AT LONG LAST ASAP ALBUM COVER FULL

ScHoolBoy Q delivers on “Electric Body,” which is another solid Rocky/ScHoolBoy collaboration. In other places on the album, Lil Wayne dominates “M’$,” and makes it look effortless. In “Fine Whine,” the syrup-laden confession to women that have been done wrong by rappers’ lifestyles, Future glides in over pounding drums as he delivers one of the best feature verses on the album. He commands the beat in the classic A$AP Rocky fashion. And then when he decides to snap, like he does on “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 (LPFJ2),” “Excuse Me,” and “M’$,” it’s so satisfying. Everyone knows that he has one of the smoothest flows, but Rocky holds back on most songs, preferring to let his cadence ride with the song and not over it. What’s also refreshing is Rocky’s restraint throughout the project.

It’s unlike anything A$AP Rocky has ever made, and it’s refreshing and engaging. Elements of the song coalesce and fall apart in a beautiful harmony as Rocky sings his way through the haze. One of the singles off the album, “L$D,” barely even sounds like rap. The song “Max B” does a literal record-scratch between Rocky’s aggressive ratatat flow to Joe Fox’s muted whispers. Most of the choruses are somber spots of reflection between his slews of rap. The new drug-infused sound exists in a space between alternative rock and mainstream rap. “When Yams died, psychedelic music healed me,” Rocky said in a Complex cover story. Everything’s still purple, but now there are shades and hues. “Everything is purple,” rapped Rocky on his first mixtape. Cloud rap was known for its spacey beats, its relation to weed and the rappers who liked smoking it. It’s fitting that Rocky, who was the pioneer of the cloud rap subgenre, has transitioned to a more psychedelic-infused sound. This album is crisp when it’s blasted loud and sets a standard for what rap albums should sound like when mixed and mastered properly. The percussion hits at all the right levels, and Rocky’s voice is never lost amidst the layered production. This album deserves credit for how well-mixed it is, too. The production creates a distinct vibe for each song, like the creeping bass on “Pharsyde.” His wistful croon is essential to the tone of the album. Rocky dares to experiment, taking his listener on a journey of psychedelic lows, highs and all the strange sights in between.Ītmosphere oozes and drenches in “At.$AP.” The soundscape features Joe Fox’s singing, who accompanies Rocky on five songs.

AT LONG LAST ASAP ALBUM COVER FULL

HOLY SMOKES, I THINK MY PASTOR WAS THE ONLY FOLK TO OWN THE ROLLIE, GHOST AND ROLLS-ROYCES WITH NO HOLY GHOST A$AP ROCKY, “HOLY GHOST”īut it bumps, and sets you up perfectly for an album full of surprises. Faith is a departure from what he usually raps about, and the beat sounds nothing like traditional Rocky. The self-described “pretty motherf*cker” sounds like a cowboy riding in from the sunset ready to shoot some outlaws up. That was the question ringing around my head as I listened to the album’s introduction, “Holy Ghost.” The drums smash while a western-sounding guitar wails. Would A$AP Rocky make his first musical misstep? Does “At.$AP” live up to what its title suggests? With him gone, and two years having passed since Rocky’s debut album, the pressure was on. Yams was known to describe himself as the Yoda to Rocky’s Luke Skywalker. Their partnership was well summarized by The New York Times after A$AP Yams died of an accidental drug overdose last January. Yams’ understanding of the rap world, evidenced by his popular Tumblr blog RNT and his thirst to take Rocky to the next level was crucial to Rocky’s success. The rise of the A$AP Mob back in the early 2010s can be partly attributed to the personality that was A$AP Yams. The sounds of Houston, Atlanta and New York were mixed into the flow and beat choices on the tape, making what had never been done before sound so natural.

The Harlem-bred rapper’s first mixtape, “$AP,” demonstrated his impeccable flow, style and taste. Genres and culture adjust themselves to his presence. A$AP Rocky has always been an artist defined by the forefront.

At long last asap album cover