I would prefer to put out music to change people’s mood or uplift or get a feeling or a reaction, opposed to just making music to stay relevant for the sake of popularity.”īut the buzz picked back up at the top of 2018 when Rocky began to drop new songs on SoundCloud: “ 5ive $tar$,” “ Money Bags Freestyle (Dean Blunt Meditation),” and “ Above.” At first, the artworks featured an image of a car wheel with a yellow strip over it with the word “TESTING.” Later, it was changed to a yellow background and the word “DUMMIE” in all black caps. “One little thing, one little mishap, one little imperfection could throw off a whole cycle. “Everything has to be aligned correctly,” he recently told Peter Rosenberg during Complex’s new show Open Late. The album was initially slated for a 2017 release, but was pushed back because Rocky wanted to perfect it. I had to do what Puff had to do when Biggie died, or anybody who loses somebody.” I think that’s what validated him in hip-hop. He was always about discovering new talent and trying to put new people on. “But it’s with any legacy that loses a pioneer you gotta keep going. (Yams died from an accidental overdose in 2015.) “It wasn’t the same without Yams,” Rocky says in a low voice. It will also be his first album without the guiding hand of A$AP Yams, the rapper’s best friend, partner and, for a lack of a better term, spiritual guru. It will be his third solo project, his first in three years. We’re here because A$AP Rocky is gearing up to release his new album, Testing. He doesn’t seem to care what I think, an interesting tactic for a rapper with more to sell than ever. In any event, Rocky turns the charm on and off at will, and it’s impossible to tell when each version of Rocky will emerge.
Maybe it was a combination of everything.
It’s hard to tell if he was bored, tired, irritated, or high off the blunts he’d been hitting. “Do you have actually have a vendetta against me? Why are you asking me about fur in 2018 knowing them PETA motherfuckers are gonna come looking for me, knowing I been killing my Instagram with furs the past couple months?” “Why are you trying to get me in trouble so much, bro?” he said. At one point, when I asked what happened to the luxury fur line he once said he’d been developing, he asked if I was “working with the feds.” Earlier in our conversation, the 29-year-old Harlem rapper was avoiding my questions, telling me to never ask a few again. It’s a stark departure from just minutes ago. And right now, he’s in a playful and jovial mood. Rocky is extremely charming-magnetic personality, a perfectly chiseled jawline that hugs a perfect smile-when he wants to be. “Sometimes I say girl, sometimes I say boy. We gotta mark that one off.” He pretends to draw an “X” with his fingers on the notecard. Committed to playing the role of interviewer, he looks down at the white notecards he borrowed from me and pretends to examine his next question. So far, he’s asked me when I bought my white, hoof-like Martin Margiela boots, what brands my black jeans and leather jacket are, whether or not I have a boyfriend, and how long I’ve been with said boyfriend. The rapper also scrubbed his Instagram page of all content earlier in the year - now, there’s just a video for the AWGE DVD, but a clean slate on social media is often a telltale sign of a pending release.“Have you ever cheated on your boyfriend?”Ī$AP Rocky and I are in a studio in Brooklyn for a cover shoot and interview, and he’s running the show.
Earlier in the month, Rocky previewed snippets of new music on his Instagram story with the caption “Testing?” which is believed to be the name of his next LP. Plus, there are seemingly no effects on his voice.Īs for what this means for the upcoming album, that remains unclear. Rocky’s flow is uninterrupted and a little timid in the opening minute, almost like this is just a well-done freestyle. The song is surprisingly raw-sounding, and not “raw” because of truthful lyrics, but because of its literal uncut sound. READ: Hot Boy Turk And Lil Wayne’s EDM Inspired Single “Till She Loses Her Voice” And while the song’s feature is not confirmed on the page, it’s safe to assume the recognizable voice on the hook is rapper-singer and previous A$AP collaborator D.R.A.M. 23), the rapper released “☆☆☆☆☆ 5IVE $TAR$” to the AWGE SoundCloud page. After a whole lot of teasing in the last few months, A$AP Rocky has released what is, presumably, the first cut from his upcoming fourth album.