The Album Tupac Imagined
There was a conversation that Tupac Shakur started before he was gone: what would happen if the best MCs from the East Coast and the West Coast made one album together, no rivalry, no sides, just bars. That conversation stayed theoretical for three decades. On September 18, 2026, it becomes a tracklist. DPG Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang DPG: The Godbody LP brings together Rakim from Long Island, Kurupt from Tha Dogg Pound and Death Row, and Masta Killa from Wu-Tang Clan. Sixteen tracks produced entirely by Rakim and Nick Wiz. Features from Snoop Dogg, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, KRS-One, Kool G Rap, Daz Dillinger, Buckshot, and Kokane. An interlude featuring Eminem and Jay-Z together for the first time in 25 years.
Three Biographies, One Table
Rakim Allah, born William Michael Griffin Jr. on January 28, 1968 in Wyandanch, Long Island, is widely regarded as the MC who changed how rap is written. His work with Eric B. across four albums between 1987 and 1992 introduced internal rhyme schemes, multisyllabic patterns, and a calm delivery that the generation after him studied to build their own styles. Eminem, Jay-Z, and Nas have all cited him as a direct influence. In the VIBE interview ahead of this album, Jay-Z quotes Rakim’s line “constant elevation causes expansion,” and Eminem speaks about how Rakim restructured the art form itself. Kurupt, born Ricardo Emmanuel Brown on November 23, 1972 in Philadelphia and raised in Los Angeles, came to prominence as one half of Tha Dogg Pound alongside Daz Dillinger under Suge Knight‘s Death Row Records. His verse on Dr. Dre’s “Stranded on Death Row” (1992) and his solo debut Kuruption! (1998) cemented him as one of the West Coast’s sharpest lyricists. Masta Killa, born Elgin Turner on August 18, 1969 in Brooklyn, is one of the nine founding members of Wu-Tang Clan. His debut solo album No Said Date (2004), produced primarily by RZA and True Master, is considered one of the most underappreciated records in the Wu-Tang catalog. He released his fifth solo album Balance through Nature Sounds in May 2025.
The Full Tracklist
DPG Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang DPG: The Godbody LP. Sixteen tracks. Produced entirely by Rakim and Nick Wiz, with the exception of track 10, produced by Nick Price. Release date: September 18, 2026. Full tracklist: 1. Goin’ Down ft. Kokane. 2. DPG Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang DPG. 3. Rock Ya Body ft. Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Daz Dillinger. 4. Push The Button. 5. Rabbit ft. Mac Shawn 100. 6. God Speak (Interlude) ft. Eminem and Jay-Z. 7. A Different Kind (Rakim solo). 8. Is It Love ft. Jamall Ray. 9. Thelonius ft. Buckshot, Rim and Trigga. 10. Nights Over Brooklyn (Masta Killa solo, prod. Nick Price). 11. I’m Good (Remix). 12. Upstate Introspective ft. Killa Sin. 13. Still Ill! ft. KRS-One and Kool G Rap. 14. Nine and Chrome Fiend (Kurupt solo). 15. Rabbit (Remix) ft. Snoop Dogg. 16. Hallelujah (Remix) ft. Mic King. Lead single “Goin’ Down” with Kokane and second single “DPG Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang DPG” with official video are both available now.
Why Rakim Behind the Boards Changes Everything
Rakim is not just rapping on The Godbody LP. He produced the entire project alongside Nick Wiz, a production partnership that dates back to 1999’s The Master. Rakim appears as an MC on five of the sixteen tracks. The rest of the time, he is building the sonic architecture for Kurupt and Masta Killa to work over. That choice reframes who Rakim is in 2026: not just the God MC reciting verses, but a producer constructing the room where East Coast and West Coast MCs can coexist on the same beat without either side adjusting its voice. Track 3, “Rock Ya Body,” places Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and Daz Dillinger on the same record. Track 13, “Still Ill!,” puts KRS-One and Kool G Rap alongside all three lead artists. Track 15 brings Snoop Dogg into the Rabbit remix. Every beat Rakim made for this album was designed to hold weight from both coasts simultaneously.
God Speak: Eminem, Jay-Z, and What 25 Years of Silence Means
Track 6, “God Speak,” is listed as an interlude featuring Eminem and Jay-Z. Rolling Stone reported in June 2026 that this marks the first time Eminem and Jay-Z appear on the same track in 25 years. It is not a traditional verse exchange. In Rakim’s own words to VIBE, Jay-Z quotes Rakim’s lyric “constant elevation causes expansion,” and Eminem speaks about how Rakim changed the structure of rapping itself. That framing is intentional: two of the most commercially successful rappers in history using their moment on the album to pay tribute to the man who produced it. The interlude functions as a bridge between the album’s two halves and as a generational endorsement of The Godbody LP’s thesis.
HIPHOPADELLIC Perspective
Tupac talked about One Nation. He wanted East Coast and West Coast at the same table, making music instead of making enemies. Thirty years later, Rakim built the table. Kurupt sat on one side, Masta Killa on the other, and every feature on The Godbody LP filled in around them: Ghostface and Raekwon from the Wu, Snoop and Daz from the Pound, KRS-One and Kool G Rap from the foundational era, Eminem and Jay-Z from the generation that studied all of them. This is what hip hop looks like when the war is over and the music is the only thing left. HIPHOPADELLIC has spent 2026 documenting veterans who refuse to stop building: Styles P, The Game, Fat Joe, Czarface. The Godbody LP is the album that connects all of them. East and West. Past and present. One table.
One Love. One Family. One Culture.