In 2025, we received the long-awaited “MUSIC” by Playboi Carti, which had been teased and delayed for almost five years. When it was finally released, it was largely seen as not worth the wait. As for A$AP ROCKY, we had also been waiting for new music from him since 2018. Born in the depths of Harlem, New York, Rocky has built his career on consistency in early cloud rap and popularity. From his mixtape, “LIVE.LOVE.A$AP,” which put him on the map, and his first and second albums, “LONG.LIVE.A$AP” and “AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP,” he built a prolific catalog that can only be matched by his naming game. After teasers and songs that seemed like I was there, it was time. It was finally released on Jan. 16 of this year. And unlike “MUSIC,” it lived up to the hype much better.
Starting with the lead single, “Punk Rocky,” Rocky’s first images of what is going to do on his new album, and it’s … a punk song? This song deftly meets all expectations, being the first single for the album, and is a fine punk song. The song features nice distortion that’s similar to most post-punk, and Rocky does a good job both rapping and singing, translating cleanly from part to part. I do have a problem with it not being that memorable. Besides those things, there is not much to talk about, as this is a pretty respectable single.
The first track of the album is “Order of Protection.” It starts with a nice ‘80s synth that reminds me a lot of the first Sonic games. It ramps up until it turns into a trap beat with a lot of drums that range from heavy bass to marching band-like. As for Rocky’s rapping, he tells us how his life has been since his last album. Half of the focus was on his legal battle against a former member of Rocky’s rap group A$AP Mob, A$AP Relli, who accused Rocky of shooting him with a gun. In February of last year, he was acquitted of all charges. The other half was beefing with Drake over Drake’s sneak dissing of both Rocky and his wife, Rihanna. Most of Rocky’s attacks on Drake are on his third track, “STOLE YA FLOW.”
“STOLE YA FLOW” is a loud, fast, bass-heavy song, making it close but not exactly rage, a sub-category of trap. This fits the idea of this song being about dissing Drake, as they would want him to feel what’s about to hit him. Rocky’s main attack is that Drake is jealous that he is married to Rihanna. Drake and Rihanna had been on and off in a relationship, which ended when Drake expressed his love to her, but she didn’t reciprocate. After that, Rihanna and Rocky started dating, got married, and had kids. So now, Rocky is using this to get over Drake, whom he beat. The other things were more about his continuation of being a culture vulture, meaning that he will use one style, then take someone else’s style, with artists like Soulja Boy and XXXTENTACION both claiming that he stole their style bar for bar. This is where the meaning of the title of the song comes into play, as he is saying, “You stole our flows.”
The next song, “Stay Here 4 Life,” features a vocal performance from Maryland rapper, Brent Faiyaz. This song is nice and simple, being about wanting to take one moment and stay there forever. The beat is nice and calm, almost like a lo-fi beat that you can use to study. Faiyaz’s vocals remind me of The Weeknd or Daniel Caesar’s song, while giving a slowed-down and melodic background performance, continuing the idea of lo-fi. It’s a good listen, and it makes sense that it’s the most popular song from the album. Not much to mention besides the ending, where he warns his fans not to mess with him for being married to Rihanna.
Lastly, the track “Whiskey (Release Me)” features famous songwriter Damon Albarn, more well-known as the lead singer of British rock band “Blur” and his solo project “Gorillaz.” This song opens with more of a cool and jazzy vibe with a focus on light drumming before turning into a more typical trap beat, and then slowing down again at the end of the song. In this song, Rocky mostly talks about how he drowns his life in alcohol. Albarn delivers nice background vocals in his signature megaphone filter that he has been using since the beginning of Gorillaz. As the song ends, Westside Gunn comes in to give adlibs and sound effects for…some reason. It’s not bad and is actually used to a pretty good effect, I just didn’t see it coming.
The main takeaway from this album is that there is a wealth of material to discuss, and much of it is excellent. From the trap that is better than most mainstream to the crazy good jazz rap, there is something for everyone. And while this is a messy situation, it’s an enjoyable one that anyone can enjoy. I’m going to give this album an 8 out of 10.
