Some of the biggest stars in Hip Hop set some major standards for collaborating in 2011. From start to finish, the year featured some of the craziest joint projects we’ve seen in years. Doing joint mixtapes/albums has been a part of the game for a bunch of years. It is sometimes how new artists are broken into the game and how artists generate new buzz. For our third Year In Review topic, we will be discussing the proposed joint projects for 2012 and see if they will live up to what 2011 had to offer. Hit the jump for Topic #3.

YEAR IN REVIEW TOPIC #3: Will The Joint Projects Be Up To Par In 2012?

This year the Hip Hop game was taken to a new level. It all began in the early spring when Ricky Rozay announced that his newly formed Maybach Music Group would be releasing a compilation album in late May. Then Rozay and co began releasing banger after banger after banger. “600 Benz“, “Fitted Cap”, “That Way“, “Big Bank”, “By Any Means”, the hits just keep going. Self Made not only established MMG as a force to reckon with as a group but it also brought Wale, Meek Mill, and Rick Ross’s solo career to higher levels. The MMG sound became the sound of the summer.

That is until someone came out that was gonna top what MMG was doing. With the rumors of Watch The Throne beginning to sizzle more and more, it was apparent that the Kings of Hip Hop were preparing for their return. When Jay and Ye dropped “Otis” on July 20th, it was over from there. The Throne took over as the best collaborating duo/group in the game and there was no debating it. They put out a phenomenal album that will be forever imprinted in Hip Hop history.

There was a bunch of other joint projects throughout the year including Gucci & Waka, Jeezy’s USDA album, rumors of a Weezy x Drizzy tape, and then finally another great duo in Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa. The killer smoking tandem dropped a ton of great music this year culminating in their album Mac + Devin Go To High School soundtrack.

Bottom line, 2011 was a big year for collaboration projects, but will 2012 follow suit? Will 2012 feature worse collabs? Or better? Will we get anything that compares to Self Made? Or WTT? Is that even possible? Surprisingly, I think it is. I think 2012 has some crazy potential to not only be up to par in terms of quality but maybe even overtake 2011 and be the better year for collabs. When you look at the announcements up to this point we have a bunch of projects “supposedly” being worked on.

First, we got another MMG project but this year its all about Wale and Meek Mill. The two have recently announced via Twitter that they will be putting out a joint mixtape at the beginning of this year. Their chemistry is clearly evident on tracks like “100 Hunnit”, “Ambition“, and “Pandemonium” so you can’t doubt the music will be of good quality. Their styles are vastly different but do sound well when collaborating. Both are also very big competitors, so expect each others presence to motivate some insane bars. Nothing is official about this project but based on how Ricky Rozay does business, expect this tape out ASAP!!!

Next we have another joint mixtape that involves the MMG BAWSE. This tape was announced before Wale and Meek made their announcement and based off their collaboration on Drake’s album, the Drizzy/Rozay joint tape is looking like it has a good shot of dropping. Drake and Rozay have loved working with each other and have some of their biggest hits when they do collab. Think just 2011 alone. “I’m On One” was probably the song of the summer (maybe the year), “Free Spirit” was a dope throwaway that had everyone quoting the hook, and “Lord Knows” was so epic, courtesy of Just Blaze. Not even mentioning “Aston Martin Music” or anything before this year, Drizzy and Rozay have some of the best chemistry in the game for collaborations. Both are living that YOLO life right now and seem to be enjoying the life in M.I.yayo. I’d expect this tape in the late spring, get you ready for that summertime grind.

Moving on to the next project possibly dropping in 2012 and we get to the Big Sean x Wiz Khalifa x Curren$y mixtape. The trio dropped 5 stoner tracks this summer and seemed to all confirm that they were releasing a mixtape together. Everyone seemed to pretty pleased from the music and it seemed like a dope teaser for the tape. Then the months kept passing and this news seemingly was forgotten. But…….all three haven’t been doing too many shows lately and have reported that they are taking more studio time now. I definitely expect a few more tracks if not the actual full tape sometime this year. Another probable summertime project for that weather when its perfect to smoke outside.

Before I get into the last joint project I’m hyped about for 2012, I’m going to speak a little on a project that has been talked about lightly but has some hugeeee potential if it ever drops. About 10 months ago I came across this one YouTube video of Kendrick Lamar playing a track in some sort of public place for a big crowd of people. The track was a collab with J. Cole called “Temptations”. Since then, the track has not been released in CDQ form and numerous journalists have been hounding J. Cole and Kendrick about their work together. Over the course of 2011 through various interviews, both confirmed that they have a joint project in the works. I would assume that they are going to try and drop it in 2012 because it would do wonders for both of their careers as well as give the world some of the dopest music they’ve heard from two young artists. Think about the best two young lyricists? Think about the two up and comers with the most potential? Go watch the YouTube video of Kendrick playing “Temptations” and honestly tell me you can only play it one time. This collab would be insane and I really hope both parties drop some shit for us this year.

So finally we get to the end of this topic but I figured I’d leave the best for last. 2012 will feature one of the craziest compilation albums of all time. Obviously MMG did work with Self Made in 2011, but Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music crew are about to take the compilation album to an entirely new level. Just lets discuss the roster real quick. Ye’s got Big Sean, Cudder, Pusha, CyHi, Common, John Legend, Mos Def, Mr. Hudson, and a few more smaller names. Just based off those names, your expectations have to really high. They got some of the best hook artists in John Legend and Cudder. Some of the best young and older rappers in Big Sean, Common, Pusha, and CyHi. And finally Ye is the biggest beast of a creative genius in the game right now so you know the production is going to be off the charts. If you’re still questioning this project, think back to the summer/fall of 2010 when Kanye started G.O.O.D. Fridays. He basically put out an albums worth of music that were all great quality records and were highly embraced by the Hip Hop community. Also to top it off, Ye will probably get Jay for a feature and maybe even Cole or Frank Ocean. Anyway you put it, the buzz for this album right now is at a way higher level than it was for Self Made at this time last year (granted MMG wasn’t as established but Ricky Rozay’s buzz was super high).

Well folks, 2012 should be one heck of year for collaborations. We got some unbelievable music in 2011 from the likes of Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and more, but can Ye bring us back to back to back years of Hip Hop dominance? My guess is….abso-fuckin-lutely!!!

As usual hit the comment section, Facebook, or Twitter for opinions and feedback.

PREVIOUS: Topic #2 | Topic #1