One of New York’s brightest stars is rapper A$AP Rocky, who after much delay is priming for the release of his studio debut Long.Live.A$AP. One of the tracks he has leaked from the project, is the intro and title cut “Long.Live.A$AP”, and now he breaks down the record explaining how he thought he had a bleak future as a youngster, and was inspired by New Orleans, and older hip hop from Louisiana when recording the project.
As part of the “Decoded” series, the Harlem artist mentions that coming up he did not envision a bright future for himself, “Growing up between the Bronx and Harlem, there was times I thought, maybe I won’t make it. Maybe I’ll die in these streets, maybe I’ll die in jail.”
Recording the lead single to his LP, he was brought back to trap music of the late 90s early 00s, and finds a correlation between street life in New York, and those in Louisiana, “When I was making the beat it had a New Orleans, Magnolia [vibe]...it took me back to the No Limit, Cash Money kinda thing.” Getting into character Pretty Flacko adds, “I’m putting myself into the existence of a 22 year old New Orleans, Magnolia kinda trapper, or something like that. I feel like, that’s where I can go with my music and stuff, sometimes you can speak in third person.”
Rocky mentions several times about representing the current brand of hip hop, “I’m basically talking to my generation, I’m a product of my environment...it’s just me talking about our generation, that’s what we do.”
A$AP Rocky’s anticipated LP Long.Live.A$AP is slated for a January 15th release.