Live.Love.A$AP - A$AP Rocky (2011)

A$AP Rocky inexplicably became a millionaire in 2011; before he had a single official release, Sony signed him to a $3,000,000 deal, the biggest ever for an artist who hasn’t released a single album (Drake got about 2 Million).  A$AP owes this predominantly to online hip-hop forums, who went abuzz when he released his song “Peso” in August.  Of course, by signing that big of a deal, the expectations for A$AP’s first release were tremendous.  October’s Live.Love.A$AP was that release.
The production is handled by a whole host of producers, the most prominent being Clams Casino, who does five of the sixteen tracks.  Although I’m not a huge fan of some the effects used throughout the album, I was pleasantly surprised with the production.  Clams Casino and Spaceghostpurrp are the only producers to make an appearance I had heard of before this album, leaving six producers that I had never heard to do the other ten tracks.  Often times when there are as many producers working on an album as there are on Live.Love.A$AP, it destroys the aesthetic of the album as styles clash from track to track.  Thankfully, this isn’t the case with Live.Love.A$AP.  The beats are consistently top level, and maintain the same chill, ambient vibe throughout.  They border on, but never cross into monotony territory, perhaps a credit to having so many producers on the album.

Having good beats and production values is all well and good, but a major label didn’t invest seven figures in any of these producers; A$AP came into this tape with a lot of hype to live up to.  He responded by giving us sixteen tracks of sex, drugs and braggadocio.  In short, he’s Wiz Khalifa…  Maybe that’s a little harsh, A$AP Rocky is a  better MC than Wiz Khalifa.  He’s more along the lines of a Hodgy Beats sans any depth of subject matter.  Lyrically, A$AP is no more than above average, he’s far outclassed by other up-and-comers such as Kendrick Lamar and Big KRIT.  What A$AP Rocky brings to the table is versatility.  Despite the relative sameness of pacing in the beats on Live.Love.A$AP, he changes up his flow on almost every song, a practice that has earned him some scorn for being a biter.  There may be some legitimacy to those criticisms, but I’m more inclined to just look at it as a young rapper who is still trying to figure out his sound.

Is Live.Love.A$AP a mixtape that is going to shake the foundations of hip-hop?  Not at all.  Did it live up to the $3,000,000 hype associated with it?  Not in this reviewers opinion.  I feel as though A$AP Rocky is nothing more than a label trying to find the next OFWGKTA to cash in on the hipster market.  Live.Love.A$AP is definitely worth a spin, though, if for no other reason than we’re probably going to be hearing a lot more A$AP Rocky in the near future.  Personally, I’m very interested to see what kind of studio album he releases because, as he is now,  A$AP Rocky has absolutely no mainstream appeal and there’s no way Sony is going to let their $3,000,000 investment go to waste.

Best Tracks: Palace, Peso, Keep it G, Demons, Out of This World

Overall: 79/10