Rapper Swae Lee is desperately searching for a lost hard drive containing hundreds of unreleased songs, offering a $20,000 reward for its return. The device was misplaced at Los Angeles International Airport's Terminal 2, a Delta Airlines hub.

The stakes are particularly high as Lee had planned to release his second studio album, "Human Nature," in January 2021, along with two additional albums throughout the year. The hard drive reportedly contains his entire musical catalog.

"I GOT MY WHOLE LIFE ON THAT S--T!!!" Lee posted on social media, expressing his distress with a broken-heart emoji. Despite Delta Airlines' lost-and-found procedures, the hard drive remains missing as of this writing.

Fan reactions have been mixed, with many suggesting the $20,000 reward is too low given the potential value of the content. Based on Spotify streaming numbers alone, Lee's music generated between $3.3-5.5 million in royalties in 2020.

This incident recalls similar cases in the music industry:

• In 2011, Skrillex lost two hard drives in Milan containing an entire unreleased album
• In 2010, Ryan Leslie offered $1 million for his stolen laptop's return, leading to a costly legal battle when he had to fulfill the reward promise despite missing files

The situation highlights the critical importance of data backup in the music industry, where lost files can mean months or years of lost work. While Delta continues searching for the device, the fate of Lee's unreleased music remains uncertain.

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