Yams, whose real name was Steven Rodriguez, formed A$AP Mob in the mid-2000s and discovered Rocky, propelling his musical career and stylistic direction before his passing in 2015. So the swagger and momentum for Rocky wasn’t initially through the eyes of the GQs and Vogues of the world, but rather through communities like Tumblr, where A$AP Yams had a massively influential presence. Released on Halloween in 2011, this debut mixtape would end up being the closest to Rakim Mayers that audiences would get, as Rocky became somewhat less vulnerable in his later albums, but also more expressive in the public eye through the lens of culture and fashion.īut during the early 2010s, blogs were huge. ASAP would continue to have a cloud-rap atmosphere online, and - within the industry itself - would continue to add layers of contextual relevance to Rocky’s introduction. But the impact of these two songs and the rest of Live. It would only be years later when I discovered “Peso” and “Purple Swag,” stunned by how this refreshing New Yorker took some Houston flow and mixed it with his own narratives, creating something sonically unique and visually encapsulating. For years, this would be the sound that I would associate with the Harlem-bred rapper, as I found my music through Spotify, where labels push out the music for the charts to pick up on, and then algorithmically trickle down to me. But unbeknownst to me, it was the second single for Rocky’s debut studio album, Long. I was enamored by Rocky’s comfortability in making this single his own, while having the likes of Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and 2 Chainz give him some legendary feature verses. Still, however, I was a music fan at the end of the day, and had an ability to suss out if an artist was “legit” or not. So, I was slightly susceptible to the visual swagger and inherent coolness attributed to rap music. As a white, hip-hop-obsessed high school freshman living in the suburbs of Chicago, “F**ckin’ Problems” made its mark on me. WAY BACK IN 2012 - I had my first encounter with A$AP Rocky’s music.
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January 2023
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