Early on in his discography, A$AP Rocky set himself apart for a number of reasons, but his impeccable beat selection was always part of the conversation. From Clams Casino to Kanye West, Rocky knows when he's got some killer production on his hands. One of the most exciting elements of so much of his music, though, is how he's found a way to rap over any number of genres and make it sound great. Even better, he's working with producers keen to experiment and really challenge listeners.
With his third studio album, TESTING, on the horizon, Rocky is tapping into his adventurous nature once again. So we decided to revisit some of Rocky's most interesting and left-field choices, from his debut mixtape to the Moby-featuring "A$AP Forever."
"Demons/Bass"
Producer: Clams Casino
Sample: Imogen Heap - "Just For Now"
Clams Casino’s breakthrough work was very much characterized by Imogen Heap samples, but two of the best examples of this come from two tonally disparate tracks from Rocky’s debut mixtape, Live. Love. A$AP. Even more impressive, they both use the same sample.
Utilizing the “Just For Now” sample that defined so much cloud-rap back when it was a hot blog commodity, “Bass” and “Demons” still as sound cutting edge as they did back in 2011. Spinning two different approaches over Clams’ foggy production, Rocky sets the tone for experimentation early.
"Money Bags (Freestyle)"
Producer: Dean Blunt & Arca
Sample: Babyfather - "Meditation"
In the lead-up to his upcoming third studio album, TESTING, Rocky threw up a number of captivatingly strange tracks on his SoundCloud. Perhaps the most fully formed, "Money Bags Freestyle" sees Rocky ruminating over Babyfather's hypnotic track "Meditation." The original Dean Blunt and Arca-produced song is left completely untouched, and it's the type of production that perfectly suits Rocky at his most introspective.
"Purple Swag"
Producer: A$AP Ty Beats
Sample: "Stay With Me" - Clint Mansell ft. Kronos Quartet & Mogwai
Essentially the song that helped to kickstart Rocky’s career during his early Tumblr star days, “Purple Swag” perfectly demonstrated his potential. The syrupy beat, provided by A$AP Ty Beats, makes extensive use of a section from the score to Darren Aronofsky’s 2006 film The Fountain, weaving back and forth from the moment it starts.
The score, composed by Clint Mansell alongside the Kronos Quartet and Mogwai, is ultimately one the better elements of the film, and its dreamlike nature goes from grandiose to to warped and thick with atmosphere in the hands of Ty Beats. It’s easy to see why this is the song that got everyone talking about Rocky.
"ASAP Forever" ft. Moby
Producer: A$AP Rocky & Hector Delgado
Sample: Moby - "Porcelain"
It takes a lot of courage to sample something as iconic as Moby’s “Porcelain,” but “A$AP Forever” works so well because the 1999 classic is left largely intact. Instead of warping the track until it's unrecognizable, Rocky and producer Hector Delgado pick their spots carefully. In many ways it’s a throwback to when emcees would rap over loops, but it’s also a genuinely innovative choice in the current hip-hop climate. The best part about it all, however, is how well it all works, because it could have turned out to be such a disaster in the wrong hands.
"Max B" ft. Joe Fox
Producer: ASAP Rocky & Hector Delgado
Sample: Leonard Cohen - "Who By Fire" & Max B - "Baby I Wonder"
The experimental and psychedelic nature of Rocky's second studio album, AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP, shines bright on "Max B." His ode to the Silver Surfer himself is built around a wonderfully used sample of "Baby I Wonder," while the song's breakdown sees a Leonard Cohen track taken to a place it had never been before.
“Telephone Calls” ft. Tyler, the Creator, Playboi Carti & Yung Gleesh
Producer: Plu2o Nash
Sample: Goblin - "Suspiria"
Rocky’s extravagance has always come with a touch of the occult and macabre, which is on full display for the Cozy Tapes Vol. 1 cut “Telephone Calls.” The eerie instrumental incorporates a sample of Dario Argento’s Suspiria, a ‘70s Italian horror classic set at a dance school in Germany. The film’s score was handled largely by the pioneering Italian prog auteurs Goblin, who were frequent Argento collaborators.
On “Telephone Calls,” the frosty keyboard line and ominous whispering from the movie’s title track are looped with trunk rattling percussion to craft an icy soundscape for Rocky to shamelessly flex and clear the lane for Gleesh, Carti, and Tyler. The latter is especially impressive, rattling off a myriad of accomplishments through gritted teeth on the song’s last verse.
“Canal St.” ft. Bones
Producer: A$AP Rocky, Hector Delgado, Frans Mernick
Sample: Bones - "Dirt"
Rocky’s relationship with the gritty, lo-fi sound pioneered by artists like Raider Klan and Seshollowaterboyz is well documented, but one of the best recent examples of the New York MC adapting this style was At.Long.Last.ASAP’s “Canal St.,” which sampled “Dirt” by Bones. A member of Seshollowaterboyz with Xavier Wulf, Eddy Baker, and Chris Travis, Bones rose to prominence for spitting rapid fire rhymes with a clinical, robotic efficiency atop hellish beats that sound as if they’re collapsing in on themselves beneath 808 bass weight.
“Canal St.” is a swaggering cut, with baleful piano and a taunting hook that Rocky repurposes to prove his bona fides. Where most MCs would pair such subject matter with a grandiose beat, Rocky (who co-produced the track with Hector Delgado and Frans Mernick) uses Bones’ haunting keyboard melody to take things in a different direction.
"Unicorn"
Producer: A$AP Rocky
Sample: Tame Impala - "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards"
While the instrumental album he promised back in 2013 never came to fruition, Rocky did let a few tracks trickle out over time. One such cut was “Unicorn,” a glacially slow repurposing of Tame Impala’s wistful “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” that downshifts the pitch and adds a glitchy stutter.
Rocky’s production touch is restrained: adding a ticking 808 hi-hat and dropping Kevin Parker’s falsetto down is a savvy move, as it heightens the circular sense of time posited on the original version. Tame Impala’s stadium-sized, surrealist sound has made them both mainstream and critical darlings since the release of their 2010 debut Innerspeaker; they’ve been covered by Rihanna, and Parker has collaborated with artists like SZA and Miguel.
"New York Bittersweet Symphony"
Producer: A$AP Rocky
Sample: The Verve - "Bittersweet Symphony"
This vintage cut from Rocky’s 2011 tape Deep Purple uses The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” to underscore the rapper’s rags-to-riches story. The original from the ‘90s Britpop band juxtaposed joyous strings with candid lyrics about desperation, stagnation, and the constraints of our materialistic society, while Rocky’s bars compare both his extravagant lifestyle and deep-seated insecurities.
Throughout his career, Rocky has always done an impressive job of giving samples room to breathe, often rapping verses without any percussion and creating the rhythm himself. Rocky’s identity was still emerging back then, but “New York Bittersweet Symphony” shows early on his penchant for unconventional samples and his ability to suit his writing to the soundscape.
"Everyday" ft. Miguel & Rod Stewart
Producer: A$AP Rocky, Mark Ronson, Emile Haynie, Frans Mernick, Jeff Bhasker, Tom Elmhirst & Hudson Mohawke
Sample: Python Lee Jackson & Rod Stewart - "In a Broken Dream"
“Everyday” was one of At.Long.Last.ASAP’s most soulful, timeless cuts, and Rocky smartly shifts between Miguel’s contemporary vocals and those of the original songwriter Rod Stewart, creating the sense of generations passing within the track itself. The video really drives that point home. Python Lee Jackson, meanwhile, collaborated with Stewart on "In a Broken Dream" in the early ‘70s, were an Australian band with a penchant for searing guitar solos.
The massive list of co-producers on “Everyday” typically speak to a track that winds up overcooked, but instead they ended up with an understated instrumental that provides room for both Rocky’s dexterous flows and the sample to shine. Python Lee Jackson’s chunky bass line is recast beneath propulsive drums that seem to switch textures every four bars. When the beat switches up on the second verse and contorts the sample into a syrupy mulch, it echoes the raucous spirit of the original while providing a fresh, trappy twist.
"Kissin' Pink" ft. A$AP Ferg
Producer: Beautiful Lou
Sample: Kissing the Pink - "All For You"
By now, Rocky’s affinity for eclectic British rock is well-established, but “Kissin’ Pink” remains one of his best tracks, and the song's genius start with its interpretation of Kissing the Pink’s “All For You” into a haunting ode to lean. Taken from their 1983 debut, Naked, “All For You” is a bittersweet, psychedelic love song that rumbles and burbles with flanging synths and a coy blend of pianos and sax that create a tantalizing sound that never quite conventionally coalesces.
The surreal track is a perfect impetus for “Kissin’ Pink,” an ode to codeine that acknowledges the drug’s inherent danger. “But I'm down on my knees, what it your desire?/Your life or that lean?” Rocky asks. The “All For You” sample echoes that same fatalistic obsession, and “Kissin’ Pink” doubles as one of the biggest early looks for ASAP Ferg.
"Angels"
Producer: Amsterdam
Sample: Imogen Heap - "Headlock"
Imogen Heap’s feathery vocals have proved fertile ground for artists like, Lil B, Mac Miller, and Wiz Khalifa (and yes, Jason Derulo), but Rocky’s “Angels” is perhaps the best use of the British singer-producer’s unique sound to date. While best known for her single “Hide and Seek,” Heap has been innovating in the pop world since the late ‘90s, creating ornate tracks brimming with memorable synth lines and haunting vocals.
“Headlock,” off her 2005 album Speak for Yourself, is a delicate electropop jam that weaves cascading synths and layered vocals with occasional thumping bursts of percussion. Rocky’s delivery on “Angels” is almost as airy as Heap’s original topline, as he dances on producer Amsterdam’s tight synths and hi-hats.
