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A week after A$AP Yams untimely passing, A$AP Rocky is, understandably, still in mourning. The Harlem rhymer was at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival over the weekend promoting the much buzzed-about coming-of-age film ‘Dope,’ where he makes his on-screen acting debut. But Rocky’s mind is elsewhere; his thoughts are on Yams, real name Steven Rodriguez, who died on Jan. 18 of an undisclosed illness.
After a performing a two-song set, the ‘Multiply’ rapper talked with Billboard about losing his best friend and the “Spirit Guide” of the A$AP Mob crew.
“That performance — that was just going to stop me from crying,” he said. “I had to address it, because the whole time I was rapping, I wasn’t into it, which is sad, but I just gotta keep it real. I can’t front. It’s even harder knowing that I gotta fly out in less than an hour just to go bury him. That’s the part that eats at me.”
Rocky wouldn’t divulge on how Yams died, but he reiterated what A$AP Ant said that it wasn’t a drug overdose.
“People were saying that Yams overdosed on drugs — he didn’t overdose on any drugs,” he stated. “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.”
Rocky is grateful of the love and consolation that was sent by his rap peers on social media. It has helped him through his bereavement.
“I’ll be back in my zone in a bit,” he said. “I just got to get it together. This all happened and the timing is so wrong, with me doing Sundance and Mens Fashion Week in Paris.”
“I’ll be fine. God is good and I keep all hope and faith,” he added.
But Yams’ legacy will still live on through the music. Rocky revealed to Billboard that Yams and Grammy-winning producer Dangermouse are the executive producers of his second still-untitled album.
“Dangermouse and Yams — I’m really intrigued for people to hear how that combination sounds. Yams manifested his powers into it,” he attests.
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