Coming Up Short: Hip-Hop's 10 Most Disappointing EP Releases

The Artist: The Pack

The EP: Skateboards 2 Scrapers (Jive, 2006)

The Shortcoming: You automatically fall into one-hit wonder territory when your warm-up EP featuring your hit single (in this case, The Pack's "Vans") outsells the LP that it's supposed to get people excited about. Ouch.

The Artist: Mike Jones

The EP: The American Dream (Asylum, 2007)

The Shortcoming: The world fell out of love with Mike Jones just as quickly as they fell into it with him. After his successful Who Is Mike Jones? debut album, he spent three years trying to duplicate its' success. The best thing he could come up with? This paltry EP/DVD featuring four (relatively) new songs and the two biggest singles ("Still Tippin" and "Back Then") from his first album. What a nightmare.

The Artist: Ca$his

The EP: The County Hound EP (Shady/Interscope, 2007)

The Shortcoming: It's not that Ca$h's EP was bad. We actually rode for "Loc Motion" (which was, for whatever reason, a "bonus" track on the EP) and the Queen-sampling "Ms. Jenkins." But for a guy who was cosigned by Eminem, we have to admit that this was a disappointment both critically and commercially. And we're a little bit worried that it basically killed his chances of putting out anything ever again on Shady Records.

The Artist: Charles Hamilton

The EP: This Perfect Life (Interscope, 2009)

The Shortcoming: This thing was doomed from the start. Hamilton and Interscope came up with a wacky plan to release his major label debut (which they called an album but was really more like an EP) digitally two months before releasing it in stores. But then Hamilton caught a bunch of bad press and it was never released at all and was instead leaked to the blogs months later to very little fanfare. Perfect? Eh, not so much.

The Artists: KRS-One and Just-Ice

The EP: The EP, Vol. 1 (2010)

The Shortcoming: It's not that this EP was bad—it's that 20 years after these hip-hop pioneers hit their peak, they're still putting out EPs. It just makes the whole concept of putting out an EP seem more dated than it actually is, doesn't it? Please tell us there's no Vol. 2, fellas.

The Artist: Drake

The EP: So Far Gone (Cash Money/Universal, 2009)

The Shortcoming: We know, we know; you loved So Far Gone. We did, too—when it was So Far Gone, the mixtape. In an obvious cash grab, Cash Money/Universal put this EP out to capitalize off the success of the mixtape's smash hit single, "Best I Ever Had." But they left off so many of the original songs (due to production clearance issues, etc.) that listening to the EP was kind of like watching the highlights of a basketball game: You got to see all the big plays, but you didn't get to see all the action surrounding them. But, hey: More than 500,000 people bought it, so who are we to argue with the logic behind putting it out?

The Artist: New Boyz

The EP: Tie Me Down (Asylum, 2009)

The Shortcoming: After the New Boyz's hit single, "You're A Jerk," cooled off, the group teamed up with Ray J for their single, "Tie Me Down." And rather than waste time trying to promote another single, the group's label released the song as part of an EP to make a few extra bucks off of it. Uh, yeah, how'd that turn out? Nice try, guys.

The Artist: Nelly

The EP: 6 Derrty Hits (Universal, 2008)

The Shortcoming: What do you do when it's been nearly five years and you can't buy a hit (literally, buy a hit—what up, Polow and Fergie?!)? You release an EP full of your biggest hits for the next generation of rap fans to enjoy. Good songs, Nelly, but a Derrty move nonetheless.

The Artist: Lil Wayne

The EP: The Leak (Cash Money/Universal, 2007)

The Shortcoming: Lyrically, there's nothing disappointing about The Leak. "I'm Me" alone would have been worth the price of admission on this one. But back in 2007 when it was released, the self-proclaimed "Fireman" literally had the world on fire as everyone waited for Tha Carter III to drop. And this is what Wayne tried to use to extinguish them? A five song EP, dog? Five songs? That's all?! We got over it...but despite the solid critical feedback this one got, we'd be lying if we said we weren't disappointed that this was all Wayne had for us at that time.