Schoolboy Q, Kendrick Lamar and Ab-Soul photographed backstage at Fader Fort during SXSW on March 16, 2012 in Austin, Texas.
In March, Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith shared a photo of a whiteboard detailing the 2016 rollout plan, which included six album releases. On Wednesday (Dec. 28), Tiffith tweeted that TDE had met its goal, thanks to the label's newest signee Lance Skiiiwalker and an unnamed artist who dropped an album this year.
"i dropped 6 albums this yr. John Doe 1 n 2 both dropped," he typed. "@skiiiwalker was 1 of them. do you know who the other 1 is ?"
The Top Dawg roster has been keeping busy the past 365. Kendrick Lamar released his surprise project Untitled, Unmastered while ScHoolboy Q dropped the Grammy-nominated The Blank Face LP. Isaiah Rashad and Ab-Soul also delivered The Sun's Tirade and Do What Thou Wilt., respectively while the aforementioned Skiiiwalker debuted his Introverted Intuition album.
To note, two TDE acts did not release a project. Rapper Jay Rock was recovering from a motorcycle accident while singer SZA called out label president Punch in October, tweeting, "I actually quit. @iamstillpunch can release my album if he ever feels like it. Y'all be blessed." The follow-up to SZA's 2014 effort Z still has yet to be released.
While the mystery artist is anyone's guess, Tiffith teased in his tweet, "i will reveal in 2017." Fortunately, the new year is only four calendar flips away.