Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky’s long-awaited sophomore LP, AT.LONG.LAST.ASAP (A.L.L.A), scheduled for release on June 2nd, leaked online earlier this week (as has been a hip hop trend this year, see: Kendrick Lamar and Drake), prompting the artist to hurriedly put the album on shelves a week early, and fans couldn’t be happier.
‘Happy’ is one adjective that cannot responsibly be used anywhere else in this review. One thing that is immediately apparent about A.L.L.A is that the record is completely drenched in darkness.
Following the death of longtime collaborator and mentor A$AP Yams, it is abundantly clear that Rocky is plagued by regret and emptiness as he opens his soul on the mic and brings the listener into his world of agony and longing. The birthmark superimposed onto Rocky’s face on the album cover is at once both a tribute to Yams’ legacy and a signpost of his influence on the record.
Album opener Holy Ghost is a trip-hop infused anthem to defeatism. Rocky delivers his rhymes in an apathetic drawl. The chorus’ hook laments, “Holy Ghost, I’m on my knees, Holy Ghost, you’re all I need”, and sets the listener up for one hell of a beautifully depressing tracklist.
Masterfully produced by Danger Mouse and boasting a huge number of collaborators, including Kanye West, Schoolboy Q, Lil Wayne, Mos Def, Miguel, M.I.A., A-Cyde, Mark Ronson, Rod Stewart (yes, THAT Rod Stewart), James Franco (yes, the actor) and even the late A$AP Yams himself, the album saunters through the full gamut of depression with so much flair and quality production that, at times, it makes it impossible to stop listening to no matter how heavy things get.
A.L.L.A isn’t so much a departure from 2013’s Long.Live.A$AP as it is a maturation. Absent from this record is the careless bravado and machismo of his earlier work. There’s something about Rocky’s considered and misery-induced delivery throughout A.L.L.A that make his raps hit with more force than ever.
[include_post id=”441047″] ‘Canal St’, the album’s second track, is the closest Rocky gets to stereotypical hip hop boasting, as he tells the story of his hustle from crack dealer moving between homeless shelters with his mother, to the international star that he is today. Lyrics like, “I live through the struggle and life’s an everyday hustle” and “I went from roaches on my bunk to wearing broaches on my cuff” paint a gritty picture of his rise to fame.
Something ominous bellows beneath the surface throughout this track and indeed, the whole album. While A$AP Rocky can at times rely on standard hip hop fare like poverty, gang politics, misogyny and drug abuse, the production and delivery of his material is presented in ways that can totally belie his subject matter. It is this conceptual dichotomy between genre-appropriate, boastful swagger and the album’s minor key, trip-hop melancholia that makes it one of 2015’s best and most intriguing records.
The album’s most recent single, ‘L.S.D. (Love x $ex x Dreams)’, is undoubtedly the most accessible and least depressing, with its dreamy psychedelic verses and crooning choruses moving like a wave of euphoria that seems to be over before you’re aware of the track’s effect on you.
Kanye West’s appearance on ‘Jukebox Joints’ is a surprisingly delicate moment compared to the preceding 27 minutes of soul-ravaging hip hop. West’s “More power to you, more power to you, my lovely one” sung over a sample of Smokey Robinson’s soulful ‘Much Better Off’ raises eyebrows as his signature intensity and aggression is almost non apparent.
There are too many standout tracks and appearances to mention all of them, a few are too good not to mention. M.I.A’s brutally uncaring “tell your new b**** she can suck a d***” on ‘Fine Whine’, Lil Wayne’s signature hostility on ‘M’$’ and album closer ‘Back Home’ is a faithful tribute to Yams’ signature sound, masterfully supported by Mos Def, A-Cyde and Yams himself.
Speaking to Billboard earlier this year, Rocky said “All my emotions, my thoughts, my feelings. I didn’t hold back one bit.” It takes approximately 26 seconds from the start of AT.LONG.LAST.ROCKY to know with absolute certainty that he’s not lying. A phenomenal record that, along with Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly, is sure to be a contender for best hip-hop release this year.
