NEW BILAL AND D'ANGELO

Ok, not really. I lied. Not much word on new albums by either of these supremely talented but long-MIA artists.

Bilal's striking debut 1st Born Second came out in 2001, and sadly his follow-up Love for Sale was shelved after it leaked on the Internet earlier this year. I've heard a couple of songs from it, and they sounded pretty damn nice. But who knows if the album will ever see the light of day. (In the meantime, if you haven't heard his version of "High and Dry" off of the Radiohead tribute CD, Exit Music, check it out -- it's amazing!)

D'Angelo's last album, the classic Voodoo, came out even longer ago (2000!), and since then there have been arrests, drug problems, car crashes. Very sad. But in the last couple years, rumor has it that he's working on new material for his third album, tentatively titled James River. I heard something about him teaming up with Jermaine Dupri, which scares me but you never know. And he's appeared as a guest on a handful of underwhelming tracks recently like "Bullshit" by the RH Factor (Roy Hargrove's band) and J Dilla's "So Far to Go" with Common.

But, today, my friends, there is a bit more reason to be hopeful. Bilal and D'Angelo appear on two new and fairly high-profile songs...

1.) "Nightmares" by Clipse feat. Bilal. Love this joint. What a weird, creepy vibe. MCs Malice and Pusha-T don't even come in til about half way through the song. So it really is like a Bilal song, more than a Clipse song. Speaking of MIA artists, the Clipse's ridiculously long-delayed sophomore album, Hell Hath No Fury, is finally about to come out. I've heard most of it, and it's hot. People seem to be liking it much more than Kingdome Come. My guess is that Clipse and Lupe Fiasco will be considered the rap albums of the year, not Jay or Nas.

2.) "Imagine" by Snoop Dogg feat Dr. Dre and D'Angelo. Ehh, this is aiight, a little corny, and D'Angelo is underutilized. But we'll take what we can get . . .