I’m placing Kanye West on this list knowing full well what history has taught us. The lead-ups to Kanye albums are notoriously mysterious and filled with confusion. I have no idea if Yeezus will bless us with new music this year, and neither do you. But that won’t stop me from clicking down endless conspiracy theory rabbit holes and getting myself excited without a shred of concrete evidence.

Here’s what we do know: Kanye and Kid Cudi’s reconciliation last summer allegedly led the duo to Japan for a private recording session. G.O.O.D. Music teased us with a new and suspiciously blank Soundcloud account at the end of December. Multiple tweets and Instagram posts from involved parties appeared to hint at a New Year’s Eve release, which obviously didn’t come to pass, but then again, when is the last time a Kanye album arrived on time?

Whether we receive a Kanye/Cudi collab, a potential Cruel Winter collection from G.O.O.D. Music, or a full-blown Kanye West follow up to 2016’s The Life of Pablo, odds are, something is dropping early in 2018. Will there be frustrations along the way? Of course. But if it leads to another potential hip hop masterpiece, we’ll deal with the hiccups as they come.

by Kiel Hauck

Kiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple online and print publications and was most recently an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.