Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith posted a photo of a whiteboard at the record label, with releases scheduled for 2016 from Schoolboy Q, SZA, Isaiah Rashad, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Kendrick Lamar, as well as two new artists labeled as John Doe 1 and 2.
While most of the releases had a stage written by them (“Mixing/3rd Stage Creative/Sample Clearance,” etc), Lamar’s was the only one with question marks by it, largely due to the secretive work habits of the label’s biggest artist. The three question marks by Lamar’s name did come with a few words of wisdom for those who want to know about the rapper’s new material: Get Top on the phone.
This isn’t the first time that Tiffith has made big promises to fans about his label’s upcoming releases. In 2013 he promised fans that every artist on his labels roster would release new material the following year. Almost all of them did, with Lamar and Jay Rock delaying their releases until 2015.
Whether or not Tiffith and TDE will be able to deliver on this whiteboard promise remains to be seen, but history and the quality of the label’s releases should give fans much to be excited about — even if they don’t get to hear all the foreshadowed records this year.
Plus, with two yet-to-be-named artists in development and the possibility of the Black Hippy (a supergroup that includes Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar) project in 2017, there is a lot to be excited about when it comes to West Coast hip-hop in the coming years.
