Rockie Fresh, who is currently working on his next mixtape Electric Highway, had a major collaboration with Frank Ocean leak today. “Reach For The Stars” was unfinished, but featured Ocean singing the hook over an electro-influenced beat. The track was eventually taken down, but we spoke to the recent MMG signee about how the record came together, whether or not he got into the studio with Ocean, and if he’s mad that it leaked.
Interview By Eric Diep (@E_Diep)
You are keeping Electric Highway tightly wrapped, but one of your records leaked today. Apparently, it’s an unfinished record with Frank Ocean.
That wasn’t going to be on Electric Highway. I don’t even know if that’s going to come out now. Honestly. That’s just one of the things about me being part of the music industry. With that said, it is super tightly wrapped because I am already giving it away for free. It's something that I am not approaching as a free project but as an album with less time than the album because of the tour and things like that. When I actually go to work on my album, I am really going to allocate time to make it bigger than the mixtapes that I dropped, but right now I’m touring.
So that record, was it finished?
Not at all. I don’t even know Frank Ocean, just to be real with you. I ain’t never talk with him. It was one of those things that was put together by mutual people.
You didn’t get into the studio with him?
Nah. Even with that, I’m really off to myself in the studio and I hear he was the same way, so I prefer to do records via the e-mail system. It wasn’t even recorded like that. I actually didn’t hear the version with [my verse]. I heard the hook, and I was sent the version without the hook on it so I wouldn’t leak the record. So I recorded my verse to it and I get online today and it's all together.
Was that something you were saving for your album?
It was something that I was gonna test the waters with. One, it was definitely an experimental thing. But two, it was like, that’s how you make hits—by pushing the envelope and trying different things. And that was just a record that if everything went well with the relationship as far as me and the featured artist, and the producers, and things like that, it was something that I was going to let people hear and see what they thought about it. I definitely wasn’t planning to push that record any time soon.
Are you mad that it’s leaked?
I’m just grateful to be in the situation that I am right now. It would be false to say I was mad. It just showed me how real it is. I don’t want people to think that I put that record out in any type of way because I didn’t.
Well, you wanted to test the waters and the reaction over you two collaborating was big.
Yeah, it's cool. I feel like it's one of them things that I don’t think I’ll be able to get around. If I do, one of the big homies is going to let the secret off or something. From what I know, everybody gets leaked. Their whole album, too. I would be doing the most if I were to trip about a song that I didn’t even plan to put on my album or my mixtape leaking. It would just be making a big deal out of something that isn’t a big deal yet.
