ASAP Rocky - Wassup (A$AP/Sony, 2011/12)

Rottweilers are my favorite breed of dog. I enjoy this video. 

Schoolboy Q (feat. ASAP Rocky) - Hands On The Wheel (Top Dawg Entertainment, 2012)

Did you know that Schoolboy Q released the best gangsta rap album since Flockaveli? Go buy it, okay? 

Also, recent trend I’ve noticed between this and Future’s “Deeper Than The Ocean.” Vehicular suicide is so in right now. 

ASAP Ferg - 100 Million Roses (Internet, 2011)

I know you’ve all probably heard this already, but I can’t get over it. Ever since LiveLoveASAP came out, I’ve been obsessed Ferg’s sole verse on Kissin’ Pink. As one of the bigger members in ASAP (in frame, at least), he’s got the elastic flow so often attributed to rappers like Project Pat and Fat Trel. His accent adds a strictly New York vibe to it, but perhaps most of all, THAT BEAT. It sounds like it came Straight Outta Skyrim, and the hymms echoing in the background really set this song off as macabre. This will be on the ASAP Mob tape due out in January, and I can’t wait for that.

ASAP Rocky - Peso (internet, 2011)

I’ve already covered Peso briefly in the past, but the music video has found its way onto the internet. Featuring Rocky and the rest of the ASAP crew (including Tumblr’s very own Yams Rothstein), Marino Goods, and a lot of moments where I thought Percy Miller had shown up, but realized Rocky just bears a resemblance to him. Live.Love.A$AP due out later this month, with the cover and tracklist hopefully coming soon.

ASAP Rocky - Peso (internet, 2011)

In the middle of the Purple Swag video, an oriental-sample dropped in as ASAP Rocky ET’d a bicycle down the streets of Harlem; that song was a chopped and screwed version of Peso, which has been floating around on the internet for awhile now. The OG track has finally surfaced, and can be found on ASAP’s very own site.

Peso is a continuation of of Clam Casino-orchestrated Wassup, and finds Rocky once again innovating with his unique hybrid, Trillwave I suppose, with a beat that sounds like RZA and Swishahouse’s Salih Williams came together to collaborate. Rocky spits some throwed bars before singing about his love of weed on the chorus. Live.Love.A$ap due in August.

realniggatumblr:

LiveLoveA$AP Rocky’s official debut album out the end of July. Shout outs to Clams & Greenova. I’m changing my name to Yams Casino. RIP to Ricky Black sip one for your homie up there.

ASAP Rocky - Purple Swag (Internet, 2011)

I first had the chance to listen to ASAP Rocky a year ago, on the track Been Around The World. The homie young Yams sent me a link, and asked for my opinion on it. I was impressed; to this day, I don’t know if I’ve received a link to a new rapper with more potential than Rocky. At the very least, on the East Coast, he is a glimmering beam of hope. While he obviously owes a lot to his Harlem predecessors Dipset, the city of Houston, and anything else related to the color purple (except maybe Prince? I’m sure there’s some Prince in him somewhere (||)), there is no denying that ASAP is a breath of fresh air. He combines all these elements to not only bring something new to the table, but also bring back a style of music that was in desperate need of a revival; one fellow Harlemites like Vado weren’t quite providing.

Also, thank God someone sampled Still Tippin’, that song is still some top 20 shit, but the last time I heard someone rap over any elements of that song Lupe Fiasco was trying to turn it into some type of conceptual mixtape track. This redeems that.

(Source: realniggatumblr)

Dipset - The First (Roc-A-Fella/Diplomatic, 2003)

appropriate.

Jim Jones - Everybody Jones (E1, 2011)

Jimmy remains the most visible member of Dipset, and continues to benefit from being the most consistent in terms of actual album making. Although he lacks the lyrical-dexterity and outrageous persona of Cam and the wordplay of Juelz, Killa’s still making full-length projects with Vado at large (that still suffer from a lack of genuine chemistry between the two) and Juelz drops a new single once every six months, but still can’t find the motivation to drop an actual mixtape (and God knows we’ll never see the Reagan Era actually make it to stores). Jones on the other hand continues to work on the hip, but depressed “lonely stoner” vibe that he was developing prior to Pray IV Reign (most evidently on the track Scarz, which never found its way on the retail release).

Everybody Jones is far more the former than the later, focusing on Jones’ following of trends with a song that could’ve easily been produced by the Cataracs and honestly shares some strange qualities with Fly Like A G6 - the major difference being that the Capo actually has a great rap voice and doesn’t sound like a complete pansy over this type of production. While most of the album revels in a cinematically bleak overtone, Everybody Jones stands out as the defining bright moment. Also, it sounds good at the club, and you won’t feel bad about dancing to this while inebriated.