Self-confident enough to wear mesh vests and have strong opinions on couture fashion, A$AP Rocky was the flipside to the Odd Future-inspired throw-money-at-it major label spree of the last few years. Kreayshawn got her million first and put out her record first: no one bought it, and everyone outside the immediate target market for day-glo ovary swagger stopped paying attention. Rocky, whose initial mixtape sounded compelling partly because it had none of the sparkle of a major label release, has fared better.
The step up from heading a ‘movement’ to having to actually recoup is relatively seamless. Hit-Boy’s Goldie has been out for a while, flagging what Rocky might sound like with a budget, and it’s still a highlight here, pushing the cloudier swells of LVL and Fashion Killa into the background. Other high-profile beats fare worse, though. Specifically, Wild For The Night, the long-awaited Skrillex production, doesn’t even have the decency to sound ridiculous.
Still though, if you can’t spend the entire budget on clothes, you may as well get Kendrick Lamar, Joey Bada$$, Yelawolf, Danny Brown, Action Bronson and Big K.R.I.T. on the one track. 1Train, the resulting track, is a pleasure to have, even if the rest of the album is, on the whole, too long and too cut up with tracks that don’t sound like they’re important to the overall experience. But it was always going to be like that, and it’s hard to be angry when the high points do come.
http://vimeo.com/41498138
