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D O W N L O A D
Yeah, "(he) be that pretty muthafucka, Harlem's what (he's) reppin"; the same one that got a 3 million dollar record deal off the back of a catch-phrase style honed by the likes of Lil B; the same one that made colour-washed hipstamatic Hip-Hop videos a legitimate thing; the same one that has a style impossible to pin down to a single state-side city or suburb; and the same one that really doesn't give a fuck about exactly how he's leapfrogged so many rappers with their eyes glued on a dead-end mixtape circuit. His name is Rakim Mayers, better known as ASAP Rocky, and in terms of freshmen rappers to watch very carefully this year he might very well be head of the class.
Truth is, he's sidestepping those calling him out for biting his sound from southern cities like Memphis or Houston, because he seems to be one of a new generation of rappers that aren't adamant on continuing the musical segregation of old. Besides he wasn't afraid to admit it himself, on the very first verse of his highly anticipated debut mixtape nonetheless: "east cost nigga, but how trill is this / still don't give a shit, my ignorance is still a bliss". You can almost smell each ingredient in his verses at times; a long recipe of influences, but the calm confidence that seeps from behind his hand-picked beats seems to make it matter less with every listen (if at all).
The saga continues on Pretty Flacko, (the first cut released from February's upcoming ASAP MOB album) with production credits going to his associate producer-rapper SpaceGhostPurp, making an interesting diversion from the Clams Casino beats that featured prominently on LiveLoveAsap (and Lil B's mixtapes). Rocky resurrects flows somewhere along the lines of Pimp C's feature on Big Pimpin as alarm clocks ring out in Harlem, New York. A few classic dipset ad-libs creep in at the start but the massive cymbals of the Heatmakerz sound is missing. "trill-wave", apparently, which doesn't actually exist... yet. Sprite and codeine anyone?
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