I was recently introduced by a friend to A$ap Rocky (a blatent name steal off Aseop Rock if you ask me). But, I was extermely impressed by his mixtape "Live Love A$ap." Every song features a strong, but chill beat with lyrics that continue to impress me. A$ap creates a strong sense of rhythm in his lyrics, and although I am no expert on meter, I had an easier time identifying it in the songs from this mixtape than I have in other rap songs. When you listen closely, A$ap's lyrics combine themes that you normally wouldn't put together. For instance, you can see this in the exerpt below from A$ap's "Peso.
Your bitch just said I'm hot, man I told her I agree
She gon' really think I'm hot, if I told her my degrees
Pull up in that hard-top, showing off my keys
Graduate school of hard-knocks, I can show you my degrees
Couple A, B, C's, bad bitch double D's
Popping E, I don't give a F, told you I'm a G
Here, he combines typical stereotypical rap themes (girls, drugs, cars) with references to school and education. He cleverly combines the letter grading system with what letters can stand for in the world outside of academia --A B and C reference to grades while D references to a woman's breasts, E refers to a drug, and F and G abbreviate fuck and gangster.
Below, I listed links to the song I talked about as well as two of my other favorites off this mixtape... just incase anyone is interested.
A$ap Rocky- Peso
A$ap Rocky- Roll One Up
A$ap Rocky- Trilla
Hey Alexa. Really cool mix tape, good find. However, I'm not as sold on A$ap Rocky as you are. Although I agree that his flow is solid and the beat is chill, his wordplay and ingenuity really wasn't expressed very well. "Roll One Up" doesn't have any complicated structure and just talks about how weed is very important in his life. I'm not denying the fact that he's skilled, I'm just trying to examine his style as much as possible. However, my taste in hip hop may be different than your's; everything's subjective in the end. I'd love to hear more of his work so I'll keep an eye out for his name in the future. Thanks for spending the time to search his out!
ReplyDeleteGavin
After reading your post, I listened to a few of A$ap Rocky's songs and read through the lyrics. I found that a lot of his songs had strong references to drugs, sex, and other stereotypical hip-hop themes. I really liked the excerpt you posted above from his song "Peso", but I had trouble finding more examples like this one. I really like the creative word play in this verse, and although I wasn't impressed with all of his other work, I think that this excerpt shows a lot of potential. I agree that A$ap Rocky has a good beat and flow, so thank you for introducing me to his music!
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ReplyDeleteFor all non-haters:
ReplyDeleteA$ap Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, and other up-and-comers will be making history alongside my team (Loud Life Entertainment) and I this summer at the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. For the first time ever, the Smithsonian is showcasing Hip-Hop artists...yes, artists. While I can't speak for A$AP, Kendrick Lamar and Loud Life have no desire for Hip-Hop to be regarded any longer as unintelligent, low-class street music, but rather as a genre of urban street music that has as much a capacity for wisdom and the fulfillment of high aspirations as does the world's finest prose. Our objective is to expose the Washington, DC art community to the growing trend of socially conscious Hip-Hop MC's who have established themselves as respectable artists within the genre, as opposed to the dying breed of one-hit-wonders, who, for too long, have cluttered the radio with streamlined trash. The concert is tentatively scheduled for early June, but I will notify all those interested when an official date is set.