After More Than a Decade, Jay Electronica's 'Act II' Has Been Released

It only took 11 years and a group of opportunistic Discord users.

Jay Electronica fans woke up to an unexpected, yet certainly welcomed, surprise this morning.

According to Hip-Hop N More, the rapper's perpetually-teased (and eventually-shelved,) album, Act II: Patents of Nobility, has leaked in its entirety. If you count yourself as one of the legion holding out for Act II over the last 11 years, you can thank the efforts of a group of nearly 1,000 opportunistic Discord users who reportedly pooled their money to make the link public. The 16-track project features a number of well-circulated one-offs, including appearances from JAY-Z, Erykah Badu, and The-Dream.

Originally announced in 2009, Act II has been one of hip-hop's great myths for the better part of the last decade. And a proper drop never did arrive. Instead, Jay Electronica released A Written Testimony as his debut album at the top of 2020. Effectively a collaborative project with JAY-Z, the Roc Nation chief is featured on eight of the album's ten tracks. Notably, A Written Testimony's "Shiny Suit Theory" is the only song from Act II that made the rapper's official debut. Fans who've followed the trajectory and disappearance of Act II will also notice the absence of a pair of Kanye West collaborations that were featured on an early tracklist for the album.

And while most artists are rarely thrilled by a scrapped project surfacing without their consent, Jay Elec doesn't appear to have much of an issue with the leak. "A.P.I.D.T.A Allah is indeed the best of planners. Humbled by the love its receiving," he wrote on Twitter this morning (see below.)

Since then, the album has been officially released on Tidal courtesy of Roc Nation and Equity Distribution, the latter of which is an independent arm of Roc Nation.