We've done it again. And this time we got some corporate juice behind us. Along with MTV2, we present the 10 most anticipated hip-hop albums of 2004. Save your dough, shorty.

Compiled by Timmhotep Aku, Leah Rose, Anslem Samuel, Vanessa Satten, Bonsu Thompson

1. Eminem
Title To Be Determined
Label Shady/Aftermath/Interscope
Album # Fourth
Quarter Third
Began Recording 2003
Beats Em himself ("We As Americans," "Bully" and "Love You More") and Dr. Dre
Features G-Unit and D12
First Single TBD

FYI By fourth quarter 2003, Eminem's next album was about halfway completed. But since then, the majority of his pre-produced work has been leaked and bootlegged, setting the Multi-Million-Record Man back in his schedule. "I was about six to eight songs deep," he says. "Now I'm about three to four. It's so painful to have them things go; it's all a work in progress. Choruses can be changed, lines can be changed, there are certain lines on the shit that I feel like I can hit better. Those [leaked songs] were a day in the studio, making a song, and you go home at night with it and that's what you live with until you're ready to mix it down. The mix from the rough version is like night and day."

Streets Wanna Know Which Eminem will we see on this next album--the obnoxious, middle-finger-giving Slim Shady we got introduced to on his first two LPs or the slightly more conscious Marshall Mathers heard on The Eminem Show ?

"I really like Slim Shady," says Dr. Dre, executive producer of the album. "I like him talking shit and pissing people off. That's where he's gonna go next, talking shit and raising eyebrows."

"Eminem fans will not be disappointed," says Em's manager, Paul Rosenberg. "He's gonna have a lot of responses to everything that's going on. No stones will be left unturned."

2. Dr. Dre
Title Detox
Label Aftermath/Interscope
Album # FourthQuarter Fourth
Began Recording 2004. "I'm actually just starting," says Dre. "I had a couple of joints. But I've been working with some new artists, so I'm starting over. I just started the other day with Eminem."
Beats Denaun Porter, Nottz, Hi-Tek and of course, Dre himself
Features Eminem, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, Eve and The Game
First Single TBD

FYI If you think Dre's royal status in the rap game excuses him from feeling pressure, think again. The good doctor plans for Detox to be nothing short of another stone cold classic. "I wanna put like 12 or 13 songs on my album," he says. "And have 12 or 13 singles. So I'm really taking my time with each one. No album fillers or nothing like that. No fast-forwarding."

Streets Wanna Know Why does Dre take so long to create albums?

"I don't really consider myself an artist," he says. "I'm a producer. So I wanna produce new artists. I took a little break and produced the 50 album, then I did the Obie Trice album and D12. I just like producing, so it takes quite a bit to get me to go in and do something on myself."

FYI The fact that Dr. Dre executive-produced Get Rich Or Die Tryin' was a huge selling point, but he actually only produced four of the LP's 21 tracks. This one promises more. "My album will be predominately Dr. Dre-produced," 50 says. "I want this record to go to the next level, and my biggest record ever is clearly 'In Da Club.'"

"I would've done more on the first one," says Dre. "But 50 came to us with a lot of songs that he had recorded before we signed him. Now we'll be starting [from the beginning]."

Streets Wanna Know Can 50 top Get Rich Or Die Tryin' ?

"People need to know that I will top my last album," says 50. "It is possible and I am going to do it. I am definitely not using the same formula for this album that I did on the first. A lot of things that happened to me during Get Rich Or Die Tryin' --all the confusion going on around that time and about me has only made me more aggressive. I'm gonna get all sorts of shit off my chest and make the songs perfect. There will be nothing but the marriage between the perfect beat and lyrics."

4. Kanye West
Title College Dropout  
Label Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam  
Album # First  
Quarter First
Began Recording 1999. "If I made up one line back in '99 that made the album," says Kanye, "then I would count that."
Beats Kanye himself. "Niggas thought I let 'em down like Tyson," he boasts on the mixtape cut "Nowhere To Go." "I got the belt like Lewis/I took these beats I passed them to myself-- I'm Kordell Stewart".
Features Jay-Z ("Never Let Me Down"), Ludacris ("Breathe In Breathe Out"), Mos Def, Freeway and the Harlem Boys Choir ("Two Words"), Twista and Jamie Foxx ("Slow Jamz"), Talib Kweli and Common ("Get 'Em High"), GLC ("We Don't Care," "Spaceship"), Consequence ("Spaceship"), J. Ivy ("Never Let Me Down") and Miri Ben-Ari ("Intro," "Jesus Walks," "Two Words," "Breathe In Breathe Out," "Workout Plan")
First Single "Through The Wire"

FYI Kanye got the idea for his "Through The Wire" video--which he wrote the treatment for and financed himself--after seeing an Adidas ad in Black Book magazine. "I don't like gettin' ideas from direct shit," he says. "I like to pull ideas from all the way over here. Sometimes my vision can't be explained in words, 'cause I couldn't have even told you in words how I envisioned that video ending up."

Streets Wanna Know Will all the critical acclaim translate to units sold?

"If my album came out last year around this time, how much do you think I would have sold in comparison to now?" says Kanye. "Album sales aren't based on how good your album is. It's about the push and hype behind it. And you hear my name more now than you did last year so it's good."

5. Baby and R. Kelly  
Title The Best Of Both Worlds: Ghetto Thriller
Label Cash Money/Rockland  
Album # First collaboration between the two (Individually: Baby's sixth; R. Kelly's eighth)  
Quarter Second
Began Recording August 2003  
Beats R. Kelly ("Momma," "On Some Shit," "The Best Of Both Worlds," "In The Club," "Ghetto Thriller") and Mannie Fresh ("I'm a Baller," "Stunna Like Me")  
Features Mannie Fresh and Fat Joe   
First Single "The Best Of Both Worlds"   

FYI Recording 30-plus records in the span of three months, Baby and Kelly originally planned to release the project as a double CD. They later decided to whittle it down to 14 or 15 of the hottest ones. The extra tracks won't go to waste, though. There's already a Baby/Kelly part two planned.

Streets Wanna Know Will R. Kelly's impending trial have a negative effect on the album release or a possible tour?

"When Kelly asked me to do this project I took the challenge to be 100 percent behind it," says Baby. "However his situation go, I'm ridin' with the nigga and I don't give a fuck who don't like it. I fuck with him like that and we don't see no roadblocks. Everything is going good."