Latest Release
- 6 SEPT 2024
- 1 Song
- Sundress - Single · 2018
- I Smoked Away My Brain (I'm God x Demons Mashup) [feat. Imogen Heap & Clams Casino] - Single · 2023
- TESTING · 2018
- AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP · 2015
- LONG.LIVE.A$AP (Deluxe Edition) · 2013
- AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP · 2015
- Good for You (feat. A$AP Rocky) - Single · 2015
- LONG.LIVE.A$AP (Deluxe Edition) · 2012
- Mura Masa · 2016
- METRO BOOMIN PRESENTS SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (SOUNDTRACK FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE MOTION PICTURE) · 2023
Essential Albums
- Beginning with the eerily prophetic opening bars of LONG.LIVE.A$AP’s title track—“I thought I’d probably die in prison/Expensive taste in women”—A$AP Rocky struck a unique tone on his major-label debut album. Obviously, hip-hop and the Black community at large had no shortage of justice martyrs and Dapper Dans prior to his auspicious arrival. Yet the artist born Rakim Mayers stood out most for defying trends as much as he set them, refusing to conform to anyone’s perceived norms. Guided by young luminary A$AP Yams and backed by the A$AP Mob, the Harlem-based MC didn’t sound like what people expected from NYC rap music at the time. Many of his early critics grappled with the overt Houston and, more generally, Southern hip-hop influences on his work, like “Purple Swag (Remix)” with Bun B and Paul Wall as well as the preceding LIVE.LOVE.A$AP mixtape. The deep, syrupy vocal effect employed for the choruses of “Goldie” and “PMW (All I Really Need)” recalls the legendary DJ Screw’s codeine-laced wizardry, while Clams Casino’s dissonant and narcotic production honours that legacy on “LVL” and the Santigold-featuring “Hell”. Yet any attempt by journalists or listeners to neatly regionalise Rocky’s musical vision for LONG.LIVE.A$AP would be futile given the choices and the execution that define the album. Untethered and inspired, “F**kin’ Problems” defiantly mashed together Atlanta’s 2 Chainz, Toronto’s Drake and Compton’s Kendrick Lamar into something that sounded as if it had come from nowhere or, perhaps, anywhere. On the magnificent posse exemplar “1 Train”, he wields verses by Action Bronson, Big K.R.I.T., Danny Brown and Joey Bada$$, among others, into a blog-rap weapon of mass appeal/destruction. Uncannily attuned to the zeitgeist, he even tapped emo dude-turned-arena DJ Skrillex for the ubiquitous trap-EDM hybrid “Wild for the Night”, which set the high-water mark for all other such rapper collabs in that part of the electronic music scene. Then there’s, of course, Rocky’s public image. Curating between streetwear cred and couture savvy, he simultaneously had the block and the runway in a proverbial chokehold. Marked by a dry-clean-only laundry list of luxe references, the Friendzone-produced “Fashion Killa” laid out a wardrobe manifesto almost as audacious as Karl Marx pamphlets or Martin Luther’s theses. Amid the song’s poetic playfulness lies a genuine heart, with its romantic reference to Rihanna and a desire for progeny “flyer than their parents” proving wildly prescient. A decade later, the power and potency of LONG.LIVE.A$AP has its tendrils all but fully embedded in the culture. As hip-hop’s tastes become increasingly more expensive and even rarefied, Rocky’s resonant impact appears inarguably clear.
- “My mixtape is better than a lot of people’s albums,” A$AP Rocky boasted just days after the release of his 2011 debut set, LIVE.LOVE.A$AP. The Harlem rapper wasn’t wrong: LIVE.LOVE.A$AP would become became synonymous with 2010s hip-hop and pop culture, while simultaneously skyrocketing the east coast artist’s career (not to mention the profile of his A$AP Mob collective). The roll-out for LIVE.LOVE.A$AP commenced with “Purple Swag”, Rocky’s first-ever single. The late A$AP Yams, who co-founded A$AP Mob—and who played a major role in strategising Rocky’s marketing—leaned heavily into the then-popular social media site Tumblr to promote the track. The plan worked: Thanks to “Purple Swag”, a bidding war over A$SAP Rocky ensued, with the rapper eventually scoring a $3 million deal with Polo Grounds Music, an imprint of RCA. Shortly after, he released LIVE.LOVE.A$AP, a syrupy sweet and slow pour of no-nonsense New York rap, intermixed with an unmistakably southern sound. The mixtape exemplified Rocky and the A$AP Mob’s understanding of rap’s landscape from coast to coast, captured by the project’s cross-regional sound: In cuts like “Get Lit” and “Purple Swag: Chapter 2”, the chopped-and-screwed Houston sound dominates, while Los Angeles rapper Schoolboy Q guests on “Brand New Guy”. Still, LIVE.LOVE.A$AP is unequivocally a product of Harlem, with Rocky and his producers—including Clams Casino and A$AP Ty Beats—channelling New York’s intensity and boom-bap sound on tracks like “Trilla”. And though Rocky was rarely hailed as a top lyricist, his attitude and style was unmatched. A trailblazing, star-making bit of 2010s hip-hop, LIVE.LOVE.A$AP is a testament to the braggadocious rapper’s charming arrogance, one that’s evident in his self-bestowed nickname: “Pretty motherfucker”.
- 2024
- 2024
- 2023
Artist Playlists
- The Harlem rapper is a master of mixing sounds and aesthetics.
- Smooky MarGielaa
- A$AP Rocky on his song “HIGHJACK.”
- From Rakim to A$AP Rocky, rap gets into a New York state of mind.
- The artist breaks down the meaning behind “Same Problems?”
- The rapper on “Same Problems?” and Zane Lowechats with Fall Out Boy.
- New music from Rich the Kid, Flume & HWLS, and Tame Impala.
- The Harlem MC drops by, plus Flipp Dinero and DJ First Choice.
- The MC FaceTimes in to premiere his track “Let Me See.”
About A$AP Rocky
Exuding modern New York style in both look and sound, A$AP Rocky became a photogenic symbol of rap’s extended cultural reach in the 2010s. Born Rakim Mayers in 1988, Rocky fell in with the Harlem-based A$AP Mob in his late teens. As with Odd Future in Los Angeles, that collective functioned as much like a creative agency as a rap crew, bringing a sense of self-sufficiency and independence to the mainstream machine. The subject of a major bidding war, Rocky’s debut 2011 mixtape LIVE.LOVE.A$AP delivered on that hype with a savvy blend of East Coast and Southern influences while his personal aesthetic straddled the street and the runway. Soon Rocky was casually holding court with some of rap’s biggest names on his 2013 studio debut LONG.LIVE.A$AP and tapping Danger Mouse as exec producer on 2015’s trippier and more expansive AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP. That psychedelic streak continued on 2018’s TESTING, an aptly titled feat of experimentation that set itself apart from the de facto trilogy before it. Going forward without the guidance of his longtime mentor A$AP Yams, who died in 2015, Rocky began to further embrace his cachet in alternative music, supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers on their 2022 world tour and tapping dreamy folkie Jessica Pratt for his punchy 2024 single “HIGHJACK”. “I just love alternative,” he told Apple Music. “I love just different sounds and whatnot.” No matter how far-flung the backdrop is, though, Rocky’s sly charm and rock-solid confidence shine through in every bar.
- HOMETOWN
- Harlem, NY, United States
- BORN
- 3 October 1988
- GENRE
- Hip-Hop/Rap