So, we have At.$AP, a record that doesn’t shirk away from the ambition of the big, behemoth, classic hip-hop record. As Rihanna says on “American Oxygen”: “ We sweat for a nickel and a dime, turn it into an empire.”

Although his new record, and perhaps even elements of high fashion altogether, can be seen as simple sedatives to un-ignorable American cultural/political issues, it can and should be argued that the desire for appearance as a grand icon - the model, the image, the desired - walks in stride with our upbringing in an often orphaned American dream. Whereas his generational peers - Kendrick and Drake, specifically - have taken to making directly psychedelic protest music or the complete ownership of self-mythologization, Rocky’s chosen the path of simple tastemaking. As such, his flirtation with psychedelics throughout At.$AP continually emphasizes escape through the visualization of the alter - metaphysical, capitalistic, or otherwise.Īt the start, there’s a palpable magnetism surrounding At.$AP that’s a product of Rocky’s undeniable attractiveness his personality demands attention, and it contains a nonchalant ambition that can speak candidly about great struggles despite often shrugging them off. Interestingly enough, A$AP’s virtuosic understanding of dressing himself in these charged garments sees to a beautiful escape from harsher realities: escapism never seemed more enticing, more glamorous, more good looking. We can approach the bold, emblazoned, futurist branding that is vogue in 2015 as being a sort of evolving piece of science-fiction in the market of desire - the desire being the simple human demand for appearance and leisure in a police state. It’s true that his music often commands a sense of atmosphere that can cloud an otherwise ugly room in a glorious purple - a fluorescent smoke - similar to how you might adorn your feeble body in the charged, magnificent garments of the world. Call it “baby-face,” call it “the look” - he’s got a handsomeness that captures both the roughness of a Harlem upbringing and marble fashion runways through his iridescent hood-by-sartorialist chic. Rocky and his whole crew grew to popularity by expanding upon this wearability of music. I mean, in 2015 what are you wearing? Do you drop $600 on a Margiela shirt? Do you drop $400 on a sheet of acid? While we all occasionally “wear” music to slip into character - to feel larger, different, powerful - popular music, and popular hip-hop, often outwear their own iconography to the extent of the creation of static idolatry, where the clothes just aren’t working to capture what you’re going for. The wearability of music is nothing to be ashamed of hell, it makes a lot of sense given the performer’s curse dreamt up by the demands of the 20th century - a pop tide that engulfed otherwise disparate music. Although A$AP Rocky has tried to avoid referencing brands for fear of an onslaught of “fuccbois” copping his style, he didn’t do so well in name-checking designers on A.L.L.A.: Cartier.

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