Miguel (feat. Kendrick Lamar) - How Many Drinks (Remix)

It's so easy to develop a man-crush on musicians these days. Whether its Frank Ocean or Kanye West, we (meaning I) seem to be constantly wooed by artists constant images of gratuitous celebrity, inventive music, general youth/coolness, and the package of street fashion it all comes bundled in that permeates our (meaning my) most vain desires. Miguel is no different. Miguel, the multi-racial R&B crooner checks off all the boxes on the list. He had some big hits, especially his smash record "Adorn" and he is easily one of the 3 heavy-weights in the R&B game right now, along with Frank Ocean & The Weeknd. He's young and hip, meaning all my friends who are girls love hearing his music and then immediately wanting to fuck the next thing they see. And he's always wearing the flyest fashions in the vain of Kanye & A$AP Rocky. Dude wears so many designer sunglasses you'd think he was included in Randy Savage's Estate Will (R.I.P to the big homie *sheds single tear*). And finally, Miguel just makes awesome music. From R.Kelly type sexual bluntness in songs like "Pussy Is Mine" to politically charged existential statements like "Candles in the Sun" Miguel showcases powerful vocal ability over a keen ear for amazingly contemporary and fitting instrumentation. Though the music is very fresh and inventive, that doesn't stop Miguel from registering in the leagues of Stevie Wonder & Marvin Gaye in terms of staying power and potential to be legendary. I think Charlamagne tha God said it best when interviewing Miguel on Power 105.'s The Breakfast Club, when he told Miguel

"Do you even realize how timeless Adorn is? Do you know 20 years from now we're going to be at cookouts, and that record's gonna drop and we're gonna be like 'Oh that was my jam!'? Do you realize that?" (10:55 in the video)

I doubt Miguel realizes the impact that the music he makes has on the industry, but he's all the better for his inventive and eclectic approach to incredibly soulful music. That's all besides the fact that he can sing like a motherfucker. Dude has immense vocal range or whatever the hell they call it, always knowing when to hit the right notes, and bolstering it all with the perfect background harmonies. It's awesome. To top it all off, the guy is a rockstar. Remember when he had rockstars? There are very few rockstars left. I mean, of course there's the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye, or wannabes like Lil Wayne & Kid Rock, but what happened to people like Jimi Hendrix & Prince? Wretched excess and an in your face style is what the kids are really looking for these days. Miguel is a return to all that, and rightfully so. He released his debut album "All I Want is You" in 2010 under Jive Records, but after poor promotion and a label battle that ended up having Jive absorbed by RCA, the record somehow started charting again, and selling quite well. It was inconsistent, but it had its shining moments, like the title track "All I Want is You" featuring your boy Jermaine Colesworth XIV. It wasn't the best or most groundbreaking R&B release, but it was a glimmering signal of what was to come from the soulful singer. After staying on his grind with a slew of mixtapes, including the "Art Dealer Chic" trilogy, and Mischief: The Mixtape, as well as being on a few track by artists like Blu & Asher Roth, but Miguel's real debut album, Kaleidoscope Dream, was released in October 2012 to strong sales and critical praise. With his punk-inspired lyricism, blunt sexual force, and lyrics and music that would make the most asexual of people want to do the dirty, Miguel was finally on the airwaves and in the hearts of bloggers across the internet. My nigga even won a Grammy.

Sid Vicious if he was way more sus or Prince if he was way less sus.

I mentioned Miguel in passing in an earlier post about the J Cole track "Power Trip" that he was featured on, but I haven't dedicated an actual blog post to any of his own songs or his album Kaleidoscope Dream. Seeing as it was one of my favorite albums of 2012, and one of the most creative and beautiful R&B albums ever made, that decision is almost criminal. Hindsight is 20/20, and I'm here to correct my transgressions. Not Justin Timberlake 20/20 though, that would be sloppy and unfocused hindsight. This is more like looking through a telescope... nay, a kaleidoscope of my musical dreams. The king of bad segue's and having to search Google for 15 minutes to learn how to spell segue is back, presenting a new fresh record from one of the best artists in recent memory. This is the "How Many Drinks (Remix) [feat. Kendrick Lamar]".

Now this is sultry. First off, the music video. Miguel was going for an aesthetic where he could communicate the energy and visuals of his live performances, whilst still making a well produced music video. The silhouetting, the deeply colored light shows, and the play of darkness and flash makes this is a visual feast, with nothing gaudy or out of place going on. Even the subtly of dress, like what Miguel & Kendrick are wearing, complements the overall aesthetic. The song is equally amazing, as Miguel serenades the lady of his choice at a hypothetical party, bluntly speaking on how he just wants to know how many drinks he has to buy her so they can spend the night together. He does it with a confident style, and a mature sense of lust so as to not make it come off as some sort of date-rapey Drake anthem. A high falsetto is answered by a brooding yet nervous speaking voice. The lyrics are cool and reassuring, whilst still communicating a sense of urgency, especially near the end when Miguel breaks into a chorus/bridge hybrid, and starts ad-libbing about how his home is "just a short drive away" and he's not trying to waste anyone's time, as he hits high notes like he's only just started trying. Kendrick drops a pretty romantic verse, but it's kind of strange reconciling the sexual nature of the song and verse with the image and voice of Kendrick Lamar. Not that the verse isn't well written, but it seems as if everyone feels they need a Kendrick Lamar verse as a default, without thinking whether or not it's apropos to the style of the song (see how terribly he hits the note in the middle of the verse). Don't get me wrong, the verse is awesome and Kendrick is currently one of my favorite artists, but the song might have been better served with a rapper who's known for making these styles of songs, like Drake or even A$AP Rocky. Big ups to Kendrick though, the verse continues to grow on me. The beat, produced by the legendary Salaam Remi (who has produced many songs for Nas & Amy Winehouse among others), complements the sonic sensuality, with a harmony of a rising violin sampled from O'Donel Levy's "We've Only Just Begun" from the 1972 album, Breeding of Mind, which itself is a cover of a song by The Carpenters. The thud of the 808s and the rhythmic clap, layered over the piano which gives the song a certain elevator music lightness, all make the production very sexy in a classic, Marvin Gaye or Otis Redding sense. All the elements combine for a track that feels timeless and also contemporary, and could be played in either a lustful social setting, or an intimate evening.

Trying to find a good picture of Miguel that's not in black & white is harder than finding one of someone that hasn't been photographed by Terry Richardson. Miguel hasn't, but time is the great equalizer.

Well, I think I've gushed enough about Miguel and his music to the point that most readers probably think I'm dating him, but its not even like that. I respect dude immensely, from his music to his fashion and his whole world view. It's beautiful music for the people, and it's nice to see another young artist making waves with music that is truly succinct and all their own. If you haven''t noticed, those are the types of artists I like writing about here at Track Genius. Hopefully we see more inventive and amazing music from Miguel and anyone who he collaborates with in the future. If I see a Terry Richardson photo shoot, I'll know he made it.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

~ BONUS LEVEL ~

Miguel was on Saturday Night Live recently, and did Adorn and How Many Drinks live with his band, but with an awesome punk rock twist. It's fucking electric. Check out How Many Drinks below, and click on the Adorn link for that performance. Wop!

Animal Collective - My Girls

What do mean they're not pastel colored globs in the shape of humanoids floating through the infinite space of a LSD abusers dream and making alternative electronic music?

I remember vividly when my hipster friends and I discovered Animal Collective before they ever really blew up on the blogosphere, coincidentally a word I loved to use at the time. I remember because it was circa 2004 and their album Here Comes the Indian had come out a bit earlier. I remember it well because we were at a large music store and my self-aware hipster friends and I had a conversation that went something like this...

Friends: "Aw dude, check it out, this great band called Animal Collective has a new album out"
Me: "Oh yeah? Who's that?"
Friends: "A very underground group man. I don't think they'll ever blow up even though Panda Bear & Geographer [sic] started it. Too niche. But def worth a listen"

Fast forward to 2009 and Animal Collective releases their Metacritic magnum-opus "Merriweather Post Pavilion" and everyone loves it. From the streets of Soho to Pitchfork circle jerk sessions, Animal Collective was the talk of the town and the blogosphere. My friend was devastated, but I was too caught up in the hype, and honestly, I was heavily fucking with their first single, and in my opinion, the best song of their whole discography. As all my years of meticulously built up indie cred dissipate in that statement, and the final fuck escapes from the tips of my worn fingers, let me introduce you to Animal Collective's biggest hit and one of the catchiest songs since insert any overplayed song by Journey here. This is "My Girls".

Just to get this out of the way, the music video for this song is wonderful in every way that word can be used. Borderline R3AL magic trap shit, feel me? It's like green screen auteur's met up with microbiologists, NASA, the Blue Man Group, the American Body Suit Association, the artists from Adventure Time, and then had the video have sex with a Harlem Renaissance museum to create an orgy of color and shape. Really it's just the band playing their instruments on a green screen, and all the rest is done by some unrecognized chubby 20 something who wipes Sun Chip stains off his shirt while he works on it with Adobe After-Effects. Yet it all seems so magical if you're not a cynic. The actual song on the other hand, is true magic. Not the super deliberate Gandalf the White kind of magic where it happens to click because of a time and place and everything is calculated, but that Gandalf the Grey type magic where even if there's some bumps ahead you know he's just messing around with you and had everything crazy tucked away so you just think you're in trouble. Nah b, this that Gandalf the Grey type shit. Those spacey synths, that catchy beat loop, the way the whole song builds up by adding new sounds and spaces. The lyrics are awesome too. They really don't make any sense, and you can barely understand them, but in another sense, they're totally clear. The song is about simplicity and bitches. Well, girls really. It's like gathering every nice and sweet thought you've had about pretty girls and putting them in one positive, synth soaked track. The way that girls hair rests exactly 2 centimeters above her cheek freckles and how her nose curls up at the perfect point and angle? This song is about that. The way that girls legs have that excellent tone so they look good in any pastel colored hipster pants or shorts she decides to wear? This songs about that. The way the lyrics recall something like a mix of Dark Ages romanticism and Little House on the Prairie love in the context of modern electronic music is excellent. And it's about not caring about a girls social status or what anyone thinks of you two and giving her "four walls and adobe slat". That's love fam. 

Soaked in pastel light and blurry so you know it's real AKA indie cred swag level on a hundred thousand trillion

 It's not like Animal Collective doesn't have a lot of awesome songs and good albums, because they definitely do, but this is the height of their accessibility, appeal, craft, and pure sonic awesomeness. It's nice to see a song like this come along once in a while and make us rethink what we know about music and life, because it's so fresh and well made. I hope to see more from this group in the future, and hopefully they continue to make  awesome music. They released their album Centipede Hz, but Pitchfork gave it a 7.4 so we can't like it (it was nice though). Here's to more years. I'll definitely be playing this for my girls.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

Manic Street Preachers - Australia

This band is a good example of how much people can change looks wise when they get older.

As a young man I had a meager record collection that I couldn't play because I hadn't had the foresight or the funds to buy a record player for myself. Most weekends I would go over to my friend David's apartment to play Super Nintendo and his parent's had a record player, so it was always an extra perk that I could bring over my new vinyl and use it as the soundtrack of our Mario Kart romps. I had been going through the record store looking for something by Huey Lewis for one reason or another, and a powering rock song had come onto the speakers in the store. I had asked the manager what was playing and after shuffling through a couple boxes he handed me the record. It was Everything Must Go by the Manic Street Preachers and the song playing over the speakers was Australia. I plopped all my cash for it, and exact change. It was one of those perfect moments in life when the song ends right when you get out of the store and the universe feels like it aligned to give you a soundtrack to your life. I rushed over to David's and started to play the record. Thankfully his parents weren't home and we could play it without any inhibition. Australia came on again and I felt like I was hearing it for the first time, and I felt like that every single time I heard it again.

This was the first album that the band recorded and released after the mysterious disappearance of their troubled guitarist and vocalist Richey Edwards. The anthemic nature of the track is bolstered by its loud yet melodic guitar chords which I would even say border on catchy with a pop sensibility. The grandiose chorus ushers in a wave of perfect harmony and melody as Nicky Wire and James Bradfield sing angrily and confusedly about their paranoia and alienation from the world. The disappearance of their close friend and bandmate only serves to make this record more poignant, as the imagery of a barren wasteland that we can escape through by means of numbing ourselves from the world speaks to anyone who has ever dealt with the loss of another, or simply felt like they didn't know why or where they were going. Now this is quality Brit-rock. There's a tangible confidence in every word and every note. I especially like the 2nd verse coupled with the chorus, and it very well sums up the whole feeling of wanting to run away forever.

Praying for the wave to come now
It must be for the very last time
It's twelve o'clock till midnight
There must be someone to blame

I want to fly and run till it hurts
Sleep for a while and speak no words, in Australia
In Australia

This is what it's like to get old as hell. Kids, enjoy your youth.

When all was said and done, the Manic's would go down as British rock legends and find a ton of commercial success, but they never really caught on that much in the U.S. We got bands like Radiohead and Nirvana, but we also got bands like Sum 41 and Limp Bizkit for alternative rock, so maybe the Manic Street Preachers could have come in a filled that void. Who can really say these things anyway?

After I moved out of that apartment complex I never saw David again, and I had sold off most of my records because I never saw myself getting a record player, since CD's and then eventually internet formats would come in as the main means of media deliverance. I began to forget about, and even shun the music that I had listened to in my younger years in favor of the likes of My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park, in what we now call the dark days of music. As much as I liked the album at the time, I told David I wanted him to have it, and I came to learn later from my parents that him and his family went through a lot of crazy stuff about death and finding children they never knew they had or something strange of the sort. When I finally did speak to David again after many years, he told me that he was very glad that I had let him have that album, and that it came in handy in troubled times. He'd then say that in the end perspective, finding long-lost half siblings and experiencing tons of deaths didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, and I'd agreed with him in that statement. He told me he'd always wanted to run away and after Australia reinforced that feeling, he finally realized he had to confront everything that was going on, which the record had also helped him realize. We shared our child hood memories and laughed together one last time, and then he thanked me for the memories. the record, and being a good friend. After we finished talking, I never heard from David again, but I like to think that sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night and plays this song in the dark of his room, and feels like he can go to Australia any time he wants to. And whether that actually happens or not, it always makes me happy.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace. 

The Roots (feat. Joanna Newsom & S.T.S) - Right On

The Roots. Not affiliated with LeVar Burton.

The Roots are a deep band in many senses. They have an incredibly long career in which hey've collaborated with some of the great artists of our time, from John Legend to Erykah Badu to Mos Def and too many others to name. They've gotten more accolades in 1/4 of their career than most artists can claim in their whole lives. The bands content is deep as well, with smart lyrics and instrumentation. Questlove and Black Thought are two of the most respected artists in their fields, and their influence can be felt everywhere, as the band still manages to achieve a good amount of commercial success. And somehow, one of the most legendary bands ever still manages to play every night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! Now he definitely has good taste in music. It's puzzling why The Roots aren't labeled as "America's Band". They just never seemed to achieve the success of artist like Jay-Z or Bruce Springsteen that they deserved (I'd say the Roots are where those two ends of the musical spectrum meet and make sweet love). Maybe it's their afro-centricity, or maybe they don't make super pop hits, but whatever the case, The Roots are a legendary band in every sense of the word.

Their evolution as a band is strikingly evident in the sonic progression of their albums. Each album is a large leap from the last one, and among The Roots best albums is their nearly flawless 2010 release How I Got Over. Consistently jazzy instrumentals layered over spacious beats and a slew of great guest stars make this Roots album one of their most consistent and wholly enjoyable. The Roots can easily be alienating to a mainstream audience (really anything with  Erykah Badu is probably alienating) but How I Got Over is instantly accessible without sacrificing any musical integrity. It's the In Rainbows of The Roots catalog, if you will.

Of the many standout tracks on the album, one in particular characterizes the neo-soul grooves and jazzy vibes that defines the album. That song is "Right On".

I could tell you that Joanna Newsom's vocals would be equally haunting and comforting at once and perfectly complement the distant piano arpeggios and smooth beat, but that would be pretentious and the joke format would be equally stupid. And honestly, has Black Thought ever NOT come correct on a verse? Even his Jimmy Fallon freestyles manage to be catchy and coherent. I'd say he's one of the most underrated MC's of all time, but nah, dude is mad respected. Regardless, he has a joke about midgets in one of his bars and even that is bearable, so you know his verse is cool. Sugar Tongue Slim AKA STS drops a good verse too, with talk of how he and The Roots are the last shining stars in hip-hop, and really, any verse with a Pete Rose reference is cool with me. Equally expected is the beat, which Roots drummer, Questlove, goes in on, with hard hitting snares and breaks that are equally danceable and equitable for a laid back evening with a pretty brunette and a glass of scotch. You push the locks that cover her forehead to the side of her face, tucking it neatly in the space behind her ear, much like a mother Kangaroo would do with her baby Joey... You whisper sweet nothings into her ear as she giggles and blushes much like a blooming pink flower does in the spring. The sounds of the rustling leather couch intermingle in the air with the hazy drunkenness of the night and... You wake up from your daze. It turns out you were writing a shitty blog that nobody will read about music you like... Nietzsche was right. Other than that, the track is overall great, and strangely never had rotation on the radio, even though it strikes a balance between pop appeal and intellectual integrity. The sad story of The Roots commercial success is not so sad I guess. Jimmy Fallon is a great platform for nationwide distribution, and if you don't know who The Roots are already, do yourself a favor and check out their whole discography. The stuff that legends are made of.

Credit to GQ Magazine. Do I actually have to do that? Fuck it, I'm not getting sued.

Now that you know that The Roots are an awesome band, go forth and engage in the wondrous pleasantries of their sonic delights, the jazzy hip-hop wave train awaits you! No, but really. Check out the entirety of this awesome bands work, you won't regret it.

As always, please share, enjoy, and spread the love. Peace.

Grimes - Oblivion

Bad photoshop, or blatant eye trick? Grimes is mysterious like that.

Grimes is an eccentric in an age where the word means nothing. An age where a rapper can get an ice cream tattoo on his face or wear a kilt and a hoodie with blatant religious imagery on it to a hurricane Sandy concert. Where artists mask themselves, use dopplegangers for concerts they don't feel like going to, and hide from the public for a long time, Grimes is both totally open and wonderfully enigmatic. She looks like one of the Russian ballerinas with the striking features bordering on manly, but she's still very much a girl. She would blend in perfectly as a Japanese or Korean K-pop star with her outfits and general cute demeanor, but as quirky as she is, she also likes to keep it real. She's also pretty funny, and keeps the public updated on her general quirkiness through Twitter and her blog.

inside the ancient sacred hindu cave i went into today there was also a massive poster of justin bieber
— Grimes the elf (@Grimezsz) March 11, 2013

now that kim kardashian is carrying the spawn of god who will marry blue ivy to create of the Kwisatz Haderach, i kind of like her
— Grimes the elf (@Grimezsz) January 1, 2013

She also attempted to be Nicolas Cage on Twitter, which leads me to believe she's either in cahoots with 4 Chan or she knows how to cater to them. Either way, Grimes is all of the above, and also happens to make amazing electronic music. It's rare for an artists music to escape their persona, which is an unfortunate truth. People don't judge Chris Brown on his music, they judge him on his antics. Either way he's shitty, but at least if he was judged solely on his music we could have a legit reason to shun the art rather than the artist and the art together. It's the same with Kanye West. Most people, unless you're a soccer mom on Yahoo who only listens to Shania Twain, knows what Kanye has done, and continues to do for music. Yet, from Swfitgate to his impregnation of Kim Kardashian, so many stupid people judge the artist on his personal life rather than his music (or maybe I read too many comments by ignorant rednecks and soccer moms on Yahoo articles). That isn't to say an artists personal life doesn't affect their music, it definitely does a lot. But we must separate the noise form the sound.

She also loves Dune which is just cool in general.

That's whats cool about Grimes. Beyond all her strange style choices and quirky characteristics, she's mainly known for the music, and for the great songs. That's always an admirable trait for an artist, and rare enough too. Even legends like Michael Jackson, Elvis, and The Beatles have something else come to mind first before the music in many cases. With all that being said, I have spent the last 3 paragraphs speaking on everything but Grimes' music, so let's do just that. She has a lot of great songs to pick from, but for today's Track Genius, I'll focus on the track "Oblivion" off of the album Visions.

With her signature sampling and spacey synthesizers, Oblivion encapsulates everything that is good about Grimes' music. It's all at once complicated and nuanced, while still being very accessible and simply structured. It's the closest Grimes has gotten to the instantly appealing dream-pop aesthetics most associate with her strangeness, but her back-catalog is much deeper and more abstract. The video is all at once strange and comforting as Grimes dances around in 2 Canadian stadiums during a football game and a motocross rally. At once she is among shirtless frat boys who seem to be soaking up the attention of the camera . A candid moment occurs when an individual realizes he's about to walk past the camera and Grimes signals for him to move on, continuing to lip-sync. It's very organic and quite funny. She mentioned in a Pitchfork interview that the video was about "art giving me an outlet where I can be aggressive in a world where I usually can't be, and part of it was asserting this abstract female power in these male-dominated arenas—the video is somewhat about objectifying men. Not in a disrespectful way, though" and in an interview with Spin, she revealed that the song is about "going into this masculine world that is associated with sexual assault, but presented as something really welcoming and nice. The song's sort of about being—I was assaulted and I had a really hard time engaging in any types of relationship with men, because I was just so terrified of men for a while". Even when the message is clearly given by the artist, it still doesn't completely define the music, and in this case, leaves everything more to interpretation. The whole feel of the track and video is of innocence and nighttime adventures, while Grimes warns of the dangers of dark excursions in her airy falsetto. It's both ominous and equally comforting, as she lovingly says to the listener "see you on a dark night" as if she actually will timidly approach you under a single lamppost and tell you everything is alright. Maybe only in a dream, but its still a nice thought. The pop indulgences mixed with the characteristic style of Grimes makes this a wonderful, dream like song.

Grimes, shown here looking particularly clean.

For all that can be said about the quirkiness of Grimes, or of her future of her as an artist, there's one thing for sure. No one is making music like her, and if they are, they aren't making it anywhere near as well as she is. So Grimes, continue to be strange and enchant us all with your fairy-like persona. Continue to play great live shows and let everyone know that you are awesome. The influences of Mariah Carey, Kanye, Left-Eye, Akira, Dune, and Werner Herzog, all combine into something totally fresh and cool.

Obligatory Terry Richardson mention* (But seriously he hasn't done a photo shoot with her, it's amazing)

If she got one thing right, it's that Grimes is the Nicolas Cage of music. A singular voice that wants to make you happy, but ultimately gives 0 fucks about any opinion or tidbit of information that pervades their enclosed utopias. Doing everything their way, and letting people enjoy the art is an important facet of any genre of music or any medium really. Thankfully, Grimes blowing up on the internet lets her do that on her own terms. Let's just hope she doesn't go the way that ol' Nic Cage did.

As always, enjoy and spread the love. Peace.

A$AP Rocky - Suddenly

Don't let A$AP Rocky & Pusha T be examples of  prospering with braids. 9 times out of 10 thou shalt not prosper.

If you have even a passing interest in music, hip-hop, or the fashion world, you've definitely heard of A$AP Rocky or at least been in the presence of his influence. He's the rowdy PMF from Harlem that exploded in what seemed like a matter of days to the brink of super-stardom and ushered in a new wave of style with his music, fashion, and the whole A$AP Mob movement (which really is such a loose term these days, what isn't a "movement"). Some called it swag rap, others called it the new wave, and still others called it the natural progression of hip-hop music. In the words of the immortal KRS-One.

    "An MC is a representative of hip-hop culture, a rapper is a representative of commercial interest. An MC can be a rapper, but a rapper can never be an MC."

Very true words spoken by what many would call one of the legends of the culture and of rap music. Both an MC and a rapper. Yet, if artists like KRS-One, Nas, Jay-Z, Rakim and so many other legends are representatives of both the MC and rapper cultures, then where does someone like A$AP Rocky fall? Born in New York but incorporating the chopped and stylized Southern rap characteristics pioneered by the likes of UGK, Three 6 Mafia, and DJ Screw, Rocky (born Rakim Mayers and named after the aforementioned NY & Hip-Hop legend, Rakim) eschews the "multi-syllabic, super lyrical, miracle, spiritual" raps for a more accessible, and some would argue, style driven rap structure. Raised on the internet, like so many other young artists, A$AP Rocky directed all his own videos, from Purple Swag to Pe$o, his eye and ear for hits was bringing in millions of Youtube views and blog love, anywhere from his home in the hoods of Harlem to the suburbs of Texas. He was successful and smart enough to align himself with other acts that fucked with him like SpaceghostPurp (whom he would later go on to have beef with) as well as being called upon by Drake for his Club Paradise tour along with Kendrick Lamar and 2 Chainz, two other up and comers. From the beefs with Raider Klan and Odd Future to the 3 million upfront deal with Sony/RCA and the subsequent formation of his own A$AP Worldwide label, Rocky was on the rise like few others, except maybe fellow artists Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean. It was unprecedented, and this was all off of a small EP and a debut mixtape, and all before he was 24 years of age.

If anything, Rocky is a singular voice in fashion and hip-hop, rivaled only by Kanye West.

Whether people wanted the New York rap void to be filled was not the issue, it was whom they wanted it to be filled by. Jay-Z ostensibly retired, as he repped his business with Barclay'sCenter and Beyoncé

more than Brooklyn or New York itself, and Dipset and G-Unit were nowhere to be seen. They even locked up Max B. Those monsters. So, if we can't find a new Rakim, Jay-Z, Nas etc. then what was a New Yorker to do? Well, the kid with the haute couture fashion sense and southern rap aspirations wasn't really being well-received around those parts. Rejected by Houstonites and New Yorkers alike, Rocky was truly of the internet. A worldwide man, equally accepted in California as he was in Paris. Live LoveA$AP was very well received, and Rocky made friends with some powerful people, and other youngbloods (Kendrick, Schoolboy Q, Danny Brown etc.) as well as a whole bevy of producers (Clams Clasino, A$AP Ty Beats etc.) that helped cultivate his sound scape and style.

There's so much Rocky has done and been through in such a short period of time. But everything you've just read is irrelevant. From his upbringing in Harlem and listening to anything from Dipset to UGK, to his meteoric rise, it's all very unimportant in the big picture. That picture is framed in a singular question. What makes A$AP Rocky so polarizing and so endearing? He can rap well enough, but he isn't Kendrick or even Drake for that matter. His hooks are good too but he's no 50 Cent or Method Man. What is it then?

 

It's the fact that he was himself. He was a creature of his environment, soaking up all the music and fashion he loved and creating an original and confident voice that payed homage to its forefathers without ever copying them. It was simultaneously nothing new and everything new at the same time. Being A$AP Rocky is what he did best and in the internet age, that's all anyone really wants from an artist. It was the lifestyle of purple weed and lean, Colt 45's, and designer fashions you couldn't afford but still wanted to be around. The telegenic and chanting swag. The syrup-slow Houston ride flows atop the lean hazed instrumentals. It was all style over substance and it still wasn't even that. It was all about having a voice.

This all brings me to the present, where even though it leaked a month early, Rocky's debut album, Long Live A$AP. managed to generate an amazing amount of sales and popular singles. It had all paid off. But for all the noise about label wars, legal issues, debates on heritage and style, sound and fashion, all of it, a single track stood out for me on the album. "Suddenly".

 

Inspired by the Kanye West produced "Let the Beat Build" by Lil Wayne, Rocky waxes poetic about his childhood and upbringing. He takes us on a hazy tour of his life to the point where he began his meteoric rise to the top of the rap world and made friends, and a few enemies along the way. The production is handled partly by Rocky himself, as the beat slowly builds with a wonderful sample of Cytation's "Suddenly" to a unexpected crescendo where-in Rocky confidently ushers in his typical disoriented fast raps that are so common on songs like "Goldie". It's crazy. What's most wonderful is the declarations Rocky makes. It is a singular song that explains everything I just wrote in the entirety of this post and all of Rocky's complex life, in less than 5 minutes. If one line had to be taken from this, it would be a simple one. "Suddenly everything changed before my eyes". And that perfectly explains the rise of A$AP Rocky.

Photo shoots with Terry Richardson. Tell moms we made it.

From all the noise about not representing New York (even though Nas fucks with this song heavy) to the arguments of style over substance, none of it really matters. We can come full circle and say that A$AP Rocky is an MC, not only in the sense of representing hip-hop, but also in the sense that he is putting on display who he is. What really matters is that A$AP Rocky does, and continues to make good music for people who like to listen to it. Isn't that all we can really ask for?

As always, enjoy and spread the love. Peace.