Lil Uzi Vert Returns to the Studio, Thanks Roc Nation

Lil Uzi Vert’s sophomore album Eternal Atake may be in limbo, but that hasn’t stopped him from making music.

The Philadelphia rapper, who announced his retirement in January, took to Instagram Stories to reveal that he’s “back in the studio.”

In the clip, which he posted on Monday (Mar. 25), he also wrote “Free Uzi” and thanked Roc Nation, who reposted it on their IG Stories. A source tells Complex that Uzi is now being managed by JAY-Z’s company.

Lil Uzi Vert tagged Roc Nation 🤔 pic.twitter.com/t94w5NBQ00

— LIL UZI VERT ✪ (@LUVTheAlbumOG) March 25, 2019

Uzi’s highly-anticipated album Eternal Atake has been held up over issues with his label, DJ Drama and Don Cannon’s Generation Now. Uzi claims that they’ve been preventing him from releasing the project. “I really just want [the label] to respect me,” he said during an IG Live session. “They just gotta respect me, ’cause I respect them.”

As a result of his frustrations, Uzi announced that he was “done with music.” “I wanna take the time out to say I thank each and every one of my supporters but I’m done with music,” he said in January. “I deleted everything. I wanna be normal … I wanna wake up in 2013.”

Amid the growing “Free Uzi” movement, DJ Drama and Don Cannon announced that Uzi has their blessing to release Eternal Atake. “Uzi should put out EA out tomorrow or any day he wants,” Drama wrote in the comment section of an Instagram post. “He has me & Cannon’s total support and blessings to drop it!”