‘That Surprise Rap Album Was Fake as F*ck’: Friday Morning Came and…

After days of podcast teases, cryptic hints, and fan theories spiraling out of control, music fans woke up Friday morning to the realization that no surprise album had dropped, contradicting the vague promises of multiple show hosts.

People predictably handled the letdown with jokes, frustration, and a lot of finger-pointing.

“That surprise rap album was fake as fuck,” one user posted on X, summing up the general mood.

“So where’s this surprise album ppl were talking about?” another asked, as timelines filled with memes and sarcastic think pieces about being emotionally manipulated by podcasters.

The chaos started earlier this month when Mal of the New Rory & Mal podcast teased that a “major artist” was gearing up to drop a surprise album. Initially, Mal suggested the release would land on Christmas. When that didn’t happen, he circled back on Tuesday’s episode, insisting he’d simply jumped the gun.

“I thought he was going to drop on Christmas—I was a little early,” Mal said. “Maybe some things didn’t get cleared with the industry being closed but he is dropping on Thursday night.”

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That was enough to send hip-hop fans into full detective mode.

Rory attempted to pry more information out of his co-host, floating names like J. Cole and even suggesting it could be Drake. At one point, Rory jokingly proposed that it might be a TDE release from Doechii—an idea Mal shut down immediately.

“I’m not waiting for a Doechii album,” Mal said. “This Thursday, we get an album that I think we’ve all been collectively waiting for.”

Those comments narrowed the suspect list fast. Online, fans became convinced the mystery album had to be J. Cole’s long-teased The Fall Off or Drake’s Iceman, especially given Mal’s well-known relationship with Drake. Others even threw Max B (whose latest collab tape with French Montana, Coke Wave 3.5, did come out), because, at this point, why not?

Joe Budden speculates on the release of an highly anticipated Hip-Hop Album:

“The word around the internet is that homeboy might be dropping soon” - Joe Budden

“It ain’t no might, I got track-list ”- ICE

I can confirm ICE is not talking about Drake pic.twitter.com/vum6OuZNoS
— Caleb (@CalebFromX) January 8, 2026

The speculation picked up even more steam after Joe Budden and his ever-chatty podcast crew jumped into the conversation.

“The word around the internet is that homeboy might be dropping soon,” Budden said on his show.

His co-host Ice quickly escalated things saying, “Ain’t no might. I got a tracklist.”

Laughter followed once Ice clarified who he was referring to the artist (name bleeped, of course) but Budden later added fuel to the fire by explicitly referencing Drake.

“I was talking about one of the biggest-selling artists of all time. Aubrey Drake Graham,” Budden said. “There’s so much anticipation for this shit. More people are waiting for this than ever before.”

And yet, Thursday night came and went. No album. No surprise drop. No mysterious streaming link appearing at midnight.

“Ain’t no surprise album dropping, Mal lame ass just wanted some attention,” X user @jayy_capooo wrote.

“Drake and Cole not dropping tonight idk why yall hyping that up," another post said.

Let this be a lesson that podcast hints are not release dates.

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