Ne-Yo has been thinking about making an album with Fabolous for a long time. Longer, it turns out, than most people knew. In a recent interview with Billboard marking the 20th anniversary of his debut album In My Own Words, the three-time Grammy winner was asked which rapper he would most want to record a joint project with. He did not hesitate.
Fabolous. Every time.
What Ne-Yo said and what it reveals
The interview, conducted by Billboard’s Carl Lamarre, framed the question around the legacy of Best of Both Worlds, the 2002 collaborative project between Jay-Z and R. Kelly that paired hip-hop and R&B on the same record. That format has remained something of a gold standard for cross-genre collaborations, and Ne-Yo’s answer pointed directly to the pairing most likely to pull off something similar today.
He and Fabolous have history. Their 2007 collaboration ‘Make Me Better’ reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, demonstrating what the two could produce together when their styles intersect. Ne-Yo described their vocal combination as one that always works, a pairing where the textures and tones naturally complement rather than compete.
What has prevented the album from happening is not a lack of interest on either side. It is scheduling. Ne-Yo described the situation as two calendars that consistently pull in opposite directions at exactly the wrong moments, leaving the project perpetually in conversation rather than in the studio.
He framed it with some cosmic resignation, suggesting the universe has been blocking the collaboration without providing a clear reason why.
How far back this goes
The idea is not new. As far back as 2011, Fabolous mentioned in an interview with Rap Radar that a joint project with Ne-Yo was something he had considered, and that it could potentially be produced entirely by musician Ryan Leslie. That was fifteen years ago. The conversation has been happening long enough to have its own history.
Ne-Yo made clear in the Billboard interview that Fabolous is the only artist who has ever approached him about this kind of project in a way that felt genuine and specific. The way he described it, Fabolous came to him with a real question rather than a vague suggestion, asking what the album would actually sound like and treating it as something worth figuring out rather than just something to say.
Ne-Yo’s answer to that question, then and now, is that he does not fully know what it would sound like, but he is confident it would not be bad.
The public invitation
Ne-Yo closed the topic in the interview with a direct message to Fabolous, essentially extending a public invitation to get the project moving. Whether that nudge lands differently than every previous conversation remains to be seen.
The 20th anniversary of In My Own Words is a natural moment for reflection, and Ne-Yo has been candid throughout the promotional cycle surrounding it about what the past two decades have meant to him professionally. The album established him as one of R&B’s most reliable songwriters and performers, and it launched a career that has continued to produce commercially successful music across multiple eras.
If the Fabolous project ever does come together, it would be arriving at a moment when both artists still have real cultural relevance rather than functioning as a nostalgia exercise. That timing, if it can be captured, is worth more than any studio schedule.