AT. LONG. LAST. A$AP
I made no bones about my admiration for the LONG. LIVE. A$AP project and 2 years ago I proclaimed it the Hip Hop album of
the year, when most people had firmly hitched their wagons to Team Kendrick.
The main criticism of LLA was the degree to which the Harlem
native had co-opted a style most readily associated with southern Hip Hop
artists. Never mind songs as firmly East Coast as 1 Train or Ghetto Symphony
or the fact that Rocky, a New Yorker may have recorded the most progressive
trap album of all time. A fact that East Coast music lovers should have ran
with given how little by way of musical importance the East Coast had produced
in recent times.
To a
lesser degree writers such as myself ALSO wished the album had a little bit more
social commentary to go along with its drug drenched sounds and themes.
Extremely surprisingly A$AP Rocky’s second solo long player, the cleverly titled AT. LONG. LAST. A$AP finds the artist
develling into more social conscious subject matter. SongS like Canal Street
Even more surprising is the complete lack of a push for mainstream appeal or a big
crossover hit. I’m not even sure there is an attempt at the proverbial “club
banger”. Drake, Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz do not make a return to this album despite
the success they achieved at penetrating the charts last time around. This album
feels as free from a formulaic approach as any record I've heard in the last 20
years. It’s Rocky being Rocky. An artist as comfortable in his own skin as any
Hip Hop has produced in generations. Where Kanye tells you he’s an artist (and
correctly so), Rocky gives you his art, which in and of itself justifies his
approach. It's a rare thing for an artist to change the direction of their lyrical content when their fan base would have been exceedingly happy with more of the same. The melancholy nihilism of youth has given way to an old soul viewing his surroundings with a weary eye. Subtle but significant growth in an industry that wants it's artists to stay stuck in stasis until a younger newer version can take their place.
My only real disappointment, and the thing that
keeps me from giving this project full marks is that I feel it could have
really benefitted from an all out banger in the vein of 1 Train or Ghetto Symphony. The record plays a little too much on the same plane for me. I would have liked some music to get hype too thrown in with the other stuff. Some peaks and valleys of if you will if for no other reason than to break the album up a bit.
That being said I look forward to the continued growth from this artist and that's something I never say about a Hip Hop act.
UH!
Stand out tracks
Lord Pretty Flaco Jodye 2
Pharsyde
L$D