A$AP Rocky came into the game strong with his Brooklyn
grunge rap music. A$AP Rocky is a Dominican Immigrant that grew up poor in
Brooklyn outside of New York City. He had a relatively hard life. His father
was not in the picture his whole childhood and his mother had to take care of
him and his brother. His brother and he made several friends in Brooklyn, and
had their own gang. When A$AP Rocky started
rapping he had his friends with him. They created A$AP Mob with several rappers
and several hype boys. Shortly before the release A$AP Rocky’s most well-known
album “Long.Live.ASAP”, his brother was shot and killed in the streets of
Brooklyn. His love and feelings toward his brother helped fuel his drive to be
the best and take the rap game by storm.
Two
years after the release of “Long.Live.A$AP”, he released “At.Long.Last.A$AP, his most well written and produced album he has ever put out. Unlike most rap
albums every song is different, and many of them feature other well-known
rappers. His music is the good window shaking rap, that you turn the bass up
all the way and hold on for the drop. A$AP Rocky’s choice in lyrics makes the
music relatable and you are able to sing with it and not just bob your head.
Every song in this album is different. In “L$D” he lays the beat with a low heavy
bass and a light guitar over the top. In “Lord Pretty Flacko Joyde 2”, he decides to bring out some of his older sounds that have you bobbing your head and singing
along. His use of a wide range of beats and songs is why this album stands out
more than most. The pure talent that was put into the album show his true capability
and his drive to be the best rapper in the game. Many of the artists he
features shows his ties with old school and new school rap contacts. Some of
the artists include, Lil Wayne, Juicy J, Miguel, Schoolboy Q, and even Kanye
West. However, the strongest part of the whole-time album is “Everyday”, a song
where Rod Stewart is singing the lyrics of his song “In a Broken Dream” in the
background and Rocky’s hyper fluid rap over the top. It is the cherry on the
top of a great album.
A$AP Rocky showed lots of his
talent with the release of “Long.Live.ASAP”. However, the release of “At.Long.Last.A$AP”
sent him over the top and into the hall of the greats. You will be able to find
this album in the record books sitting right there next to Kanye’s “Graduation”.
The sheer diversity of the album makes it easy to listen to and worth a whole
listen and not just several songs. A main reason for this album doing so well
was the fact most of his songs were about him having fun, doing drugs and
getting women. In prior albums, most of the content was there to prove he was “hard”,
to give him street cred. In “At.Long.Last.A$AP” he opens up in some of the
songs are even relatable and fun to listen too. The success of the album also
comes with who was featured with him. With such large artists, many of his new
fans weren’t even looking for his music, but came across it looking for other
music.
This
album is pure, visible talent. It came out in the time when rap was still rapping and not just ignorant lyrics with mellow beats that all sound the same. It came
out when rappers did drugs, but not when they were so high that they could
barely function and talk. This album will stay with A$AP Rocky for the rest of
his life. During his most recent tour for a newer album he spent over half of
the concert on this album. People were screaming for the unique and hard songs
that they could sing along too, dance and go stupid.
EVERYONE
should listen to this album. I would recommend this album to anyone who is
looking for new rap or even people who have little knowledge in rap. This album
would potentially help people get into rap. The unique and new beats and relatable
lyrics would hopefully attract new listeners. I don’t have any complaints about
this album, the quality of the records and effort put into the producing are
next level. If I were to rate “AT. Long. Last. Asap”, I would probably give it a
9/10.
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