A$AP Rocky Opens Up About A$AP Yams' Passing

Yesterday, during the third day of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, A$AP Rocky attended the premiere of Dope — a highly-anticipated coming-of-age film in which he is making his acting debut. At the premiere’s afterparty, Rocky was set to perform but he only turned in two songs before abruptly leaving the stage. He dedicated the final song to his late friend and A$AP Mob co-founder Steven “A$AP Yams” Rodriguez, who passed away on January 18 of still-undisclosed causes. In a conversation with Billboard, Rocky revealed that he was not in a celebratory state of mind.

“That performance — that was just going to stop me from crying. I had to address it, because the whole time I was rapping and I wasn’t into it, which is sad, but I just gotta keep it real. I can’t front. It’s even harder knowing that I gotta fly out in less than an hour just to go bury him. That’s the part that eats at me.”

He also addressed the rumors that a drug overdose was the reason of Rodriguez’s death.

“People were saying that Yams overdosed on drugs — he didn’t overdose on any drugs,” Rocky said, though he declined to discuss the real cause of Yams’ passing. “I feel like people feel that way because that’s all he’s in pictures doing. When you see A$AP Yams you see Hennessey or purple drink, you see some type of controlled substance or illegal narcotic.”

With a movie and a new album coming out later this year, as well as attending fashion shows in Paris, the death of his friend comes at a busy period in his life but Flacko assures that he’s “doing all right.”

“I’m a happy spirit, man, and I feel like time heals,” he said. “It’s all about good people with good energy, and the universe keeps producing them to me. I’ll be fine. God is good and I keep all hope and faith.”

Yams’ integral role to Rocky’s career will continue as Yams is functioning as the co-executive producer of the still-untitled album, along with Grammy-winning producer Dangermouse. About his new album, Rocky says:

“It’s basically done. I finished it right before Yams passed away. Dangermouse and Yams — I’m really intrigued for people to hear how that combination sounds. Yams manifested his powers into it.”

Watch a trailer for Dope below.