This is Lupe’s first album since his departure from Atlantic Records. No true singles were released prior to the album’s complete release. However, being that the project was originally set to release in 2016, it features a couple leftover songs —“Jonylah Forever” and “Haile Selassie”— that were released individually in 2013 and 2014, respectively. In a 2018 Billboard interview, he revealed the main idea of the project: It’s about a group of slaves on a slave ship on their way to Africa to the West Indies and they are thrown off the boat. But they didn’t die. They stayed alive and they lived under the sea. And they dedicated their lives to sinking slave ships – so they became this super, underwater force against slavery. It’s like a super-deep story that I am building on different fronts. But that’s the main idea and the source material for the album. In a September 19, 2018 Instagram post prior to the album’s release, Fiasco also identified the role of myth and myth-making in understanding the album’s narrative: REMEMBER: One way to deal with pain and unknowns is to assert myth as a way to cope. Myth can be used to give agency to a people who have had their literal agency removed. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they who employ myth believe literally in all the claims the myth makes or suggests however it has purpose which the literal world cannot or will not supply. Do not look down on people who construct mythologies as a guide because MOST of what YOU may be doing on a daily basis may also just be based on myth. DROGAS is not only one of his ad-libs, but is Spanish for “drugs” and commonly used in his tracks under the acronym: Don’t Ruin Us, God Said. Since February 2016, he has been posting possible cover art and teasers to the album on social media. On December 28th, 2017, Lupe created a Reddit account and made an official “update thread” for the album, going on to call the project “his favorite album so far” in a single-sentenced update to the Reddit thread. On September 30, 2018, Lupe explained the structure of the album in a series of tweets: #DrogasWave is a double album. It is split into two parts: DROGAS & WAVE. WAVE is part 1 (disc1) & deals with the myth of the LongChains. DROGAS is part 2 (disc2) & deals with a myriad of subjects including drugs, rappity raps & human resilience in the face of ruin The discs are meant to be listened to as separate bodies of work however they can also work as one continuous piece. If you are listening to the album digitally the WAVE section ends at Alan Forever (Track 9) and the DROGAS section begins at Helter Skelter Interlude (Track 10). DROGAS is Spanish for Drugs which is used as an acronym for the overall theme of the album: “Dont Ruin Us God Said” The first 3 songs of part 2 deal explicitly with drugs. From the political & social impacts to addiction & the psychological, emotional and physical effects etc. Tracks 14-22 speak to the Drugs as “Dont Ruin Us God Said” thesis within the album. Stories of personal ruin, resilience & redemption and the philosophies & methodologies one might use to achieve those goals. The album ends thematically ends on track 22. Tracks 23-24 are credits