Seeking street-cred, Drake announced plans to take Rocky on tour. What Rocky lacked in lyricism, he made up for in narcotic charisma. His lead singles poured syrup-slow Houston ride music atop the malt liquor melodies of Harlem's Max B.
Since the emergence of Dipset and G-Unit in the first half of the last decade, NYC rap aspirants have largely fallen into four categories: ringtone wunderkinds ( "This Is Why I'm Hot", "Chicken Noodle Soup"), technically skilled personality voids ( Papoose, Saigon), artful traditionalists ( Action Bronson, Roc Marciano, Ka), and Maino.īy contrast, Rocky was telegenic and chanting swag. Unavoidable in the conversation is the enduring absence of a New York commercial force under 30. I appreciate you and I just want to say I love and admire you.” The two shared a hug, then Rocky shouted out his Houston influences and launched into “Houston Old Head.To cool-hunting 360-wielding record executives, the videos might as well have been advertisements for the A$AP lifestyle: Colt 45, purple weed and purple drank, dice games, bike riding, brandishing Berettas, clothing designers ostensibly known only to Kanye, and a pretty blonde girl in a grill mouthing the phrase: "this is for my niggas getting high on the regular." Picture an episode of "Gossip Girl" where Blake Lively watches Traffic and subsequently opts to explore the Danger Zone of 125th and Lennox. Rocky responded, “She kicked me out the house,” and Ferg laughed, “She said, ‘Who is this weird-ass n***a with a perm in his hair’” Then Ferg got sincere and told Rocky, “This n***a stayed true and we fucking built an empire. “I wanted to be a fashion designer, and you were like, ‘Yo, bro, we should do this rapping shit,’” he recalled. “And you told my mom, ‘Yo, I promise I’m going to make your son a millionaire and all that shit.’ And she looked at you crazy.”
Ferg brought up their first tour with Drake, then got sentimental with Rocky. When ASAP Ferg came out for “Kissin’ Pink,” the two reminisced on their early days together. Working down the tracklist of the beloved mixtape, which was recently made available on DSPs for the first time, Rocky started at the top with “Palace,” “Peso,” “Bass,” “Wassup,” “Brand New Guy,” and “Purple Swag,” stopping between songs to reminisce on his early days running around New York City with the ASAP Mob. Putting a new twist on otherwise faithful renditions of the songs, he brought out a saxophone player for an outro at the end of “Purple Swag,” before members of the Mob joined him onstage for “Trilla.”
It was a fitting beginning to a night that acted as a walk down memory lane for Rocky, who was there to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his iconic debut mixtape.
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Wearing a Black Scale Funeral snapback hat, a red AWGE flannel, and a white tee, he pulled an American flag over his shoulders and rapped in the middle of an arena full of people at Long Beach Convention Center. As he thrashed around in the middle of a chaotic crowd, dressed in throwback threads, you couldn’t help but think of those wild performances he used to do in smaller New York clubs back when he first broke through with Live. Five minutes before ASAP Rocky’s headlining set was supposed to begin at ComplexCon 2021, a group of people rushed into the middle of the crowd. For a few moments, there was confusion as the group made their way through the audience, before ultimately forming a circle around 100 feet from the stage. Then, out of nowhere, Rocky popped up from the middle of the circle and started performing “Grim Freestyle.”