Ne-Yo and Fabolous have long wanted to record a collaborative album together, but it just hasn’t gotten off the ground.
The R&B singer-songwriter spoke to Billboard’s Carl Lamarre in a conversation for the 20th anniversary of his debut album, In My Own Words, for The Debut Live. At around the 30-minute mark, Lamarre asked Ne-Yo who he’d consider recording a duo album with, in the style of 2002’s Jay-Z and R. Kelly project Best of Both Worlds.
Without hesitation, the three-time Grammy award winner name-dropped a rapper he has history with, Fabolous. The artists famously collaborated on the 2007 hit “Make Me Better,” which peaked on the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
“Me and Fab talked about that for a long time, just getting together and knocking out 12, 13 records together,” Ne-Yo said. “But to be honest, the universe must not want it to happen, because his schedule constantly has moving that way and my schedule constantly has been moving another way.”
Ne-Yo added that recording an album with Fab would be “dope” and that their sound together “always works well.” The vocalist added that Fabolous has been the only person that he thought about doing a joint album with.
“He's the only person [who] ever came to me like, ‘Yo, we should like, what do you feel like that would sound like?’” Ne-Yo continued. “I’m like, ‘I don't know. But I mean, your voice and my voice compliment each other. So, I don't see it being a bad thing. We should give her a try.’ Fab, holla at your boy.”
As far back as 2011, Fab discussed the possibility of a joint album with Ne-Yo being fully produced by musician Ryan Leslie. He shared the tidbit in an interview with Rap Radar.
