It’s a natural part of life that people come and go, and while the latter is rarely in anyone’s control, great artists have a way of leaving pieces of themselves behind through their music. In the many years since genres like Hip Hop, R&B, jazz, and more came to be, musicians have left behind albums that would become their last.
For artists like The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur, whose lives were cut short far too soon, those albums were never meant to be farewell statements — they simply became that in hindsight. Others, like Nina Simone and Tina Turner, approached projects such as A Single Woman and I Look to You with a clearer sense that they were closing a chapter and leaving listeners with one last musical offering.
Ahead, REVOLT compiled a list of 15 albums Black music legends left us before their untimely passing. While we obviously couldn’t include every artist, let alone debate whose star power outweighs another’s, we believe the names ahead are more than worth revisiting. Take a look below, then let us know who else you think we should include.
1. J Dilla’s ‘Donuts’
Written and recorded while he was in and out of the hospital, J Dilla worked on Donuts knowing it very well could be his final project. The 31-song effort arrived less than a week before he died from complications related to lupus and the rare blood disease TTP, but that only makes the album feel even more extraordinary. As Dilla once explained, it ultimately became a collection of records that other artists “really don’t know how to rap on, but they want to rap on.”
2. The Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Ready to Die’
Ready to Die is a hauntingly fitting name for what would become The Notorious B.I.G.’s last album release while he was here. The project housed classics like “Big Poppa,” “Juicy,” and “Suicidal Thoughts,” plus many more favorites that outlasted the decade they helped define. It’s not only one of Biggie’s greatest albums, but also one that many of us would place among the best rap albums of all time.
3. Whitney Houston’s ‘I Look to You’
Whitney Houston’s I Look to You was both a powerful comeback and, heartbreakingly, her final full-length statement. The album arrived seven years after Just Whitney (and roughly six after her holiday project, One Wish) and brought listeners back to the voice and presence that made Houston one of R&B’s greatest. It was a relatively short offering, but it gave us the Alicia Keys-written “Million Dollar Bill,” “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength,” and the tearjerker title track.
4. Marvin Gaye’s ‘Midnight Love’
“I'm coming straight for your love, baby / Like a rocket, girl / Been so long / I'm making plans to get back to you,” Marvin Gaye sang on “My Love Lately,” the final song he recorded for Midnight Love. It’s home to the massively successful “Sexual Healing” and, despite being only eight songs long, saw him help usher soul into the ’80s with plenty of synthesizers, drum machines, and his unmistakable voice still leading the way.
5. Nina Simone’s ‘A Single Woman’
We’re lucky we got to sit with Nina Simone’s A Single Woman for years before she eventually left us. Released in 1993, the “Feeling Good” singer graced listeners with some of her more mature vocals over Andre Fischer’s arrangements. It was her Elektra Records debut and gave us the much-loved track “If I Should Lose You.”
6. Nipsey Hussle’s ‘Victory Lap’
We never expected Nipsey Hussle’s first album to also be the final one of his life. From the YG-assisted "Last Time That I Checc'd" to "Dedication," Victory Lap contains arguably some of his best work after years of blessing the streets with a long run of mixtapes. The production was larger than life, the features — YG, Kendrick Lamar, CeeLo Green, and more — fit perfectly into the world he was building, and the visuals all pointed toward Hussle being one of the greatest West Coast MCs of his era. Unfortunately, that future was taken away from him a little over a year after the LP dropped.
7. Michael Jackson’s ‘Invincible’
You really had to be there when Michael Jackson released “You Rock My World,” the lead single from his 10th studio album, Invincible. While the LP may not have been nearly as towering as Bad or REVOLT favorite Thriller, songs like “Speechless” and “Butterflies” were still a much-needed reminder that the King of Pop hadn’t lost his touch, even four decades into his career.
8. Aretha Franklin’s ‘Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics’
While Aretha Franklin reportedly had several new albums in the works during the final years of her life, none of them arrived before her passing in 2018. Instead, the last full body of work we received from the “Respect” singer was Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, which, as its title suggests, found her covering songs by other legendary artists. Among them were Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” Alicia Keys’ “No One,” and The Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.”
9. Tupac Shakur’s ‘All Eyez On Me’
“Ambitionz Az a Ridah,” “All Eyez On Me,” and “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” all came from 2Pac’s fourth and final album released during his lifetime. There really were all eyes on the rapper, from his opposition and the media to the people looking to benefit from his spotlight. Plenty of rappers would go on to make nearly 30-song albums after him, though not nearly as many managed to make them feel this fully realized from beginning to end.
10. Aaliyah’s ‘Aaliyah’
Mentioned in REVOLT’s list of albums that defined the 2000s, Aaliyah’s self-titled third studio album needs no introduction. It gave us “More Than a Woman,” “Rock The Boat,” and plenty of other records that still live rent-free in R&B fans’ heads. R&B simply wouldn’t sound the same today if not for Aaliyah and the final full-length album she left behind before her tragic passing.
11. Luther Vandross’ ‘Dance With My Father’
Luther Vandross’ final album was a special one, especially since he dedicated it to his late father. “If I could get another chance / Another walk / Another dance with him / I'd play a song that would never, ever end,” he sang on Dance With My Father’s title track, which inevitably became the LP’s centerpiece. The album also gave us “If I Didn’t Know Better” and let listeners hear his ethereal vocals alongside Foxy Brown, Busta Rhymes, Beyoncé, and Queen Latifah before he passed away two years later.
12. Young Dolph’s ‘Rich Slave’
Young Dolph paved the way for a lot of Memphis artists, especially Key Glock and Kenny Muney, both of whom were featured on Rich Slave or its deluxe edition before his death. Among the project’s more exciting collaborations are “RNB,” short for “Rich N**ga B**ch,” with Megan Thee Stallion and “1 Scale” featuring G Herbo. While some of Dolph’s earlier LPs could feel a little too familiar production-wise, Rich Slave found him coming back bigger and better across records like “To Be Honest” and “Death Row.”
13. Prince’s ‘HITNRUN Phase Two’
Not many artists can say they released 39 studio albums in their lifetime, but Prince was certainly one of them. “Baltimore,” featuring Eryn Allen Kane, was inspired by the events that unfolded in the city it was named after, namely Freddie Gray’s death and the protests that followed. Meanwhile, “Stare” and “Xtralovable” found the legendary musician getting funky over his own production, naturally.
14. Minnie Riperton’s ‘Minnie’
Just months before her death from breast cancer, Minnie Riperton released her fifth studio album, fittingly titled Minnie. Produced largely by her husband, Richard Rudolph, the LP also went on to spawn one of her most memorable records, “Memory Lane.”
15. Tina Turner’s ‘Twenty Four Seven’
Tina Turner sure knew how to rock. Excluding the several greatest-hits compilations released during her lifetime, the Hall of Famer closed the door on new studio albums with her 10th and final, Twenty Four Seven. Across the 11-song effort, listeners got to hear her bring that unmistakable voice to dance-pop on “When the Heartache Is Over.”