Waka Flocka’s Flockaveli II was first announced back in 2013 and its frustrating delay was initially blamed on Atlantic Records. However, after his departure from the label in 2016, the LP remained in limbo.
Waka revived the hype for an eventual release in October 2017, and according to a recent interview with Paper, not only is it finished, but he’s preceding its release with a Zaytoven-produced mixtape.
“I finished the upcoming album,” he says. “I’m [actually] going to drop a mixtape before the album … Zaytoven produced the whole thing.”
He released a preview of the first single “Big Bank” via Instagram on Monday (January 22). The upcoming mixtape marks the first time the two have worked together.
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As Waka explains, he wants the mixtape to appease his fans while he finalizes the details for Flockaveli II.
“I think it’s arrogant to put a CD out, and people are waiting,” he says. “I think I just need to put a lot of music out so that I don’t get out too late with this album.”
He adds, “I think the streets deserve that. Atlanta deserves that and we doing this CD for Atlanta.”
When pressed about whether there was any potential label hold up, he simply replied, “No, I’m not waiting on nobody, this is all Waka.”
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Elsewhere in the interview, he seems to open up about additional reasoning for the project’s delay post-Atlantic: boredom with the industry. He also expressed a need for recalibration.
“A lot of artists get lost in fame,” Waka said. “I had to regroup to learn Waka.”
“I just have to take advantage of what I created, and take myself out of the mindset of being an artist. I put myself in the mindset of being a brand and shit changed, man,” he continues.
It does appear that 2018 will indeed be the year that fans finally get their hands on the long-awaited LP, with Waka even teasing cover art via Instagram. “Flockaveli II man, it’s just a ghetto-ass CD,” he says. “I was not aiming for radio, so if I make it to radio, that’s a plus.”
