Nas released the rumored first single from the album, “The Season,” which finds him rapping over J Dilla’s “Gobstopper” beat and teased what’s rumored to be the album’s title, The Season of Nasir. Also, back in 2013, he confirmed the existence of a collaboration with Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, and Timbaland titled “Sinatra In The Sands.” But whether the album focuses on dusty Dilla breaks or superstar features, anticipation is high after 2012’s Life Is Good became his most unanimously acclaimed album in a long time. —Al Shipley
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
a perfect path for Late Nights: The Album in 2014, Def Jam mysteriously pushed the release date back over and over, until it finally disappeared from the schedule. Jeremih ended 2014 on a low note, getting arrested trying to force his way onto a plane in New Jersey. But we’re confident he’ll work it all out and get that album to us in 2015. —Al Shipley
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
Overgrown, won the illustrious Mercury Prize in 2013. In a November interview with the Miami New Times, Blake dropped hints about his forthcoming third album, saying it was 70 percent done and that he hoped to get Kanye West to contribute to the record, only making it harder to wait for its release. —Meaghan Garvey
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
In the same interview– and the same page– he went on to say:
I have a lot of respect for [Kanye], for what he has been releasing for years. We haven’t done a great deal of work in the same room yet, but we’ve done a few things, kind of helped each other with our own music. In terms of the actual collaboration for this record, it looks like we should be able to get something done. I know that there’s a specific song I would like him to be on, and if he can do that by the time my record comes out, that would be fantastic.
So it’s all up to Kanye.
as Blake took a seat at the piano, you could’ve heard a pin drop. He’s only sharpened his compositional skills since then. His second album, Overgrown, won the illustrious Mercury Prize in 2013. In a November interview with the Miami New Times, Blake dropped hints about his forthcoming third album, saying it was 70 percent done and that he hoped to get Kanye West to contribute to the record, only making it harder to wait for its release. —Meaghan Garvey
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
James Blake’s 2010 CMYK EP—in particular, its Kelis and Aaliyah-sampling title track—set trends that are still echoed by bedroom producers worldwide, and ushered in a new wave of restrained, moody two-step with a penchant for disembodied R&B samples. And while many of his disciples
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
who’s who of new wave mega-producers like Sonny Digital and London On Da Track work as the complementary role players who allow the stars to shine, and Birdman assumes the role as the hand-rubbing Pat Riely-like mastermind. The mixtape’s mercurial lushness is the sound du jour of the past year. One minute Thugger and Quan are cooing over the soft pianos of “Givenchy” and the next they are growling and
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
the rest of the album sounded uninspired. As 2014 wore on and Big Sean’s name was featured on more gossip blogs that rap blogs, many felt it was time to write him off. Then, in September, he took to SoundCloud to swiftly silence haters and completely change the narrative of his career. The four song drop, which featured “4th Quarter,” "Jit/Juke,” “Paradise,” and “IDFWU," was unexpectedly and refreshingly
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
narrative evolved in lock step with the changes in Cudi’s own life—as he went from relative unknown to superstar struggling with addiction to a father—makes for an even more emotional conclusion. Cudi said that the “series was meant to show me grow as a man” and that this final chapter “will really be answering the biggest question: Have I found happiness?” While Indicud and WZRD are excellent, albeit slightly experimental, albums, Cudi has always sounded most focused and at his best when working under the MOTM concept. The conclusion to the trilogy
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
The ascent of the singer born Peter Gene Hernandez to superstardom was so swift and all-encompassing that Bruno Mars headlined the 2014 Super Bowl Halftime Show with only two albums under his belt. And he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon—Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” with Mars strutting across the song’s ’80s groove doing his best Morris Day
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
The 26-year-old Canadian singer, songwriter, producer, and music video director has always been blunt—often taking to Tumblr to opine on topics ranging from sexism down to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge—but it took a lot of balls for her to admittedly tell The New York Times last fall that the material she was working on as a follow-up to 2012’s sublime Visions
The 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015 | Complex
