Ab-Soul has taken his project rollout to a meta level, using a Mad Men Instagram post to announce the news while seemingly poking fun at his own concept.
The Top Dawg Entertainment rapper took to Instagram on Saturday (March 30) to tease a new project, sharing a screenshot from an account called “prepschoolstreetteam.”
The photo features a headline that reads: “Major label marketing teams pitching an idea to kick off the rollout.”
Below, Mad Men’s Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) stands next to an easel with a photoshopped sign that reads: “Archive all your old Instagram posts one week before the first single.”
The caption reads: “The fans will never see this coming,” to which Ab-Soul added his own caption, which simply read: “WELP…”
The Carson, CA-born rapper then followed said instructions to a tee, scrubbing his Instagram account and removing his profile photo.
While it may be safe to assume that new music is on the way from the “DO BETTER” rapper, promises of new Ab-Soul songs haven’t always yielded tangible results.
Last year, new music was announced to be on the way when Top Dawg mentioned that Soulo would be releasing a deluxe version of his 2022 album HERBERT. It was also mentioned that he would potentially be dropping a new album by the end of 2023.
Though neither the Deluxe HERBERT nor its follow-up have materialized, it was also shared last year that LeBron James would be involved with the effort, based on a post from the pair earlier in 2023.
In a clip Ab-Soul posted of him and LeBron chatting behind the scenes at the Crypto.com Arena, the “Hollandaise” rapper asked the NBA star if he’d be willing to take on an executive role for his next project — to which James obliged.
“You really the right of passage,” Soulo said. “Top [Dawg] told me to ask you if you would A&R the next album.”
LeBron responded without hesitation: “Yeah, I can do that.”
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While odds of becoming the next Ab-Soul are almost impossibly slim, last year fans got the chance to learn all about how he approaches the rap game.
The MC was tapped to teach an online course where he discussed his writing process and shared some of his creative insights and techniques.
In partnership with Mickey Factz’s Pendulum Ink academy, Soulo went into detail about how he’s been able to create a balance between Golden Era fans and contemporary fans.
The course was interactive – as 10 participants will had the opportunity to ask Ab-Soul a question about his songwriting process.
