Music
5 Things We Learned From A$AP Rocky in London
A$AP Rocky dropped news on his new album and more on the Red Bull Music Academy UK Tour.
A$AP Rocky covered a lot of ground when he spoke during the London leg of the Red Bull Music Academy UK Tour this month. He touched on his musical inspirations and his recording regimen.
Two years have passed since the release of A$AP Rocky's U.S. chart-topping album "Long.Live.A$AP," in which time Rocky’s crew A$AP Mob have also blown up. Now the Harlem rapper is poised to return with "At.Long.Last.ASAP."
The informative and entertaining London interview is now available to watch in all its glory in the player above, and below we've distilled the knowledge into the top five things we learned.
Listen to A$AP Rocky's "M'$" below
1. For now, A$AP Rocky is staying cagey about the new album ... mostly
A late-May release date has been suggested, although remains unconfirmed during this 80-minute conversation. Rocky also dismissed recent reports of guest spots for FKA twigs and Lykke Li, suggesting that the Internet isn’t to be trusted.
But he did bless us with an album teaser, "M'$," to close the conversation. Produced by Honorable C.N.O.T.E and Kanye beatmaker Mike Dean, the track is powered by clipped, catchy trap beats, but also retains an ominous, almost industrial feel.
“That’s one of the more fun songs off the album,” said Rocky, who described it as a celebration of Yams — the A$AP Mob founder who died suddenly in January.
2. Rocky and Yasiin Bey (a.k.a. Mos Def) have something of a bromance
The interview had barely begun when Mos, who recently joined A$AP Rocky onstage in London to debut a newie, took the sofa to wax rhapsodic. "Seriously, this new record is incredible," he said. "It’s more than just the swag or even the attitude. It’s like the first Beastie Boys album moving into 'Paul’s Boutique.' "
Mos Def joins the conversation
© Athena Anastasiou/Red Bull Content Pool
3. Early sessions for the new album were recorded in Red Bull Studios London
The rapper enjoys a heartfelt relationship with London: “When I was young, I wanted to come here because I heard rumors the potato chips was pink and the cops wore roller skates.” These illusions since dispelled, he now gobbles up British music: from grime peers, such as Skepta and Kano, to electronic oddballs, like Lord Tusk, Funkineven and Dean Blunt. Joe Fox, a near-unknown U.K. musician who features on “about seven tracks” of "A.L.L.A," is ushered onstage for a few minutes in the spotlight.
4. There are many essential ingredients to an A$AP Rocky recording session
A$AP set the scene for us: "If we were in the studio now all these lights would be off. ... There’d be candles for sure. Recording usually starts 10 p.m., 12 midnight and we leave about 10 a.m. I’m a vampire. I’m dyslexic, everything is ass-backwards. I’m on my Kriss Kross s--t!"
And he had some other studio essentials, too. "When you have beautiful women in the studio, it helps. ... Women are inspiration! I do live for women, I’m not gonna lie."
5. Rocky’s rap philosophy in 2015: less beef, more black solidarity
On one hand, see, there’s “the people who go out of their way to raise the bar — your Joey Bada$$es, your J. Coles, your Kendrick Lamars.”
Then, by implication, there are rappers who come up short.
"But I got love for all the other motherf--kers too," he said. "I feel like, as black people, we’re too scared to see each other excel or prosper. Who else is gonna show us love, if we don’t?"
May can't come soon enough.
Sign up for RedBull.com's newsletter, a one-stop shop of our top stories.