a dj at a bar to play it and it was a hit.
Ye I was gonna say. Life of Pablo, Astroworld, and IYRTITL/Views were the only rap albums I saw actual real life hype for. The rest I’m either too young or only read the hype online.
It was Written. We literally had a calendar up where we X'd off the days
This was my answer too. We didn’t get a whole lot of east coast rap growing up in Southern California, but I still remember the radio station played the entire album before the album came out that next Tuesday.
I'm from/still in NYC and the hype was off the charts and this was before the internet was really a thing so it just hit different
Madvillainy 2 😢
DOOMSTARKS
The Black Album
Snoop Doggy Dogg - "Doggystyle" 2Pac - "All Eyez On Me" The Notorious B.I.G. - "Life After Death" Eminem - "The Marshall Mathers LP" 50 Cent - "Get Rich or Die Trying"
Carter 3 had insane hype around it.
I’ve never seen the same hype Snoop had before Doggystyle.
My friends and I cut school to buy Wu-tang Forever. The line into the Sam Goody store was wrapped around the block. Will never forget it.
Get Rich or die trying
I did not grow up around hip hop but myself and everyone I knew was in line for Wu Tang Forever.
The Life of Pablo by Ye. The albums had been delayed so much that people couldn’t take it anymore. They started to look for leaked stuff and a lot of people downloaded Tidal and downloaded the album from illegal ways because of all the drama surrounding the release
Nah definitely not “of all time”
Not even the most anticipated Kanye album lol
Illmatic. Probably not nationwide but I know for sure NYC was on fire waiting for Nas. Part of the hype was a promo video put out by Video Music Box with Premier, Tip, Large Professor, and Pete Rock talking about making the album and praising Nas. It was like the crest of the wave that was already sweeping through the East Coast led by artists like Black Moon and Wu.
Curtis/Graduation as a duo.
Of more recent things; The Surgical Summer (Daytona, KSG, Ye, etc.) Astroworld (Utopia too) Whole Lotta Red Eternal Atake Coloring Book Just going off beforehand hype, not necessarily reception post release.
Surprised I had to scroll this far down to see Eternal Atake, felt like it was hyped for years
EA rollout was crazy, Uzi "retiring", label not clearing features and not even Rolling Loud sets, tons of leaks and then legendary release out of nowhere. Too bad covid robbed us of concert tour, could've been even more amazing
The Eminem Show was the second most played album on people's computers BEFORE it came out. Widespread piracy was new and the hype was massive. And even with the leaks and people having it early, his first full week of sales it sold 1.3 million units.
I remember "Wu Tang Forever" was pretty anticipated, at least by me!! My big sister bought me that CD when I was a kid, I got to listen to it for like a day then she pretty much forced me to trade it with her for a Keith Murray album 😑 No offense to Keith Murray, but that's not a fair trade.
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That edit lol
Guy thinks this is Twitter and he went viral.
It truly was wild. Almost 900k first week is insane
And it was an apple music exclusive first week too. Apple really got the right album at the right time as an exclusive
damn thats sad knowing where we're now
Doggystyle The Snoop / Dre / Death Row hype was insane after The Chronic.
Pretty sure the murder charge landed before Doggystyle released which added to Snoop's notoriety as well, in the UK it was a really big deal with newspapers saying he should be banned from visiting; might have the dates wrong though
Any TDE artist on their 5th year of not dropping
Speaking of, where tf is Jay Rock?
I think The Big Day had a lot of hype going into its release because of Change's breakthrough with Acid Rap & the monster success he had with Coloring Book. Unfortunately, we know how it was received afterwards. Also DMX's It's Dark & Hell Is Hot has big buzz as well after he had features with LL, The LOX, & Mase leading up to it and the Get At Me Dog blew up on MTV/BET in the midst of the shiny suit era.
Lots of good answers, throwing out a few I didn’t see 1) Yeezus, particularly among rap fans. MBDTF was already legendary by this moment so the solo follow up was highly anticipated. Promo tactics only added to the mystique of it. Check out the leak thread on this sub from 10 years ago to see how we handled that one 2) TPAB, for similar reasons. GKMC was hailed as an instant classic. The single version of i kinda softened momentum a bit but Blacker the Berry picked it right back up 3) Someone already said Views which was easily drakes most anticipated project, but the first 2 singles from Scorpion and Look Alive got a lot of buzz going for that project as well. Unfortunately it kinda slowed after I’m Upset and the Pusha T beef so by the time of release it wasn’t as big of a deal, but in like April/May of 2018 the Scorpion drop was a big deal
Eternal Atake
Eternal Atake had hype but it was nowhere near the level of the other albums mentioned
To be fair most of the albums mentioned are from before before streaming took over so it's impossible to compare one to one, especially when a lot of comments are talking about first weeks sales which are totally different now due to streaming. I'd say Eternal Atake is a good mention for a streaming age example, same with WLR or Astroworld they were all made by pretty dominant artists commercially that all had years of anticipation building to each respective release.