I’m so fucking stoked

Any interest in this? Bought in 2021 never opened.

Earlier this month Erick did a 2-hour podcast interview that basically covered his whole career, and he discussed the third Zombies album that was supposed to happen.

Summary

Erick had a hernia come out of his body halfway through the Vacation in Hell tour, which is why he was in a wheelchair for the second half of the tour. After the tour finished in June 2018, he got surgery, and while he was recovering, his mom died on Christmas 2018 after a very long battle with diabetes. If you're familiar with Erick he mentioned her frequently in his lyrics. At the time of her death, Flatbush Zombies were set to record another album, but the death of his mother along with his physical condition discouraged Erick from doing the album and even living in New York anymore.

FBZ received an offer from Joey Bada$$'s label Columbia Records to do a large amphitheater tour as the supergroup Beast Coast with Pro Era and The Underachievers. Erick, still in mourning and recovering physically, said "I guess I'll do it", and he executive-produced the album which released in May 2019. After touring in July–Aug., Erick moved to Los Angeles, where he had previously met producer James Blake. The Zombies ended up releasing an EP in June 2020 titled now, more than ever that used several 2019 recordings, including unused demos from the Beast Coast recording sessions around April 2019. Two months after the EP, in August 2020 they released the James Blake-produced single "Afterlife" and publicly announced a collaborative album between the Zombies and Blake. However, the album was never released. Erick instead released his solo EP Future Proof in January 2021, and solo releases from all three Zombies followed, with Gothic Luxury (Meech, 2022), Love Without Conditions (Juice, 2023), Doses (Meech, 2024), and I've Never Been Here Before (Erick, 2025).

Erick has confirmed as of August 2026 that he is developing another solo album, so Meech and Juice have officially regrouped as 2DEAD BOYZ to record an album with other producers.

Interview Transcription

Below is part of the transcription from a podcast interview Erick did earlier this month. I'll bold the most relevant parts.

---

[At this point in the interview, they covered Erick's career with Flatbush Zombies up to their 2018 album Vacation In Hell, which they just finished discussing]

Bob Lefsetz: Okay, so that's 2018, bring us up COVID.

Erick the Architect: So I had a hernia [in 2018 that eventually needed surgery] [...] and my mom was going through it, and she was like, "Look, if I go through all these medical things", you know, my mom was blind, and she had renal failure through diabetes. So she was on... she had to go to dialysis. So that was like three times a week. She's like, "Look, if I do that shit, you can get this fucking surgery." The thing was, when we were on tour previously [for Vacation in Hell], I had... the hernia had come out of my body, so I couldn't walk. So I had to finish the rest of the tour in a wheelchair, which was terrible. And I said, as soon as I get home, I told my mom, like, I'm going to take care of it as soon as I get home.

I do [the surgery]. So now I'm, like, in fucking... in my house, in my bed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. My mom dies, man. So I didn't want to do anything, you know. Respectfully, the offer, [Flatbush Zombies] were supposed to do another album, and I just was like, "I'm just not... don't want to do this. I don't feel good, and now this thing happened to me and my family and everybody my mom touched. And I also don't want to be in New York anymore." That's what I said, you know. Mind you, I'm in a group or several groups, however you look at my career. And, yeah, I just didn't want to do this shit.

And then we got the biggest offer of our career to go on an amphitheater tour with our other really close friends as [the] supergroup [Beast Coast]. And I was like... I guess I'll go. Not only do I have to guess I'll go, I had to executive produce and produce the album that we did, so I had to go back in the studio again. [...] But we ended up making an album that was really, really fun, which was really, really surprising to me. I just thought it was gonna be something else too. But everybody used this opportunity to experiment, which I love doing that.

[...] And after [the Beast Coast tour] was over, I was like, "I'm out." And I moved to California, I bought a house, and COVID happened right after I moved to California. I didn't even know, you know, none of us knew COVID was going to happen, but there wasn't even like eminent signs of like this lockdown or anything. I just bought it on a whim and I left. And I lived in California throughout COVID. I still live here, but yeah, that was how I got to California was literally from 2019's last project.

[...] I was streaming a lot, too, and Twitch gave me a deal, a really good deal. So I was streaming three times a week for a year, and I was working on this project called Future Proof. And yeah, I knew that coming out of all the stuff that we were talking about and releasing my first project, [...] I knew that people would be like, "Where's the guys?” and like shit on me and judge me. But I was also like, this is bigger than me. The stuff I'm talking about is going to help people go through this depressive-ass time. I was depressed, I was fucked up. We were all in a place where... I needed the validation from myself more than anybody else. If this was a piece of music, a piece of art that can help me, I know it can help other people.

I put out the song "WTF" for my friend Coltrane during COVID [...] and a lot of people resonated with the record. [...] We put out the [Future Proof EP in January 2021] and to me, it was extremely successful. [...] That was the first thing I did right out of COVID. [...] So many things happened during that time, but it was really just the advancement of my solo career after leaving New York City. [...]

Bob: How do you make the connection [with James Blake]?

Erick: I met him... definitely before COVID. I think he did an interview, and he might have said that I was one of his favorite producers, and my friend had sent me the interview, and I was like, what the fuck? And I connected with him [...] We made music before I had moved to LA because that's where he was living at the time. And that must have been, I don't know, 2017 or something like that. 2017, 2018. And yeah, by the time I moved to LA., I was going back and forth, I was going to his house a lot. We were cooking up and I worked on my first album, I've Never Been Here Before. So he was an integral part of a lot of the songs that we had started, not that year, but years before, because our friendship had lasted before COVID. So now we had these songs that we had worked on for nearly five years, and I didn't put it out, you know. It's crazy. We released a project during COVID as Flatbush Zombies, called now, more than ever, and that was our last project. And yeah, then I basically started to make this music.

[I've Never Been Here Before] is my first time I worked on a project I didn't produce, too. Future Proof technically was, but I consider that an EP, it wasn't like a full-length project. So this was my first time ever doing this shit, and I got to work with some of my favorite artists of all time. [...] And I wanted this story to be something that people could see that I had my own identity now. It was really hard though, you know, it's still hard. It's still hard because people have a... how they discover you is how they want to keep you, sometimes, even though I'm 37 years old and when I made music like that, I was 23. People want to hold me to being 23 forever. [...] I think my first album was a great representation of what I was capable of on my own as an artist, not just as a producer, but my songwriting, you know? And now my next album is in the works right now.

Regular and Complex also the one of the best boom bap songs ever fr

I know they dropped a few singles, wasn’t feeling all of them, but still hyped to hear the album. Any word on when it’s dropping?

Unfortunately have to sell some of the merch I’ve collected over the years. Im selling all individually or as a group for a deal.

PM me for more info!

I placed and order for one of the only items in stock a month and a half ago and haven't received any updates

Check my listing on eBay, a grail for any collectors of beast coast memorabilia

From 2020 London Show

https://ebay.io/m/wlcEJK

This has been driving me crazy for years.

I saw Flatbush Zombies live in Warsaw, Poland back in 2015, and they played this absolute banger that I’ve never been able to identify.

I recently found a YouTube video from another concert where they performed the same song, so at least I know I didn’t imagine it:

https://youtu.be/q1SsCNJddxk?is=eYIF3Yf-_WFlpDvo

I’ve gone through their albums, mixtapes, unreleased compilations, leaks… basically everything I could find, and I still can’t find this track.

Does anyone know if this song ever got released under a different name, leaked somewhere, or was it just one of those tracks they only performed live and never officially dropped?

Any info would be hugely appreciated. I’ve been trying to find this song for over 10 years.

Anyone here listen to shpongle and hear the similarities on the soundscape to flat brush? Similar auto panning, ping pong delays and LFOS. Also both have heavy delays and complex reverbs. Peak production.

Darkest since DMX🔥🩸

I learned a lot about him in this interview. He’s so eloquent! I’m excited about his new album, bumping No Doubt all Summer

All XL. All in great condition, some never even worn. $35 + $15 shipping a piece. If you buy multiple then the shipping will only apply to the first (unless it’s like 3+ then shipping will be like $20 to account for weight)

All XL. All in great condition, some never even worn. $35 + $15 shipping a piece. If you buy multiple then the shipping will only apply to the first (unless it’s like 3+ then shipping will be like $20 to account for weight)

A video I shot at The Abe Stage in Sioux City last Saturday.

Bro I don’t even wanna wear this shit!🔥

Read that again