A$AP Rocky has blown up and become a pretty big figure in hip-hop. Since his acclaimed 2011 mixtape LiveLoveA$AP he has become a force to be reckoned with, with a huge buzz and numerous featured verses, even appearing on a Rihanna remix and on T.I.'s newest album. I'm not crazy about that mixape, there are some songs I flat out love, "Peso" and "Demons" mostly but overall I thought it was just okay. But that tape along with Joey Bada$$'s 1999 mixtape, New York is becoming a hip-hop scene again.
Let me start with the production. First he barely worked with the producer from the mixtape, which for me is a good thing. But A$AP has a fantastic ear for beats, he flows over the beats so well and it bangs in headphones and speakers equally well.
A$AP sounds so good on this album, before he had that lazy, don't care flow but on this he switches up producers and his flows and it works to his benefit.
The features on this are weak at points yet strong at others. Drake and 2 Chainz fit perfectly on "Fuckin' Problems" while Kendrick Lamar seemed a little out of place. Santigold makes "Hell" a huge standout on the album. I can't talk about features and not bring up "1 Train". Kendrick Lamar, Big K.R.I.T., Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, Yelawolf and Danny Brown all one track and what's most impressive is that A$AP actually holds his own up with these heavyweights.
This album only has a few tracks that have features, this really is an A$AP driven project. The biggest standouts for me are "Wild for the Night" which features Skrillex on the production, and also "Phoenix" which delves into darkness and suicide.
I'm not a fan of "Ghetto Symphony", "PMW" or "Suddenly" they're just not that great. Other than those few tracks this album was a pretty big surprise for me. I enjoyed this pretty thoroughly and return to it pretty often. Definitely give this album a listen, even if you didn't like his mixtape, if anything purely for the "1 Train" track, it's truly a great track.
Support him and the New York scene and go buy this album, like with real money.
8.5/10
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