A$AP Rocky has always been an artist defined by the forefront. Genres and culture adjust themselves to his presence.

The Harlem-bred rapper’s first mixtape, “Live.Love.A$AP,” demonstrated his impeccable flow, style and taste. The sounds of Houston, Atlanta and New York were mixed into the flow and beat choices on the tape, making what had never been done before sound so natural.

The rise of the A$AP Mob back in the early 2010s can be partly attributed to the personality that was A$AP Yams. Yams’ understanding of the rap world, evidenced by his popular Tumblr blog RNT and his thirst to take Rocky to the next level was crucial to Rocky’s success. Their partnership was well summarized by The New York Times after A$AP Yams died of an accidental drug overdose last January.

Yams was known to describe himself as the Yoda to Rocky’s Luke Skywalker. With him gone, and two years having passed since Rocky’s debut album, the pressure was on. Would A$AP Rocky make his first musical misstep? Does “At.Long.Last.A$AP” live up to what its title suggests?

That was the question ringing around my head as I listened to the album’s introduction, “Holy Ghost.” The drums smash while a western-sounding guitar wails. The self-described “pretty motherf*cker” sounds like a cowboy riding in from the sunset ready to shoot some outlaws up. Faith is a departure from what he usually raps about, and the beat sounds nothing like traditional Rocky.

HOLY SMOKES, I THINK MY PASTOR WAS THE ONLY FOLK
TO OWN THE ROLLIE, GHOST AND ROLLS-ROYCES WITH NO HOLY GHOST

A$AP ROCKY,  “HOLY GHOST”

But it bumps, and sets you up perfectly for an album full of surprises. Rocky dares to experiment, taking his listener on a journey of psychedelic lows, highs and all the strange sights in between.

Atmosphere oozes and drenches in “At.Long.Last.A$AP.” The soundscape features Joe Fox’s singing, who accompanies Rocky on five songs. His wistful croon is essential to the tone of the album. The beats are dark and eclectic. The production creates a distinct vibe for each song, like the creeping bass on “Pharsyde.”

This album deserves credit for how well-mixed it is, too. The percussion hits at all the right levels, and Rocky’s voice is never lost amidst the layered production. This album is crisp when it’s blasted loud and sets a standard for what rap albums should sound like when mixed and mastered properly.

It’s fitting that Rocky, who was the pioneer of the cloud rap subgenre, has transitioned to a more psychedelic-infused sound. Cloud rap was known for its spacey beats, its relation to weed and the rappers who liked smoking it. “Everything is purple,” rapped Rocky on his first mixtape. Everything’s still purple, but now there are shades and hues. Drugs are a central theme in the album. “When Yams died, psychedelic music healed me,” Rocky said in a Complex cover story.

The new drug-infused sound exists in a space between alternative rock and mainstream rap. Most of the choruses are somber spots of reflection between his slews of rap. The song “Max B” does a literal record-scratch between Rocky’s aggressive ratatat flow to Joe Fox’s muted whispers.

One of the singles off the album, “L$D,” barely even sounds like rap. Elements of the song coalesce and fall apart in a beautiful harmony as Rocky sings his way through the haze. It’s unlike anything A$AP Rocky has ever made, and it’s refreshing and engaging.

What’s also refreshing is Rocky’s restraint throughout the project. Everyone knows that he has one of the smoothest flows, but Rocky holds back on most songs, preferring to let his cadence ride with the song and not over it. And then when he decides to snap, like he does on “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 (LPFJ2),” “Excuse Me,” and “M’$,” it’s so satisfying. He commands the beat in the classic A$AP Rocky fashion.

There are moments of pure inspiration. In “Fine Whine,” the syrup-laden confession to women that have been done wrong by rappers’ lifestyles, Future glides in over pounding drums as he delivers one of the best feature verses on the album. In other places on the album, Lil Wayne dominates “M’$,” and makes it look effortless. ScHoolBoy Q delivers on “Electric Body,” which is another solid Rocky/ScHoolBoy collaboration.

Kanye West’s appearance on “Jukebox Joints” is trash, though.

Eighteen songs is lengthy for an album. These days, rap projects seem to be getting shorter and shorter, usually capping off around ten tracks. The length of “At.Long.Last.A$AP” gives it breathing room that allows for pacing. It’s an accomplishment that the stoner anthem “Wavybone” can exist on the same project as “Fine Whine” and sound like it’s supposed to be there. The length of the album pays off for the most part, but there are moments that drag. “West Side Highway” is entirely skippable, and if it weren’t for his insane diss of Rita Ora, “Better Things” would be, too.

“At.Long.Last.A$AP” is Rocky’s most ambitious project yet. He has defined a new sound before, and I think he pulls it off again here. He weaves the dark, trippy, psychedelic direction he’s taken into his old sound in a way that’s masterful. It’s a consistent and cohesive project that shows Rocky’s daring willingness to experiment with his sound.

A$AP Rocky didn’t reclaim his place in the rap game — he carved a new one for himself.

Momin Rafi is a sophomore newspaper and online journalism major. You can email him at mrafi@syr.edu or reach him on Twitter at @Mominat0r.

Published on May 30, 2015 at 3:56 pm