It’s a shame, since he is clearly capable of penning more meaningful content, yet Rocky seems unwilling to leave the club too far in the rear vision mirror. Too often, Rocky seems content to fall back on the same “money, clothes, hoes,” approach he has been defaulting to since the beginning of his career. Musically, most tracks here continue in a similar vein, though usually with increasingly less lyrical promise. It’s a great mission statement and a very promising start to the record. Opening track Holy Ghost features a lyrical depth beyond what Rocky has typically been known for, delivered with his trademark braggadocio over a woozy vintage beat all bluesy guitar and analogue drums, with the young Joe Fox singing a soulful chorus. Oddly enough, Rocky and Danger Mouse previously worked together on the track Phoenix from $AP with far less impressive results - perhaps speaking to the maturity Rocky has acquired as an artist in the time since then. With a newfound fondness for the sorts of soul-infused, 1960s-inspired hip-hop production long favoured by rappers such as Kanye West and Mos Def (both of whom are featured here, alongside veteran rocker Rod Stewart and up-and-coming English folk singer Joe Fox, amongst many others), and with executive producer Danger Mouse on board, Rocky’s sound on this record is significantly more considered and focused than it has been before. “Took the whole year off just to learn to make beats/ Drop the flames on my release and leave the streets all smokin’,” he raps on Jukebox Joints, and that experience shows: this album features a level of stylistic cohesion that Rocky hasn’t achieved or even attempted before. Judging from the two-year-long silence from that album until this follow-up, At.$AP, one can only imagine that Rocky has been hard at work on deciding how he wants to define himself as an artist at this critical junction, with his eyes set firmly on the horizon. A couple of highlights couldn’t make up for the lack of hits and overabundance of filler on $AP. For as much as his collaborations with Clams Casino have consistently featured the innovative and well-crafted beats that producer is known for, by 2013 more of the same (as we saw on tracks like LVL and Hell) felt like a letdown. Assisted by his fellow members of the A$AP Mob, in particular the nascent A$AP Ferg, Rocky had acquired the sort of attention and praise to which any young musician aspires, only to release an album which didn’t contain many songs of the quality of those on his debut mixtape.
We last heard from Rocky on his debut album $AP, which was a mildly disappointing, stylistically overwrought record, feeling confused and rushed with label pressure in an attempt to capitalise on the massive demand his independent work had built. Leaving memories of his directionless 2013 debut album $AP - itself largely comprised of weaker variations on ideas first put forth on his outstanding 2011 debut mixtape $AP - the rapper born Rakim Mayers has here made his best effort at reaching the levels of critical praise and commercial recognition enjoyed by peers such as Kendrick Lamar and Drake. The young Harlem MC A$AP Rocky has spent the lead up to the release of his sophomore studio album making bold claims and announcing a range of big-name guest features and collaborations which he has no doubt intended to lend an air of deeper artistic credibility to his latest record.
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