August Alsina had fans in a flurry Thursday evening (June 18) after announcing his first album in five years, The Product III: stateofEMERGEncy. The album is expected to drop on June 26 and will be preceded by a five-episode docuseries on YouTube — titled “stateofEMERGEncy: The Rise of August Alsina” — which debuts on June 21.
The New Orleans-born crooner hopped on Instagram to share the project’s cover art, tracklist and a message about his health journey.
“I’ve been working. Been working on myself, my family and my health,” Alsina wrote. “While on my journey I’ve discovered that life is like one huge puzzle w/ limitless pieces. I’ve been putting the pieces of my puzzle together — with my new music and documentary, stateofEMERGEncy.
“The goal of this project is to expose myself through the art and to help others reveal their true selves. Go back into the past, bring it into the present and positively impact our future,” he continued. “I want to show the community that we’ve all had to overcome some type of obstacle, some greater than others, but pain is pain… and pain and its threshold is subjective and different for each individual.
“Through the sharing of my own life stores, I hope to show that these things are only experiences and they do not define who we are. It is simply given to us to help build and grow, catapulting us into our next dimension into our newer selves. (Hence the title emerge-and-see).
“I remember a time thinking that the many trials I’ve faced were sent to destroy me. I later leaned that a seed must completely destroy itself in order to become a flower… We’re that seed, we’re that flower. We’re that caterpillar, changing & growing hour by hour… and just like the caterpillar we must go through a metamorphosis, coming into new form, into the butterfly that we were always meant to be.
“Through this creative process, I’ve emerged a stronger, more resilient person,” his post concluded. “I hope you enjoy and to see you soon.”
The 27-song record will see features from Lil Wayne, Juicy J, Yo Gotti and Darrell Walls. Last year, Alsina dropped off his Forever and A Day EP.
The Product III: stateofEMERGEncy will mark his third studio album and serve as a follow-up to his 2015 LP, This Thing Called Life. Over the past few years, Alsina has suffered through the death of his father and sister and a severe auto-immune disease that impaired his mobility.
See his posts below.