Sometimes our favorite artists hit a creative slump. Sometimes they experiment too much and go wide left and lose their core audience. Sometimes they stay out of the mix for too long and are almost forgotten. Whatever the case, there’s no doubt that everyone loves a great comeback.
Here are five of our favorite comeback albums
Mariah Carey “The Emancipation of Mimi” (2005) – After the disaster that was Glitter (the movie and album) and the forgettable Charmbracelet, Mariah was in a slump to say the least and it wasn’t looking good. Then she came back with this masterpiece of an album that featured among other hits “We Belong Together”, which was so massive it was named song of the decade by Billboard and with that, Mariah was back on the throne.
Nas “Stillmatic” (2001) – After a couple of lukewarm albums (I Am, Nastradamus), Nas had literally fallen from” the top ten (emcee) to not mentioned at all” by 2001. That Jay Z guy was working his way up to King of NY status and Nas was the last obstacle in his way to the throne. Jay dropped “Takeover” and no one thought Nas could or would recover. But low and behold, God’s son bounced back with Stillmatic to silence his naysayers. Fueled by “Ether”, his response track to Jay Z and the brilliant “One Mic”, Stillmatic re-established Nas’ rightful place in rap’s upper echelon.
Common “Be” (2005) – Common had good momentum coming off of his most successful commercial album, Like Water For Chocolate and then he veered left. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar left. Electric Circus was more or less a big experimental jumbled mess. Panned by fans and critics alike, Common seemed down for the count. Plus he was dressing really weird and we just didn’t know what to make of him anymore. Then a kid called Kanye emerged and essentially re-inspired Com back into his b-boy aesthetic. His verse on Ye’s “Get ‘Em High” was the warning shot; then he dropped Be to the relief of fans across the globe. “They say the crochet pants and the sweater was wack / Seen “The Corner”, now they say that n—a’s back.” Common rapped on the album track “They Say.” Yes, he was back indeed!
New Edition “Home Again” (1996) – No one knew what to expect when plans for this album were made public. It had been eight years since their last album. A lot happened since 1988 when NE Heartbreak was released and become a huge Pop and R&B hit. Bobby Brown left the group and became the reigning King of R&B, Bell Biv Devoe branched off and helped usher in the Hip Hop Soul sound and Ralph and Johnny both forged very substantial solo careers for themselves. So the question was What would a New Edition album sound like in the mid-nineties, especially an album with all six members……together!?!?!? Well, in short, it would sound just like you’d expect a New Edition album to sound. The guys didn’t miss a beat. The lead single “Hit Me Off” was a hit and the album debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. All was well in NE land until the ill fated “Home Again Tour”. It would be another eight years before the group would band back together for the One Love album, this time without Bobby.
Jay Z “American Gangster” (2007) – Let’s face it: 2006’s comeback effort Kingdom Come left a lot to be desired for Hov fans. It seemed that in the three years since what was supposed to be his final album, The Black Album, rap had moved on without its leader. Lil Wayne, T.I., and even Jay’s own protégé Kanye West were now leading the pack. So, when Jay did come back to a so-so response with Kingdom Come, everyone wondered if he had lost his touch. Even “Blue Magic, “the first single from the American Gangster album, left us feeling like ‘ehhh almost but not quite’. It wasn’t until the album’s second single, “Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)”, that the God MC seemed to win his fans back over for good and he’s been on a helluva run ever since.
