Dave East is readying the release of his studio debut album, Survival which drops next month. The rapper's been revving up for the release of his forthcoming album for nearly a year at this point. He recently sat down with Revolt TV where he talked about the album and revealed that a collaborative project with Nipsey Hussle was in the works before the rapper's untimely death earlier this year.
"We were six songs in. We were planning a tour and all of that. Fuck rap. I’m going to keep it 100. That was my n***a," he said. "It’s wack he went out like that. That n***a’s a king. Kings ain’t supposed to go out like that. But, that’s the world we’re living in. It’s wack he went out like that, but it sharpened me and a million other n***as up. He went out like a G."
Nip's passing did have a big effect on Dave East and the recording process behind Survival. "I was fucked up. I didn’t want to record. I had music that I already had done. But, a lot of people don’t understand. They ask, ‘Why did you push Survival back so long?’ [Nipsey’s death] fucked me up, bro. I didn’t want to drop any new music," he explained. "I didn’t want to put out any music. But, now, it’s time. That nigga said, ‘You tripping, cuz. Put that shit out.’ So, I finally got the label in tune and everyone on the same page. November 8th, we’re here."
When he did get back into album mode, East revealed that he knew the project was officially complete once he recorded his tribute to Nipsey. "I didn’t know [it was done] until I did a tribute for Nip I didn’t want to talk about anything else. I talked about everything. I got shit about my moms. I got shit about me playing ball. I got shit about me being locked up. I went mad personal and I wrapped it up with a tribute to my boy. Once I said what I said to Nip, I was like, ‘We’re good.’"
Survival drops on Nov. 8th.