Posthumous Projects
If 2020 hasn’t been enough of a weird trip, how do three dead rappers dropping new albums factor in?
Although a posthumous album is no new concept, their popularity has certainly risen in recent years. This year alone Mac Miller, Juice WRLD, and Pop Smoke have all released top streaming albums post-mortem.
Posthumous albums serve as a testament to the artist’s career, especially an expected one like Queen’s last studio record. Freddie Mercury knew his battle with AIDS would soon take him; Made in Heaven was a means of confronting his own mortality.
But what about an unexpected posthumous album? When an artist’s unfinished work is completed for them, who is it really for?
Back in January, listeners of Mac’s unexpected posthumous album, Circles, faced the dichotomy of loving that new music from an artist they thought they’d never get to hear from again, and concern that the album may lack Mac’s creative integrity.
It feels wrong to let what Mac was working on go unheard, while it also feels deeply wrong to finish it without him still here.
The majority of his fans were probably more excited than anything to be able to relish in his talent for 12 more songs (and later two more off the Deluxe version), but as conscious consumers, we have to think about the bigger picture and the hidden agendas of the companies that rule the industry.
On July 21st, Mac Miller’s team at Warner Records announced that they are working on an “untitled project” on behalf of the late rapper. This will be the second Mac Miller-centric project since his death to accidental drug overdose in 2018.
Warner Record’s has asked fans to contribute to the second posthumous project, stating that a "toll-free phone number has been set up to collect your stories, thoughts and wishes as part of this project. Your offerings are deeply appreciated." If you want to contribute to Mac Miller’s new project, here’s the link.
It is undetermined whether this will be a documentary or an album, or some other form of media. Is this a means of exploitation, or is it a positive way for fans to celebrate his legacy?
Accidental drug overdose took another talented musical mind last December. Seven months after he died, Juice WRLD’s, Legends Never Die was released, showing fans the beautifully dark world he lived in.
He had a masterful grip on melody, creating an airy space for his lyrics about depression, addiction, anxiety, and heartbreak. Juice was only 21 and had so much music left to give the world; the Chicago rapper’s posthumous album is his parting gift to fans.
Another life that was taken too soon is Pop Smoke, who was only 20 years old and just getting started in the music scene. His posthumous album released in July, Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, showcases his soulful baritone voice and immortalizes the young talent. Like Mac, his label also released a Deluxe version of the album, just one week later.
Pop Smoke, Juice WRLD, and Mac are likely not the last musicians whose label will release albums and other projects post-mortem. Most of the money that is generated from a deceased musician's work goes straight to the label they were signed with, since after death they own the same amount of royalty rights.
One can argue that these big record labels produce these projects to exploit tragedy and rack in money. And without the presence of the artist, does the integrity of the project remain intact?
Nevertheless, as fans, we’re excited to hear new tracks from music geniuses who are no longer with us. In this new trend, music labels have taken on the responsibility not only to fans, but to artists like Mac, Juice, and Smoke, to finish the work of evolving rappers.
We think the world could always use a little bit more music.
Written by Nati Hazday, Edited by Emma Barsky