Long.Live.A$AP.
A$AP Rocky
A$AP Worldwide/Polo Grounds/RCA
A$AP Rocky rose to internet-fuelled fame last year with his druggy, southern-rap evoking Live.Love.A$AP mixtape. This year he returns with a full-fledged album, Long.Live.A$AP.
The new album features production familiar to A$AP fans, which relies heavily on down-tuned samples and hard-hitting beats. The album even features a track forged by love-him/hate-him producer Skrillex, which surprisingly doesn’t feel out of place. The album disappointingly includes a mere two tracks produced by the brilliant Clams Casino, in comparison to the five present on his previous release. Overall, the release carries a fairly similar aesthetic in its beats and doesn’t try to bring anything particularly remarkable into play.
A$AP’s lyrical content is mostly focused on drugs, parties, and being A$AP Rocky, though these are hardly new concepts for him. A$AP delivers his lines with a sort of conviction absent with other rappers. The lyrics are mostly enjoyable because he hypes himself up so much, a talent paralleled perhaps only by Rick Ross. This is entertaining in a party atmosphere, but A$AP’s lyrics often take a backseat to his beats and even other rappers’ verses on many songs.
The album actually functions best without A$AP himself in many cases. The one-two punch of Danny Brown and Action Bronson’s consecutive verses on “1Train” is pure sleazeball-rap glory, even if it they feel completely out of place in the album.
Long.Live.A$AP showcases a rapper in his comfort zone. We are being delivered a product that A$AP Rocky has a particular talent in delivering, although we know exactly what to expect from track to track. Long.Live.A$AP is largely dull as a headphone listen, although the sing-along choruses, pounding beats, and high-profile cameos offer up a great party soundtrack. A$AP Rocky may not be changing the world of rap, but he sure knows how to have fun.
