In 2015, A$AP Rock cut short an after-party performance for the Sundance premiere of “Dope,” the indie coming-of-age movie in which the rapper plays a Californian drug dealer. Indeed, the star played just two songs before making a quick exit. But the dedication he made during his brief set explained why he couldn’t carry on.
Just six days previously, close friend, mentor and A$AP Mob co-founder A$AP Yams, aka Steven Rodriguez, had passed away. And Rocky told Billboard that he was still in mourning when he took to the stage: “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.”
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Referring to the impending funeral, Rocky added, “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.” But the star, who also had to attend Paris Fashion Week in the wake of Yams’ death, insisted that he would get back in his zone soon: “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.”
