Harverd Dropout is Lil Pump’s sophomore album and the follow-up to his eponymous debut album. Harverd is intentionally spelled with an E to avoid legal action from Harvard University. The album’s title is inspired by a viral series of tweets that construed that Lil Pump dropped out of Harvard University to “save the rap game.” Pump eventually caught on to the virality of the meme and claimed that he did, in fact, drop out of Harvard. He then began to promote it as the title of his next project. He even visited the Harvard Business School on December 10, 2017, while in Massachusetts for a concert. Although Lil Pump is not of age to have ever actually attended Harvard, he is, in fact, a “dropout.” When he was 16, Pump was expelled from all public schools within his district. In one incident, he incited a riot that, according to Pump, caused helicopters and K-9 units to arrive. Pump then began attending an opportunity school but ultimately dropped out in the 10th grade. Harverd Dropout was initially set to be released on August 17, 2018, Lil Pump’s 18th birthday, but on the night before, Pump posted a video having a violent outrage because he “couldn’t find Harverd Dropout!” He used a similar marketing strategy during the lead-up to releasing the “ESSKEETIT” music video. Pump later apologized for the album not releasing on its initial date, but said that it would be “coming soon.” On August 29, 2018, Pump was arrested for driving without a valid license and driving a vehicle with a mismatching license plate. Upon being released from jail the next day, Pump announced on Instagram that the album would be released on September 14, 2018. However, Pump’s arrest was a violation of his probation so he was forced to serve a short-term jail sentence. As a result of his arrest, the September 14 release date was also missed. On October 12, 2018, Billboard published their “21 Under 21” interview with Lil Pump. According to Pump, the album was supposed to be released unexpectedly sometime in October. The interview also stated that Pump recently decided to take Harverd Dropout in a more melodic direction. October passed and no music was released. Then, in early November 2018, Pump posted that he finally got a release date for Harverd Dropout and that it would be released by the end of November, but Pump, yet again, did not deliver. On January 23, 2019, Pump announced the final release date alongside the album artwork. The album was leaked in its entirety on February 19, 2019, three days before its worldwide release. The album includes these pre-release singles: “ESSKEETIT,” “Drug Addicts,” “Multi Millionaire,” “Racks on Racks,” “Butterfly Doors,” and “I Love It.” “Be Like Me” was also released as a promotional single hours before the album’s release.