At the after-party following his Sundance debut –– his first big screen role in the film Dope –– A$AP Rocky abruptly cut his set short and dedicated his final song to A$AP Yams.

"That performance –– that was just going to stop me from crying," Rocky would later tell Billboard. Yams, a co-founder of A$AP Mob, passed away suddenly Jan. 18 at the age of 26. The news sent shockwaves throughout the community.

"I had to address it," Rocky said, "because the whole time I was rapping... I wasn't into it."

His whirlwind schedule isn't necessarily helping either. Rocky's also been participating in Men's Fashion Week in Paris. "It's even harder knowing that I gotta fly out in less than an hour just to go bury him," he said. "That's the part that eats at me."

The cause of Yams's death is still unknown in the public sphere, but one thing is certain: "People were saying that Yams overdosed on drugs; he didn't overdose on any drugs," Rocky said. "I feel like people feel that way because that's all he's in pictures doing. When you see A$AP Yams you see Hennessey or purple drink, you see some type of controlled substance or illegal narcotic..."

A$AP Ant had a similar reaction to the rumors.

Rocky has a philosophy for getting through the grieving, however. "I'm a happy spirit, man, and I feel like time heals," he said. "It's all about good people with good energy, and the universe keeps producing them to me. ... God is good and I keep all hope and faith."

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(Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Acura)