Both these tour de forces in rap push boundaries in everything that they do. The reason a comparison is being drawn between these two is the similarities that they share. ASAP., Rocky has successfully cemented himself both in the realms of fashion and music as an icon, reaching heights almost as high as Kanye West. Years following his stellar precedent setting mixtape Live. It is clear that he set out to ensure that his message was understood, and seemed to not want to go too overboard with his message. Unlike Ambromovic, Rocky set out to ensure that his audience was on the same mental and emotional plane that he was on with his collaborators. The performance was flush with multifaceted forms of symbolism which one could argue paid homage to performance art pioneer, Marina Abromovic. Rocky’s peculiar sensibilities pays off here, closing out his best song in years.Throughout his performance, Rocky addressed topics like pornography, the current political environment, addiction and sexuality in media, something that he is very familiar with. At about the midway point, Rocky fades into the background, the beat slows and splays itself as Moby’s sampled voice and guest vocalist Khloe Anna’s mournful croons coalesce in a moment of pure lucidity. In a surprise twist, “A$AP Forever” shows that ASAP Rocky’s genre-blending explorations might work after all. Rocky sounds the most energized he has been in years, putting together taut triplets that unfurl as he weaves through crew shoutouts, fashion brand name-drops, and playful internal rhymes (“Flacko no Dominicano but eat the tostones with platanos”). It’s among the most downcast and experimental instrumentals Rocky’s rapped over, but his winking presence and charm is never drowned out.

Prominently, it features an extensive sample of Moby’s downbeat song “ Porcelain,” with its melancholic string loops spruced up by lurching drums. But in expanding his sonic palette and Rolodex across his next two albums, Rocky’s experimentation with pop, rock, and electronic sounds ended up diluting his formula rather than expanding it.Īfter a series of releases that played more like sketches than actual songs, his latest track, “A$AP Forever,” serves as his I’m back statement. On his 2011 debut, LIVELOVEA$AP, Rocky introduced himself as a tastemaking Harlemite, reappropriating Houston rap and Three 6 Mafia into a voice that was unapologetically uptown. Last November, at his gig opening for Dipset, ASAP Rocky declared that he was the “greatest contemporary artist of all time.” This is obviously a quantum leap from just being one of the best working rappers, a title he had a legit claim to at one point.

Asap rocky forever album