Hey guys, Kvltwalter here. I'm sure that many of you hip-hop heads have already heard of A$AP Rocky and have downloaded the mixtape pictured above or have bought his new album Long.Live.A$AP., his major label debut. Over the last year, my personal interest in hip-hop has grown exponentially, and my hip-hop collection has grown from a couple albums to over sixty full lengths, and I count A$AP Rocky's LiveLoveA$AP among them. What makes this album enjoyable to me for the most part is the swirly, hazy production style rife with murky synths and cavernous bass, which perfectly fits Rocky's weed fueled lyrics. But that's the thing that keeps me from totally liking A$AP Rocky: the guy doesn't say a goddamned thing that interests me.
If you were to guess that Rocky's lyrics concern bitches, swag, weed, and more weed, then you'd be right. That's all that's on here, and none of these topics are presented in any sort of interesting or original way, not like those topic can be that compelling if they were. For example:
"Purple drink, I still sip, purple weed blunt still lit
Real nigga, real bitch, purple swag, that trill shit
Them candy cars, I'm coming down, that paint drip, I still tip
That pimp shit, she ain't plan to fuck, I pick her up, I still hit
That's swag, bitch"
zzz zzz zzz zzz oh, whaaa? Sorry, that shit put me to sleep, sorry again. But yeah, see what I mean? Y'know, I was about to say "I love A$AP's sound, just not his lyrics" but I can't really say that because "his" sound isn't technically his. I should say; "I love the beats made by A$AP's producers, just not A$AP."
This is my problem with modern hip-hop. The problem is that lyrical content is becoming steadily less important and good beat choices are taking precedence. If A$AP Rocky kept his lyrics exactly the same but chose weak beats for his songs, would anyone give a shit about him? I know I wouldn't, but would you? I'd say that he wouldn't be nearly as hyped as he is now without his somewhat unique sound (I say "somewhat" because he isn't even the true originator of this style of hip-hop production, many would say that collaborator SpaceGhostPurpp is.) And, yes, I do realize that good beat choices are important in hip-hop, after all, it is the music, but even an exciting MC like Ghostface Killah would sound great, even with weak beats failing to back him up. The music wouldn't be that good, but still. A$AP is NOT an exciting MC. He has flow, I'll give him that, but he is using a very apparent crutch, and that crutch is made not of wood or aluminum, but of all the producers he works with. The modern hip-hop world does have some interesting lyricists; the awesome MF DOOM and Kendrick Lamar to a lesser extant, as well as MC Ride from Death Grips with his sometimes shocking narratives. But hey, I love a great instrumental as much as the next hip-hopper, but it never totally eclipses the mediocrity of an MC hiding behind it.
What do you think? Do you agree with these opinions, or do you love A$AP? If you love the guy, feel free to tell me why I'm wrong in the comments section below :)
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