When an artist passes away, the music they leave behind becomes so much more than just a body of work. In rap, especially, a posthumous album can be a powerful continuation or perhaps even a painful reminder of what might’ve been. While some are handled with care — assembled by people who genuinely understand what the artist stood for — others, unfortunately, are made to prioritize profit over legacy, with bloated tracklists and features that would've never happened if the artist were still alive.
Thankfully, for every questionable project thrown together from unfinished verses and loose snippets, there’s another carefully curated one that honors the artist’s legacy. Take Mac Miller’s Circles, for instance, which quietly laid bare his struggles. Meanwhile, Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon helped cement his place in drill history. Then there’s 2Pac’s T he Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, a haunting farewell that, like the others, reminds us exactly what we loved — and lost — in these artists to begin with.
Rap-Up rounded up nine rap posthumous albums that set the gold standard, honoring the lives and artistry of some of Hip Hop’s greatest talents. Take a look at them below.
1. Circles by Mac Miller
Hands down, no late artist’s estate has done a better job than Miller’s. Circles, the Pittsburgh native’s first posthumous album, doesn’t feel stitched together or half-finished. In fact, it sounds like something we might've gotten had things gone differently for him. On "Good News," Miller gently sorts through his mental clutter while on "Hand Me Downs" — the album’s only track with a feature — he quietly wrestles with the exhaustion of just trying to keep it together. Circles is an LP that honors the artist without draining his legacy for streams, which is exactly how posthumous releases should be done.
2. Legends Never Die by Juice WRLD
Legends Never Die was always going to be a difficult album to pull off. Posthumous projects risk diluting a legacy as much as preserving it, and in Juice WRLD’s case, that challenge was amplified by the fact that hundreds of his songs had already leaked online. Still, given the circumstances, the team did what they could with the catalog he left behind. On tracks like “Righteous” and “Wishing Well,” Juice WRLD opens up about substance abuse and how it shaped different parts of his life. The album also features a handful of collaborations, including The Kid LAROI — no longer just his protégé — Trippie Redd, Polo G and Halsey, among others.
3. Life After Death by The Notorious B.I.G.
The Notorious B.I.G. delivered one of Hip Hop most iconic albums with Life After Death. Fans got “Hypnotize,” as a single, days before his death, and once the double-disc release arrived, it brought even more classics: “Mo Money Mo Problems,” “Ten Crack Commandments” and “Notorious Thugs,” to name a few. There are very few things about this album that haven’t been said already, like the way it foreshadowed his death, but what can’t be denied is the way it laid the blueprint for honoring an artist’s legacy.
4. Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon by Pop Smoke
Despite its long title and even longer tracklist, Pop Smoke’s first posthumous album gave fans a lot to hold onto across its sprawling 19 tracks — and even more with its deluxe. “Mood Swings,” a slower collab with Lil Tjay, showed off his melodic side, while 50 Cent and Roddy Ricch add serious weight to “The Woo.”
Fans of Pop Smoke, and drill in general, can definitely appreciate how much care went into choosing samples, curating features and finishing the record just months after his death. However, at nearly two hours, the deluxe album’s length became its biggest flaw. With so many songs, not all of them got the shine they deserved, and as his follow-up project showed, the vault was running thin.
5. What It Means To Be King by King Von
What It Means To Be King is a bittersweet reminder of everything we lost with King Von’s death and what could've been. The "Took Her To The O” rapper was perhaps the second coming of Chicago drill, and that’s very evident on records like “Evil Twins” with Lil Durk, “War” and “Where I’m From.” While no one track on the album sums it all up, together, they show King Von had so much more left in him.
6. The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory by 2Pac
Recorded in just a week and released under the alias Makaveli two months after his death, The Don Killuminati captures 2Pac at his most urgent, furious and maybe even most reflective. “Hail Mary” is an obvious contender for one of his greatest tracks, while the project’s closer, “Against All Odds,” finds him openly wrestling with fate and paranoia. It’s the rap icon’s darkest masterpiece, and in many ways, the final chapter of a career defined by brilliance and controversy — delivered from beyond the grave.
7. Paper Route Frank by Young Dolph
Young Dolph saves his heaviest moment for the last record of Paper Route Frank: “In a fake world full of fake love / F**k a b**ch, all I need is my drugs.” The 13-song offering serves as a proper goodbye for the Memphis legend, featuring longtime collaborator Key Glock alongside appearances from 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane and others. Lines like “I don't play with these lil n**gas, I got kids at home” on “Old Ways,” and Dolph looking back on his rise on tracks like “Hall of Fame” and “Love For The Streets,” only make his loss feel even harder to accept all these years later.
8. Welcome To JFK by Chinx
Welcome To JFK is very much a snapshot of its era. It was Chinx’s first posthumous release, arriving just three months after his death. While technically the New York rapper’s debut album, it followed a relatively strong run of mixtapes (Cocaine Riot being his most recognizable), meaning fans already had a pretty good idea of what to expect. The 12-song project ended up capturing the essence of the late artist, from the street life on “Hey Fool” and “Pray” to the emotional depth found on “Thug Love.”
9. Keed Talk To 'Em 2 by Lil Keed
Some of the most powerful moments on Keed Talk To 'Em 2, an album Lil Keed teased long before his passing in 2022, don't even come from the songs themselves. Instead, they come from the fact that his daughter took on the role of executive producer. That said, the music matches, and often exceeds anything he'd previously released up until this point.
With “Muso Kuso” and his Karlae duet “Betty Boop,” the Atlanta rapper was clearly on his way to becoming one of Young Stoner Life Records' most versatile artists. While fans loved tracks like “Nameless” and “Balenciaga” on the first installment, some of the surefire cuts this time include the Big Sean-assisted “Hottest” and the earlier-released “Long Way to Go.”