Jay Rock has been on hiatus for some time now, but the TDE rapper is back on his grind and gearing up to release his first album in five years.
The Los Angeles native sat down with Bootleg Kev during BET Weekend on Saturday (June 24) and gave fans an update on the project. He also explained the delay – noting that not only did the pandemic slow things down, but quality music takes time!
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“The new album is great, man,” Jay Rock began. “Everybody’s like, ‘Man what’s taking so long? It’s been five years!’ All the fans been beating me up and stuff on Instagram but it’s just about trying to make good quality music. Like I said, I’m tryna do an album like my last one where you ain’t gotta skip shit. No skips.”
He continued: “I’m just tryna do an album like that and, you know. People know who I am, man. It’s Jay Rock. I could rap circles around a lot of people but, you know.”
Jay Rock will release his first single of the new era on Tuesday (June 27), titled “Eastside.” It will lead into the newest album, which follows 2018’s Redemption.
Redemption debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart with 31,417 total album-equivalent units in its first week. Guest appearances came from Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Future, SZA, Jeremih and others, with “King’s Dead” winning a Grammy for Best Rap Performance.
During an interview with Highsnobiety in 2019, Jay Rock talked about the TDE members inspiring each other with their talent and success.
“We all came up in the kennel together as little puppies,” he said. “We can’t feel bitter about one another because we all came up together. We came up from the ground up. We built this thing from the ground up, so why would one of us be bitter [at] one another? That’s crazy.
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He added: “What I learned from them is just hard work. Hard work and dedication. We all learned that from each other. We all hungry. That was the whole goal, you gotta stay hungry. Once I see something that Kendrick did that’s dope, it makes me want to do something doper. If ScHoolboy seen something that I did that was dope, it’ll make him want to do something to try to top that.”
“Friendly competition, but all in all, we motivate each other. That’s what it’s about.”
