As they say, "there's strength in numbers." In Hip-Hop's so-called "Golden Age," MC's seemed like they had more of a willingness to share the spotlight with other group members. Today, the traditional "rap group" seems to have almost completely disappeared — or been forced into early retirement — due to external factors.
The idea of a "Super Team" entered the mainstream lexicon thanks to the NBA — and specifically LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh — after the three superstars partnered for a run at the 'chip in Miami. While this idea of bringing together pre-established talent may seem like the actions of a savvy GM, there's also actually precedent in Hip-Hop. Sadly, many of these dream teams never came to fruition.
Here are the seven Hip-Hop supergroups we wished happened:
The Commission
The Commission was the brainchild of The Notorious B.I.G. who planned to release a project with JAY-Z, Charli Baltimore, Lil Cease, Puffy Daddy, and producer Lance "Un" Rivera. At the time, Biggie was putting the finishing touches on Life After Death. Due to his and JAY-Z's busy schedules, none of the artists were able to gather for a single studio session. Biggie famously broached the idea of the group on "What’s Beef."
While we were lucky to get Biggie and JAY collabs on “Brooklyn’s Finest,” “I Love the Dough” and “Young G’s,” we can't help but think what a group would have looked like?
Almyghty Myghty Pythons
Souls of Mischief and The Pharcyde actually formed Almyghty Myghty Pythons and released a single called "Amp" in 2001. Needless to say, fans of both groups were enthusiastic about what an entire project would sound like.
In a since deleted Facebook post, Souls of Mischief's A-Plus described that they had recorded at least 11 songs. What could have been...
Murder Inc.
Producer Irv Gotti first gathered JAY-Z, Ja Rule ,and DMX on Mic Geronimo's 1995 track "Time to Build." While all three would eventually go on to super stardom, Mic Geronimo was actually the A-side of the collaboration because the aforementioned legends hadn't yet released their debut projects yet.
All three artists partnered for JAY-Z's Hard Knock Life Tour. Then, in 1999, the trio appeared together on the cover of XXL with a headline that read: "Introducing Ja Rule, JAY-Z, DMX as Murder Inc." As a group Murder Inc. only released two songs: "Mudergram" and "It's Murda." Sadly, the parties involved cited "ego" as a major factor as to why we never got a whole album.
Wu-Tang Clan and the Bootcamp Clik
In 2010, Sean P proposed the idea of a super group featuring Wu-Tang and the Bootcamp Clik which would have involved wrangling a total of 16 living members.
Wu-Tang and Boot Camp Clik came up as peers. Black Moon’s Enta Da Stage and the Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) were released one month apart in 1993. While we never got an official album, we did get "Clans & Clik"s off Sean Price’s posthumous album Imperius Rex.
2Face
According to Hip-Hop lore, 2Pac and Scarface were going to release a double album under the name "2Face." One side was supposedly going to be a 2Pac album, and the other would be Scarface's. Both projects would be sold as part of a bundle with videos for each song. Unfortunately, Pac's untimely death derailed their plans.
Heltah Skeltah
Dr. Dre and Ice Cube were committed to coming together as Heltah Skeltah — especially after the response to “Natural Born Killaz,” from the 1994 Murder Was The Case soundtrack.
Ice Cube cites Dre's commitment to new artists like Eminem and 50 Cent as to why this project never happened.
Golden State Warriors
Long before the Golden State Warriors introduced the world to the Splash Brothers, Xzibit, Ras Kass, and Saafir were planning on releasing a joint project under the same name.
“At the time, Ras Kass and myself were Southern California’s golden children when it came to going out and being from the battle rap, underground scene, making a lot of noise nationwide,” Xzibit said. “Saafir was definitely our counterpart. We dug Saafir and there was no Northern-Southern California connection at the time. But Saafir stood out from where he was from too. And so altogether, we was like, ‘Oh we gotta be a group.’ And so we did that and we called ourselves the Golden State Warriors. And we started getting a lot, a lot of heat.”
Ultimately, a cease and desist letter forced them to change the name of their group to the Golden State Project.
While all three MC's appeared on Xzibit's "3 Card Molly," the project simply never came to fruition.