It’s dripping with attitude and sex, and experimentalist Clams (real name Michael Volpe) deftly flips the downtrodden song it sampled ( Imogen Heap’s “Just For Now” ). “ Bass” is even better, immersing you in a whirlpool of thumping bass lines and scattered, moaning synths. This is all commonplace now, but it wasn’t back in 2011. It’s a deep meditative groove that sounds like it’s being played out of a broken cassette player, and a “ticklish” Rocky made it cool for heterosexual alpha-males to be effeminate. You could make a convincing argument that Clams’ “ Wassup” beat, where Rocky drops cocky sing-a-long melodies about being “that pretty motherfucker,' also wrote the template for the decade’s dominant lo-fi rap scene. Harlem’s new King can’t quite believe how great the beat sounds, rapping: “Goddamn, how real is this?”

“ Palace” is the perfect opener, with Clams’ use of crashing symbols and a transcendent choir (sampled from a song that typically plays over images of polar bears roaring during National Geographic documentaries) feeling like an epic, mountain-top coronation.

Yet the production from Clams Casino (who produced five tracks on the album) is perhaps an even bigger reason behind why $AP has been embraced as a classic. The street guys had been given a seat next to Anna Wintour at New York Fashion Week. He also transferred the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony flow to the catwalk, projecting an infectious, larger-than-life confidence that inspired teenagers everywhere from London to L.A. Rocky essentially united the hustlers and the internet cool kids, summarized perfectly on the refreshingly honest “ Demons,” where he boasted: “I’m a hipster by heart, but I can tell you how the streets feel.” It also presented a warped take on electronic music, which in turn attracted Aphex Twin fans. Released on Halloween 2011, the album was a bridge between the East and the South. Everything had to be purple.īy bringing all these elements together, Rocky’s debut mixtape gave the world something fresh and exciting. Although Rocky and his friends worshipped the line-pushing hubris of local heroes like Big L and Cam’ron, their ear was more inclined to the melodic yet sedated trap sound of DJ Screw, SpaceGhostPurrp (who produced “ Keep It G” on $AP) and Pimp C - music which made most sense when processed through a mind fogged by drugs. Rocky was part of a generation of New Yorkers who found themselves during an era where the South had all the coolest rappers.

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