A$AP Rocky – Long.Live.A$AP

January 15, 2013 • Polo Grounds Music

I haven't listened to it much since, but A$AP Rocky's debut mixtape from 2011 LiveLoveA$AP turned out to be a really cool release, especially with me being pretty new to the whole cloud rap thing. On the other hand, Long.Live.A$AP, the followup and commercial debut, doesn't have the same fresh spark its predecessor does. The album goes back and forth between a handful of really great tracks and a handful of completely uninteresting ones, sometimes leaning a bit more towards straight-up party rap, and leaves a bit to be desired.

It has its moments, though, and there's truly a lot of great moments on the album. Opener "Long Live A$AP" has a really cool contrast between the heavy trap verses and a light, airy bridge; the transition between the two is anything but subtle and it sounds great. "Goldie" has a fantastic minimalist-yet-heavy beat. "Fuckin' Problems", as the single, is predictably good with a great guest spot from Kendrick Lamar—one in a great list of guest spots, like ScHoolboy Q's great verse on "PMW (All I Really Need)". Even the Skrillex appearance on "Wild for the Night" is fitting and (almost) tasteful. My highlight might be the production on "Phoenix", which might seem like typical cloud stuff at this point but I really like how it works on this album.

But at the same time there are a couple cuts I just didn't care much about, even the Clams Casino-produced "LVL" and "Hell", which pale in comparison to his earlier tracks, especially the repulsive hook on "Hell" (and that extreme bass across the whole album is giving me a massive headache). Many of the tracks sound simply like generic modern rap, which goes against all of what made A$AP Rocky interesting in the first place, as he doesn't do it quite as well as I bet he could. I suppose the fact that the producers on this album are so comparably diverse is what hurts the album the most; it makes the album feel really disjointed as opposed to the solid cloud production of LiveLoveA$AP. Rocky's rapping is not terribly great either—he's definitely not bad, technically he's decent (let's not get into the awful lyrics though), but there's nothing distinct about it that makes it nice to listen to and the guest spots almost all outshine him.

It's hard to quantify what I think about Long.Live.A$AP or not—I feel as though I like it and I don't like it at the same time. It's definitely a step down from the mixtape, unfortunately, as the song quality is just too inconsistent. I don't think the tend towards more mainstream rap works that well for A$AP Rocky. But at the same time there's plenty of cool ideas here; it just sucks that you have to dig through some crap to get them out.

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El-P – Cancer 4 Cure

May 22, 2012 • Fat Possum Records

Five years is a long time for a musician, and I imagine it feels even longer in today's incredibly volatile hip hop scene. I'd all but forgotten about El-P besides occasionally spinning I'll Sleep When You're Dead some years ago, but it sounds like he made those five years count and has been keeping up with the crowd.

Consequently El-P's production style has changed quite a bit since I'll Sleep When You're Dead—Cancer 4 Cure has really futuristic-sounding beats with unusually-fast tempos and tons of densely-packed samples. It's a lot more chaotic than its predecessor and always sounds like it's running as fast as it can to get to the next section, bludgeoning the listener into submission on its way. It's a very unique experience, although it's more or less in line with the direction hip hop has been taking this decade into more electronic and avant-garde areas. It's not at all surprising to find El-P doing this.

It's hard to discuss the beats as there's just so much to them—pitched vocals, hardcore drum beats with an occasional Southern twist, dissonant techno melodies, and samples from anywhere and everywhere, like El-P just overturned a vat of pop culture onto the album. It works, too, though the usage of the occasional pop or dubstep-ish beat is, while interesting, sometimes out of place.

Cancer 4 Cure manages to be nicely consistent throughout, so odds are if you are loving one track you'll find the rest to be just as enjoyable. Personally I'm finding the majority of the album to be simply decent, though there are a couple definite standout tracks. In addition to three great closing tracks, "Tougher Colder Killer" is probably my favorite, with its '90s throwback samples combined with some really great heavy beats and guest spots.

Speaking of which, the guest spots in general are very well done; El-P seems to have picked some rappers whose voices contrast well with his own, so every performance is memorable. I don't know who any of these other guys are, but they do a pretty fantastic job.

Better than I'll Sleep When You're Dead? Debatable. Better than most hip hop I've heard from the last few years? Absolutely (though that's not to stay it doesn't have its contenders). Even though this isn't really one of my favorite hip hop sounds (I generally prefer a more laid-back approach than this rapid-fire sound) El-P has definitely created something his fans will certainly enjoy. I'm liking it myself, and even if I'm not totally enthralled, he's not going anywhere just yet.

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