When Is More Twenty88 Music Coming?
Big Sean and Jhené Aiko drew a lot of praise following the release of their joint album Twenty88. The project found the longtime friends and collaborators acting as lovers, detailing the highs and lows that can come with a relationship. The duo, who also goes by Twenty88, released the eight-song album in April 2016 and has been sporadically active ever since. When is more Twenty88 music happening?
How Twenty88 came to be
Sean and Aiko have released music together as far back as 2013, when the Sailing Souls artist featured on “Beware” from Sean’s Hall of Fame album. They proved to have great chemistry and continued to work on songs together, including 2015’s “I Know.”
The next year, it was reported the two had secretly recorded a joint project. According to Sean, he and Aiko created the album under pure coincidence.
“We were making music and the chemistry was undeniable,” he told The Skinny in 2017. “We had so many songs we did that I wouldn’t use for my album and she probably wouldn’t necessarily use them all for her album. It was like, we’re not just going to hold on to this, so we figured out a way to give it to the fans and create a whole other world in our universe, aside from me and aside from her, so we decided to make a group.”
“It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done,” he continued. “It’s one of the coolest experiences to be in a group, especially with somebody you care about. It reminds me of Marvel comic books, like Iron Man, Captain America movies, and stuff like that. I think it’s cool to create all these different worlds in your own universe. I was really excited that she wanted to do it too.”
The Twenty88 album came out on April 1, 2016, and was accompanied by a short film released on YouTube. Featuring songs such as “Talk Show,” “Déjà vu,” and “On the Way,” the album was met with much applause from fans. It ultimately made it to the No. 5 spot on the Billboard 200 with over 40,000 units sold, per HipHopDX.
More Twenty88 music is coming, but it’s not clear when
After the success of Twenty88, the duo was looking forward to creating new music. Sean said in a 2016 tweet that they planned to release another joint album after finishing solo projects. But it never materialized.
Offering an update, he told The Skinny in 2017 that they were still working on the music. He hoped it would come out “soon,” but acknowledged he and Aiko had other commitments. As of 2020, the album was still “in the works.” The rapper made that revelation to a fan during a Reddit AMA in September.
At least, Big Sean and Jhené Aiko continue to release music
Although a full project has yet to happen, the two have continued collaborating. They famously teamed up for “None of Your Concern” from Aiko’s Chilombo (2020) and “Time In” from Sean’s Detroit (2021). Hopefully, it won’t be too much longer for a full Twenty88 album, but at least we’ve continued to get music from them.
