2020, regardless of the craziness that has occurred, has been a fantastic year for music. From the highly anticipated releases of Eternal Atake and Savage Mode 2 to various projects from some of rap’s favorites, such as Lil Baby, Future, and Gunna, this year seems to not be missing anything. However, some artists have completely gone missing. Fans have been wondering where many artists are who have seem to have disappeared off of the face of the Earth.

Playboi Carti is the most obvious “gone missing” artist from this year. Anticipation for his Whole Lotta Red project has been through the roof for over a year, especially since claiming in July 2019 that it would be arriving in “the next 60 days.” Delays of the project are likely due to various reasons. Some attribute it to the fact that many of Carti’s songs have been leaking. From “Minute Maid,” “Kid Cudi,” and “Cancún,” these tracks could have easily been scheduled to release on the album; however, when a song is leaked, many artists don’t end up officially releasing them.

Along with the leaks, the album’s delay can be credited to Carti’s mysterious persona. No one really knows what Carti is up to most of the time as, when compared to other mainstream rappers, he isn’t very active on social media, only posting a handful of times within the last year. Many of his Instagram posts have been hyping up his album, leaving fans excited, but as time goes by, fans have ultimately been disappointed.

Hope was evident back in April when Cart finally released a song titled “@ MEH.” Many rap enthusiasts thought the time was coming for the album to be released. Over a half of a year later, it is still missing. Maybe it could drop before the year ends, but don’t be surprised if the wait continues.

Next, we have Kanye West: the all time great who sadly is currently more in the news for random shenanigans than his music. After failing to release the albums Yandhi and now Donda, Kanye has developed a growing tendency to leave fans disappointed.

Excitement for the Donda album was at its highest back in July when Kanye went very, very active on Twitter. He announced that the album would be released on July 24, even adding a track list, but he deleted the tweet shortly after. Days later, he posted a newer, shorter tracklist. On Wednesday of that week, two days before the supposed release of Donda, he again tweeted a new track list with a different album name: DND: WTH CHLD. 

At the least, fans are confused as to what is going on with Kanye. Ultimately, his bipolar disorder is likely responsible for his indecisiveness. After releasing JESUS IS KING, he devoted himself to not releasing any more secular music, which is why fans were surprised and excited to hear announcements of new rap music.

It has been a trend in Kanye’s career to delay many of his releases. With only a few weeks left in the year, chances look slim that fans will get Donda this year. Fans can only hope that it will get released at some point, unlike Yandhi, which seemed to disappear from everyone’s mind after its failure to officially release.

After the grand success of their Culture and Culture II group albums alongside each of the members’ solo projects, Migos have seemed to take the year off from dropping major releases.

Many fans expected their next album to be released in 2019, which most likely would have been titled Culture III. However, the entire year went with no word on the album’s existence. In 2020, fans continued to hope for the release, as it would’ve been over two years since the group’s last major album.

In May, Migos told Lil Wayne in an interview that their next album wouldn’t take the title Culture III, which surprised many, but it was a blessing to hear them speak about a possible album. Regardless of the lack of a major release from the group, they have released multiple singles, which have all been very successful.

In February, Migos released “GNF” featuring Travis Scott and Young Thug. They followed that with the anticipated “Taco Tuesday” and “Racks 2 Skinny.” Their latest single, “Need It” featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again, was by far the best song of theirs from this year and was confirmed to be on their next album, whenever that is to be released.

Although fans haven’t gotten an album, the release of many singles has improved the wait. Hopefully, Migos will relieve the anticipation held by fans by releasing what everyone wants before the year ends: a new album.

Legend J. Cole has gone over two years since his last major release KOD. In 2019, he pleased fans with Revenge of the Dreamers III, which is the compilation project from Cole and his Dreamville record label. Although being one of the best works of 2019, everyone is still awaiting a solo album from Cole himself.

Cole has been teasing an album titled The Fall Off, especially after unofficially announcing that it would drop in 2020 at a music festival back in November of 2019. Yet, the album is nowhere to be found, but that doesn’t mean fans should be completely hopeless of a drop to cap off the year.

Cole released two singles back in July: “The Climb Back” and “Lion King on Ice,” with the former receiving great praise among the industry. Only a few days ago did Cole revive the Instagram account of his alter ego “kiLL edward.” The account posted a story that said “Damn been off for awhile but ima make sure we end 2020 something special! [SIC]” This post can only mean that J. Cole is finally going to give fans The Fall Off, so it is fair to expect a major release from him in the coming months.

Post Malone is another megastar who has seemed to take a break in 2020 from releasing major projects. That said, the break is much deserved after his 2018 and 2019 releases beerbongs & bentleys and Hollywood’s Bleeding. Both were very successful mainstream-wise, as they both peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200.

Not a lot of news surrounds a possible album from Post Malone this year, so it doesn’t seem likely that he will come out of nowhere and release an album within the coming weeks, especially since he hasn’t released any singles leading up to a project. Fans begging for a 2020 album are probably better off staying patient and waiting for 2021. Based on his previous releases, it will likely be worth the wait.

Other artists who have been pretty quiet this year are Ski Mask the Slump God and Kendrick Lamar. Ski Mask hasn’t released a project since late 2018 while Kendrick last released DAMN in 2017. While Kendrick hasn’t dropped much since 2017, Ski Mask, since his album release, has released multiple singles with the latest being released in July of 2020, titled “Burn the Hoods.” Neither artist is very active on social media, so only time will tell when their next albums are to be released.

Lil Skies and Lil Pump have also left fans without a major release so far in 2020. Rather than another album, each artist has released multiple singles this year. Lil Skies hasn’t said much on a new project for this year; however, Lil Pump has been teasing Lil Pump 2 for quite a while. As his last project Harverd Dropout was dropped after many months of speculation, Lil Pump may be doing similarly and choosing to make fans wait.

Travis Scott, to the disappointment of many, will most likely not be releasing an album before the year ends. In 2018, his ASTROWORLD was top tier, and he finished off 2019 by releasing his compilation project JACKBOYS with the members of his record label, including Don Toliver and Sheck Wes. His musical activity, referring to official releases, hasn’t been plentiful this year; however, his releases “THE SCOTTS” with Kid Cudi and “FRANCHISE” featuring M.I.A and Young Thug both went #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Both tracks are likely to be on his next album, which many believe is to be named Utopia. Although everyone can agree that Utopia would be the icing on the cake to a fantastic year for music, fair judgement says that 2021 or even 2022 is the year for its release.