The Alchemist and Erykah Badu stopped by Drink Champs ahead of the release of their forthcoming collaborative album, Abi & Alan. It was previously suggested that the album would be dropping on August 29, but Alchemist seemingly delayed the release. Soon after, he suggested that the album was never actually set to drop on that day, even though there was promotional material with that date listed.
During the interview, Alchemist briefly discussed a new Jay-Z album, as clipped by The Roc Supremacy on X. He may have accidentally confirmed that Jay is back in the studio. Memphis Bleek previously implied as much during his own Drink Champs appearance earlier this month. "Imagine some new Jay-Z s**t right now," Alchemist said.
When asked if he was working on the album, he said "nah," but added that he had "a line" to the legendary MC. "You better throw that line!" replied co-host DJ EFN.
Jay-Z New Album
The Alchemist has previously called Jay-Z a dream collaboration. In the early 2000s, Alchemist presented both Jay and Nas with the beat that eventually became the classic Jadakiss and Styles P track "We Gonna Make It." They both passed on it.
Since then, the lone Jay/Alchemist collaboration did not actually come on a Hov album. It came on "The Neverending Story," a standout track from Jay Electronica's formal debut album, A Written Testimony. The album, which released in 2020, is the most recent time fans have heard from Jay-Z on a full-length project. He has not released a solo album since 4:44, all the way back in 2017.
In 2022, Jay said that he was not actively working on music, but he was not retired either, joking about his previous retirement attempt after The Black Album. Since that interview, the recording bug may have bit him again, as previously implied by Memphis Bleek a couple of weeks ago and now by The Alchemist. Hopefully, Alchemist can get his name in the race if Jay is really looking for beats to record a new album to. And hopefully, we can get a proper release date for Abi & Alan after the delay.
