The time had finally arrived: the highly touted A$AP Rocky album was ready in Itunes. I must say that I have been a fan since “Peso”. Hell, I was even more of a fan with his small feature on “4Loko” with Smoke Dza. His mixtape made my head spin. With no true penchant for overly meaningful lyrics, his style and beat selection won me over. With his new album, Long.Live.A$AP, he has done everything as expected with a commercial twist.

 

The one thing that hit me about this album is the pure diversity on it. On one instance you have a song like “Wild For The Night”, a Skrillex produced future-club-banger (maybe). On the other hand you will get a song like “1Train”, a posse cut of underground rap dreams. The styles of the songs consistently switch up throughout the album. Thus, this composition became nothing short of unpredictable.

 

For many listeners, they will either love it or hate it.

 

They will eventually love the fact that Rocky kept his flow intact. What he lacks in substance he garners back in bravura and lyrical flow. On songs like “Suddenly” and “Long Live A$AP”, you get to feel his range. He can even get sing songy with Overdoz on the punk-smooth-ish known as “Pain”. For anything, Pretty Flacko never gets boring.

 

However, many will not get with his more experimental excursions. “Wild For The Night”, as energetic and loud as it is, will be bashed for being a dub step knock off. “Fashion Killa” will be knocked for being musically annoying. A$AP wanted to cover all of his bases and influences. Still, there will be some thumbs down due to not everybody appealing to his choices.

 

All in all, we have a considerably superior premier album from a variably new artist. While keeping it true to what he started, Rocky wasn’t afraid to experiment. This brings about great results and questionable choices. Still, there is enough for everyone without alienating all of his listeners. With enough consistent music and undying fan support, A$AP just may live long.