The popular comparison to Odd Future rapper Hodgy Beats is appropriate, if Hodgy smoked a lot more weed and didn’t get bogged down by tired shock-rap tropes. His flow is tempered but never lazy, simply sounding natural and effortless and likeable. The relative sameness of the production gives LiveLoveA$AP a uniform aesthetic, but one also gets the feeling that ASAP’s also simply more predisposed to rapping over thudding, mid-tempo beats than anything else. The result are dreamy beats that amplify ASAP’s effortless flow, but also stand out in their own right. Producer Clams Casino particularly shines: his beats for “Palace,” “Bass,” and “Wassup” are simply gorgeous, splicing downbeat vocal samples over hypnotizing, ambient synths and typical hip-hop drum tracks. Honestly, the production choices are easily LiveLoveA$AP’s strongest feature: every beat, from the sad, Burial/Swarms-esque “Demons” to the swagged-out, chopped-and-screwed funk of “Trilla,” is uniformly excellent. All of LiveLoveA$AP is mid-paced, the beats (courtesy of up-and-comers Clams Casino and Spaceghost Purrp, amongst others) are dreamy and hazy, neatly falling in with the “cloud-rap” aesthetic established by artists like G-Side and Main Attrakionz. That’s simply a staggering amount of money, clearly enough, especially considering the sorry state of the music industry, coupled with how far LiveLoveA$AP is from sounding remotely like dance-friendly mainstream hip-hop. Since then, the songs have received regional radio play (ASAP’s from Harlem), and ASAP later found himself on tour with Drake and signing an unbelievable $3 million deal with RCA. Known for little more than guest spots on mixtapes by left-field artists such as Main Attrakionz, ASAP began to garner significant attention for his songs “Peso” and “Purple Swag,” the latter becoming a certifiable Internet smash.

Review Summary: ASAP Rocky’s long-in-the-making LiveLoveA$AP is simply one of the best hip-hop records of the year.ĪSAP Rocky’s meteoric rise in the past few months is certainly one of the most out-of-nowhere success stories of 2011.

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