Lil Uzi Vert Collaborator TM88 on Impact of Leaks: 'That's Pushing His Album Back Another 8 Months'

Unless you just enjoy torturing yourself by mindlessly abstaining from things that will bring you limitless joy, then you're well aware that Eternal Atake—the long-awaited new album from Lil Uzi Vert—landed on Earth this past Friday.

In a new interview published on Sunday, an assortment of producers and other collaborators responsible for what eventually became the 18-track Luv Is Rage 2 follow-up shared some insight on what inspired the album's repeated delays. Ultimately, as "P2" producer TM88 explained, fingers can be pointed more in the direction of frequent leaks instead of reported contract issues.

"Leaks slow everybody up," TM88, who also worked on Uzi's breakout hit "XO Tour Llif3," told Rolling Stone. "Future and [Young] Thug are doing 10 songs a night. Uzi really takes a lot of time on his songs. If a fan leaks one or two songs, that's pushing his album back another eight months."

By TM88's estimation, Uzi began sessions for Eternal Atake in 2018 or earlier. In fact, TM88—like fellow credited Eternal Atake contributor Ike Beatz—was wholly unaware that Uzi would be dropping the album on Friday.

"I woke up ready to work out, kill it in the gym," he said, noting that he was under the impression that the album might arrive later this month. "A fan hit me like, 'P2 is crazy!' I hit the fan back: 'What's that?'"

The full RS feature also includes reflections on the EA process from engineer Kesha Lee, producer Supah Mario, producer Harold Harper, and the aforementioned Ike Beatz. Read the full thing here.

Shortly after the album's release, Uzi began teasing the apparently imminent arrival of an expanded deluxe edition:

And on Monday morning, Uzi teased the "second half" of the album, though it's not clear if this is also a reference to the deluxe edition or to something else entirely:

EA in its current form, meanwhile, is projected to have an expectedly phenomenal first week on the Billboard 200 chart.