On Thursday (Oct. 17), Ab-Soul surprised everyone with an announcement of a new album. As Top Dawg Entertainment signee shared on social media, his sixth studio LP is titled Soul Burger and will serve as a tribute to Armon "Doe Burger" Stringer, who passed away in 2021. In addition to the official artwork, fans can check out a Carlos Acosta-directed trailer, which showed a shirtless Ab-Soul interspersed with shots of a little girl and throwback footage of Doe Burger before his passing. A voiceover shared positive aspirations to the California native throughout.

Just prior to the project reveal, Ab-Soul liberated the hard-hitting "Squeeze 1St 2," which saw him at his most aggressive on the track's chorus. "Thou shall not f**k with raw me, or he face a thousand deaths from Mr. Herbert Anthony, Steven's IV full of potent dope, not a Cuban cigar maker, but I want all of the smoke," he rapped on the Crooklin-produced effort. On Monday, he brought some serious bars during a visit to Hot 97's Funk Flex.

In an interview with GQ, Ab-Soul opened up about losing his best friend. “I felt like half of me was gone,” he expressed. “He was my right hand. We were Huey and Riley from 'The Boondocks.' I’m hurt every day. I’ve taken a lot of losses in my life, [but] that one right there was a make-me-or-break-me situation... I am not broken.”

Soul Burger will follow 2022's HERBERT, an 18-song body of work with additional contributions from Lance Skiiiwalker, Joey Badass, Punch, Zacari, Jhené Aiko, Russ, Big Sean, SiR and more. The album included well-received singles like "HOLLANDAISE," "MOONSHOOTER" and "DO BETTER," a powerful number meant to inspire listeners with lines about inner strength and self-growth. “I gotta do better, I gotta pick up the pieces and master the puzzle upon us," Ab-Soul declared in the first verse.