
GQ also had a lot of interest in then-President Donald Trump’s response to the rapper’s case. He called Nordic prison food “trash” and said that the month-long near-total isolation was “probably the most boring thing you could think of.” It’s worth noting that he was kept in a private room that was rarely dark due to the length of the days in Sweden during the summer. Rocky stated that the Kronoberg remand prison was cleaner than the American jail had been at least, but that was the only positive thing he could manage to say about the experience. The other time had been for firing a gun at “a neighborhood bully” when he was 16 years old. “I’ve been locked up,” he said, meaning it wasn’t his first time in a prison cell. It dives into his music, his relationship with Rihanna and his work as a style/fashion influencer, but the main story it deals with is his experience with being locked up in a Swedish prison for a month following an assault charge against some young men that Rocky claimed had been harassing him and his crew. The cover story has much more to it other than his comments on the album. He told GQ that the album’s about 90 percent finished. Rocky called All Smiles a “ghetto love tale” and claimed it’s “way more mature” than his 2018 record, Testing. I want to feel great about doing it, and I want people to feel great about hearing it.” I just want to make some good music, that’s all. When asked about whether he reads what critics say about his music, Rocky replied, “I don’t think that’s really my concern. You can go revisit that.” He didn’t mention any specific influences, but commented that he and Rihanna had been listening to artists like The Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead and Curtis Mayfield while they were driving around. “If I’m still doing the same shit with the same sounds and the same bars and the same visuals from years ago, what’s the point? You got that catalog. “It’s just a different point of view.”Īll Smiles is “all about the evolution,” he says. “I think it’s important to have somebody that you can bounce those creative juices and ideas off of,” he stated. Rihanna was “absolutely” a huge influence on the upcoming record as well. “God blessed me with a lot, so I’m working with that, and that’s enough to make some fuckin’ fire.” “ Work with what you got,” he said when asked about the tour bus-friendly mobile recording setup he used to begin recording the album.

He says he began writing the album while on a road trip around the country with his now-official girlfriend, pop culture superstar Rihanna.

Make some emo, real, retro-infusion, motherfuckin’ 2018 shit, man.” He told Peter Rosenberg, “I might have to fuck with Morrissey on some Smiths shit. He said he’s a huge fan of the rock icon and stated, “Anything you need him to do, he show up and do.” That said, he has mentioned wanting to work with Morrissey previously, in 2018. Rocky didn’t reveal much more than that about Morrissey’s contributions.
