A$AP Rocky: Long. Live. ASAP

RCA - Phil Knott

"“Fashion Killa,” for instance, is essentially a four-minute advertisement for luxury fashion."

Download-Worthy: “F*ckin’ Problems,” “1 Train,” “Wild For The Night”
AskMen Rating: 3.5/5

When A$AP Rocky emerged onto the hip-hop scene with his 2011 mixtape, Live. Love. A$AP, he was touted as the new face of New York hip-hop.
Harlem street savvy crossed with a taste for SoHo flair and Rick Owens, the then 23-year-old rejected regionalism and made New York hip-hop sexier.

Long. Live. A$AP (in stores today) is the glossier follow-up to its predecessor. Signed to Polo Grounds with a reportedly $3 million deal, A$AP is enjoying major label life, his braggadocio and swagger on tilt. “I said it must be cause a n*gg* got dough/Extraordinary swag and a mouth full of gold/Hoes at my shows/They be strippin' off they clothes,” he raps in the first single, “Goldie.”

In 1995, another New York rapper, the late, great Notorious B.I.G., deftly summarized aspirational rap with the memorable, “Money, hoes and clothes/All a n*gg* knows/A foolish pleasure/Whatever” in the breakout “Big Poppa.” A$AP Rocky was probably in elementary school at the time, but he clearly took a page (or several) from Biggie. “Money, hoes and clothes” is the overriding theme on Long. Live. A$AP. It’s usually enjoyable -- A$AP’s delivery is smooth and his charisma and bravado ooze off each track -- but at times, it can feel uninspired.

"Wild For The Night," A$AP ft. Skrillex

“Fashion Killa,” for instance, is essentially a four-minute advertisement for luxury fashion, and although we applaud Rocky’s efforts at rhyming “Oliver Peoples” with “Ann Demeulemeester,” some 30 name-checks don’t equate to a particularly good song.

A major label means bigger recording budgets, and production has been kicked up with Hit-Boy, 40, Jim Jonsin and Danger Mouse, along with previous contributor Clams Casino. They provide a nice support and protect Rocky from his own lyrical shortcomings. Rocky’s Houston and Midwest rap influences are still palpable and live nicely alongside Skrillex’s whirring, crazed-out synths and 40’s penchant for nostalgic R&B.

The rapper enlists a plethora of features from the expected Drake, Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz (“F*ckin’ Problems”), to the more surprising Santigold (”Hell”), Skrillex (“Wild For The Night”) and Florence Welch (“I Come Apart”). Moderate, albeit calculated, risks that pay off.

For the ardent rap heads, there’s “1 Train,” featuring a cross-geographic trip by way of New York, Cali, Michigan and Mississippi, with some of rap’s most promising new lyricists: Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, Danny Brown, Kendrick Lamar, Yelawolf and Big K.R.I.T. It’s clear A$AP Rocky has the trappings of a star. Even before selling one album, he knows it, too. “I swear this famous sh*t happened overnight,” he raps in “Suddenly.” Whether Live. Love. A$AP will propel the newcomer to superstardom is still unclear, but it will certainly extend his 15 minutes.