ASAP Rocky Lies. Claims $3 Million Dollar Record Deal From Sony/RCA

October 28, 2011 by JD in Interview

Pitchfork: A lot of rappers are moving away from big record deals and, as recently as last month, it seemed like you didn’t want to sign with a major, either. What changed your mind?

A$AP Rocky: About three million dollars. [Other rappers who don't sign] are smart, but I feel like Sony/RCA is a family and the people there actually care about me. When I came to meet [Polo Grounds Music founder] Bryan Leach, I got to know him on a personal level– he would set up car service for me to go to other labels. He wanted to see me make it. He’s from Harlem.

I’m going to have creative control; there’s no bullshit. The situation is almost unrealistic. I mean, five months ago I had about $3,000 in my bank account. Now I’m worth $3 million. Nobody’s gotten a deal like that since 50 Cent.

Breaking that down, he says he received $1.7 million for his solo album and $1.3 million to fund his label, A$AP Worldwide. So off of two buzzing songs on blogs, no touring outside of small NYC venues/festivals and no real body of work, he received a collective $3 million dollars for himself AND his own label? Having a hard time believing it…and I enjoy those two singles.

But if he did, for whatever reason, receive that kind of funding (which, I’m aware isn’t all cash in his pocket) he just bamboozled the label right there. He won.