A$AP Rocky, real name Rakim Meyers, has arrived and is ready to take his place as the crown prince of hip hop, a role he was born to play. Named after hip hop legend Rakim of Eric B. & Rakim, he had no choice but to live up to the name and pay his debt to Rakim in full. Rocky makes like a young Basquiat capturing the zeitgeist by mining the past with a forward thinking aesthetic. He's the new wunderkind on the block embraced by the hip hop and fashion elite.
Poised for mainstream success like 50 Cent and Eminem before him he has mainstream crossover appeal and raw charisma. His music provides a much needed kick in the ass to hip hop and the mainstream much like when Dr. Dre unleashed his West Coast-tinged vision of the world on debut album "The Chronic." The album provided a platform for a new honest and raw voice that was both dangerous and intriguing that spoke of street culture and lived up to Chuck D's vision of rap being the CNN for the black community.
The production is a carefully orchestrated affair, a tastemaker eschewing current New York/ East Coast hip hop trends to create a new aesthetic all his own. Rocky has looked towards the south namely the Southern hip hop scene popularized by Mike Jones and Three 6 Mafia. He borrows heavily from Mike Jones' brand of Houston cough syrup-laced hip hop to create a debut album that is a tapestry weaved with threads from across the United States of hip hop.
The dark and menacing "F**ckin' Problems," the second single off the album is the most immediate song on the album and the most playful, in-your-face and dangerous. It's just the kind of song teenagers and rabble rousers like to embrace and play loudly to make their cars go boom with its dirty gritty beat. His attitude is uncompromising and electric like a young Ice Cube pissed off, angry yet cool. It’s a take-no-prisoners misogynistic homage to his love of the ladies. It features fellow up-and-comer Kendrick Lamar, 2Chainz and Drake over a hook that is both rude and irreverent.
"Wild for the Night" collaboration with Skrillex that shouldn't work but does. A party anthem in the grand tradition of hip hop celebrations of hedonism and debauchery is unapologetically decadent. His staccato delivery rides Skrillex's manic production effortlessly with nods to Tupac, the patron saint of every of young hip hop aficionado.
"Fashion Killa" features a laundry list of preeminent fashion designers including but not limited to Alexander Wang, Ann Demeulemeester, Helmut Lang, Rick Owens, and Raf Simons. It's a breakdown/ tutorial for the uninitiated in the church of cult fashion over a sexy beat and ambient soundscape. This song, as it should be, will be embraced by the fashion community for years to come.
Deluxe edition bonus track "I Come Apart" is a collaboration featuring Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine which pairs the British chanteuse with Rocky to great results. His brutish swagger juxtaposed with her witchy soul vocals is a neo-noir hip hop symphony about love, loneliness and need in the vein of the Roots' collaboration with Erykah Badu "You Got Me," Eminem and Rihanna's collaboration on "Love The Way You Lie" and 50 Cent's "21 Questions." Like LL Cool J before him Rocky just needs love. He lets down his guard and lays bare his vulnerability, probably the most masculine thing he could do more so than bragging about the notches on his belt.
Teeming with street smarts and fashion nods it is a stylish set of songs that are both captivating and "trill," to use Rocky's parlance. An impressive debut from the crown prince of hip hop that builds on the template set on his mixtape. The male counterpart to Azealia Banks, the female MC who has garned as much press and hype anticipating her debut has lived up to the hype, in this case believe the hype! A strong debut ready to join the annals of hip hop alongside "Ready to Die," "The Chronic" and "Get Rich Or Die Tryin.'"
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