Everyone loves a good album rollout. There’s nothing better than counting down the days to the night that you get to stay up until midnight to listen to your favorite artist’s new album. However, it’s become more and more common over the years for artists to use what’s known as a “mysterious gimmick,” and pretend like they’re going to release an album when they aren’t. I really couldn’t tell you why this happens, as it obviously doesn’t have any positive effects on the reception of the album. It could be to build hype for the actual release, but you’ll see as this article goes on that sometimes the actual release never happens. This doesn’t happen with every album. Whenever major popstars like Taylor Swift or Sabrina Carpenter release an album, they usually announce hard dates for its release and tour well in advance, letting fans build up their anticipation. Other artists, like Tyler, the Creator and Kendrick Lamar, have announced their albums just a few days before release, or in some cases, dropped the album by surprise, with no rollout at all. I personally enjoy both of these types of rollouts, as both have their own pros and cons when it comes to buildup and anticipation; however, nobody likes being lied to.

DON’T BE DUMB

A$AP Rocky released his album “Don’t Be Dumb” this past week, and I personally really liked it, however, some people felt disappointed by it. This is because A$AP Rocky hasn’t released a single project in the last 8 years and has been teasing this album since the summer of 2023. The rollout started on July 20, 2023, when Rocky released the single, “Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n)”, which left fans ready for new music from Rocky. Even though this was only the start of the rollout, fans had already waited years for A$AP Rocky for any new music, and they had assumed he was working diligently during the gap between his releases. The album, despite high anticipation, wasn’t teased again until June of 2024, almost a year after the first single. Rocky previewed a new song at Paris Fashion Week and announced the album would be released on August 30th, 2024. Not only did he announce the release date, but he also went on a podcast tour, hyping up the album and talking about songs and features to be expected. But, much to fans’ dismay, on August 22, he announced that the album had to be delayed due to sample clearance issues and leaks; however, he still said it would be released in the fall of that year. During that fall, Rocky released 3 separate singles, but never released the album or announced a release date, and eventually, 2025 began. In 2025, Rocky was mostly quiet about the album. He made a statement about how he was still working on it in March, and he released a single in July, but other than that, there was no word about the state of the album or if it was even still in production. That lasted until December of 2025, when Rocky announced the actual release date of the album, January 16, 2026. That began the real rollout of the album, with 2 singles and music videos, and the release of the album on the date he announced, which, kind of hilariously, didn’t include any of the singles from previous rollouts. This was an agonizing release process for fans, but at least it was clear that Rocky was actually working on his album and that he cared about his fans. The same can’t be said for the next rollout we’ll look at

I AM MUSIC

Playboi Carti is a rapper known for his mysterious public perception. He rarely goes on interviews, barely speaks to his audience, and his only means of communication with his fans is usually outfit pictures and Instagram captions. Before MUSIC was released in 2025, his last album was called “Whole Lotta Red,” which was released on Christmas of 2020. After that album was released, he immediately announced a deluxe edition, which never ended up coming out. This is where Carti’s history of lying to his audience began, because it’s not the same as the way that A$AP Rocky had his mishaps with announcements. Carti will announce something, possibly for a specific time range, or say something like “coming soon,” hype it up like the release is happening, and then just not release any music. Then he’ll usually quit Instagram for a couple of weeks, and the announce something again, and the cycle repeats. After the Whole Lotta Red deluxe issue, he announced an album called “Narcissist,” which never ended up being released either. He even announced a date for Narcissist’s release, 9/13/21; that date came, and nothing happened. What’s worse, the day after, he basically announced a new dropshipping venture, where he sold a $5000 helmet, themed after the album that didn’t release, which apparently could be found on Alibaba for $29. This all precedes the “I AM MUSIC” rollout, which started on December 25, 2022, when Carti posted a picture of a random model on his Instagram with a parental advisory sticker on the bottom, signaling that it’s an album cover. The same day he tweeted, “love all my supporters it’s time,” and DJ Akademiks, an insider who was sampled on Whole Lotta Red, said, “Carti OTW.” Of course, nothing happened the following day. I’m going to spare all the pre-2024 details after this because it’s more of the same thing, and nothing compared to Carti’s 2024 rollout. In December of 2023, Carti posted the actual album cover, and he and all of his team changed their profile pictures to it. DJ Akademiks, the insider from earlier, tweeted, “Playboi Carti… album coming JANUARY! will be the greatest thing you ever heard.” This might seem like a run-of-the-mill Carti lie, but this time, there was proof: a music video for a new single released on Carti’s YouTube, which was his first new music since Whole Lotta Red, not including features. During December, Carti released 6 new music videos, each of which featured new singles that displayed Carti’s new sound. One of these songs was literally called “2024.” At the end of that video, Carti sang the words, “2024… Music,” which became Carti’s slogan that year. And this year it really seemed like it was going to happen, multiple singles, a feature which ended up in the top 10 on the Hot 100, and hundreds of fit pics, each with the caption “2024 Music.” Eventually, the final Friday of 2024 crept up, and fans were worried it wouldn’t release. Akademiks said it would still release, and Carti even posted on his story saying “2024 Music” the WEDNESDAY before the final Friday of 2024. The clock struck 12 and… nothing happened. MUSIC did end up releasing in March of 2025, but it’s pretty obvious that it was because his label forced him to release it, and he’s already back to lying about his next album, “BABYBOI.” We can probably expect to listen to that in 2040 at this rate.