On January 15th, 2013, A$AP Rocky emerged with his debut full-length album Long.Live.A$AP. The album, which followed his critically acclaimed debut mixtape Live.Love.A$AP, might not have reached the creative heights that the aforementioned mixtape did – but it was an immense success, helping ensure that Rocky’s initial hype was worth it. One of the early pioneers of the then-burgeoning cloud rap style, A$AP’s varying flows even during a single verse is one of the biggest reasons he stood out from the crowd, yet the album’s hazy production (thanks to an array of producers that include Danger Mouse and Clams Casino, to name but two) also ensured a more underground fanbase as well.
Armed with a few songs aimed directly at courting a mainstream audience (“Fuckin’ Problems”, “Wild For The Night”), it’s also chock full of Kendrick Lamar guest spots and references, as well as guest appearances from Paul Wall, Schoolboy Q (who A$AP truly has an incredible rapport with), Big K.R.I.T., Yelawolf, Joey Bada$$ (the latter three all appear on “1 Train, a 6+ minute behemoth that just bangs the whole way through), and entirely too many more to count (without delving into run-on sentences). Yet it’s the album’s surprising collaborations that prove to be the most exciting, especially when Florence Walch (Florence And The Machine) appears on choice cut “I Come Apart”.
As a whole, it’s not hard to figure out why LONG.LIVE.A$AP was such a success. Having both a sound that was part of an emerging subgenre of rap as well as some fantastic production, it’s buoyed by A$AP Rocky’s diverse flow and ascending talent. Listening to LONG.LIVE.A$AP really does make you feel like you’re watching a star ascend in real-time.
