Ab-Soul is already thinking about his next album, just one month removed from his latest effort HERBERT. The 35-year-old has called on none other than LeBron James to A&R his forthcoming project.
The two met up at Crypto.com arena on Wednesday evening (Jan. 25) after the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the San Antonio Spurs 113-104. The TDE rapper posted a video to Instagram which shows him asking the four-time NBA MVP if he would be willing to play an executive role on his next album.
“You really the right of passage,” the Los Angeles rapper said. “Top [Dawg] told me to ask you if you would A&R the next album.” Without taking a mere second to think, King James replied “Yeah, I can do that.”
The two also discussed how they already shared a bond in the form of Calmatic. The filmmaker was responsible for directing the recently-released House Party reboot, which Bron stars in, but several years prior to that, he shot videos for Soulo and his fellow TDE member Kendrick Lamar.
The four-time NBA champion was pleasantly surprised at the fact before praising HERBERT and blessing Ab-Soul with the sneakers he’d worn in the game that evening.
LeBron is a well-known, vocal Hip-Hop fan and has not been shy about his love for Soul’s latest body of work.
“Ab-Herbert-Soul is so COLD MAN!!!!!!” the Lakers superstar tweeted back in December 2022 with multiple fire emojis. He even recently shared an Instagram story rapping along to “Message In A Bottle” from the album while getting a haircut.
Collaborating with Ab-Soul would mark LeBron’s second stint as an A&R, making his executive producer debut alongside 2 Chainz for his 2019 LP Rap Or Go To The League. The internet regularly circulates videos from their in-studio documentary, where the 38-year-old presents the idea of doing a deluxe album to the Atlanta rapper, to which he appears mind blown at a concept that is far from novel.
Time will tell when Ab-Soul unleashes his next album, especially having taken a six-year break between HERBERT and its predecessor Do What Thou Wilt. What can be said is that the project will certainly have the notable Lebron James stamp.