A$AP Rocky Announced New Album “At.Long.Last.A$AP”

A$AP Rocky has been in the news lately in his role as actor, fashion kingpin and mourning friend, but he’s once again grabbing headlines in the lane he first occupied: as a rapper. In an interview with GQ, the Harlemite announced the title for his second major label album, At.Long.Last.A$AP. Rocky explained to the magazine how he reverse engineered the title: “Look at it: At.Long.Last.A$AP. A-L-L-A. Like slang for ‘Allah.’ It’s the return of the god MC.” Rocky’s given name is Rakim Mayers; his parents named him after the original God MC, Rakim. In the video above, he also raps a verse from the record.

The album will be c0-executive produced by the late A$AP Yams, Rocky’s longtime friend and mentor. Yams was something of a fixture in the underground music circuit in his native Harlem; while he was still in high school, he interned for Dipset, packaging CDs and absorbing all the knowledge he could. He eventually channeled his taste and ambition into a wildly popular blog, Real Nigga Tumblr, which he used to find new artists and curate rarities from the past, be they forgotten B-sides or scans of old magazine articles. Yams eventually used the platform to break Rocky, who quickly garnered fervent interest from labels. Yams served as executive producer on Rocky’s 2013 debut, Long.Live.A$AP. He passed away this January as a result of an acute drug overdose.

Rocky recently opened up about Yams’ passing and more to the New York Times. He has other creative ventures on his plate, too–the movie in which he stars, Dope, was a hit at Sundance and has secured release and distribution through Sony, among other companies. In an interview with MTV, Rocky admitted that songs from his first album like ”Wild For the Night” and “Fuckin’ Problems” were made “to prove to that people I could have mainstream commercial success,” but that he “hate[s] those fucking songs.” Rocky also told the outlet that he locked himself in a London studio, away from friends and family and without a cell phone, to learn to make beats so he could contribute to the production on this record. He says he hopes this time around to craft songs that represent his life on a day-to-day basis, not just when he’s partying. “Wild For the Night” features Skrillex; “Fuckin’ Problems” was the massive hit that sported guest turns from 2 Chainz, Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

Via XXL