Archive for October 28, 2011

In 2011, hip-hop mixtapes are released casually, free-of-charge, and at a break-neck pace. Most come and go at the speed of broadband. But when 23-year-old Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky releases his debut tape, LIVELOVEA$AP, on Monday, it’ll mark a real hip-hop event. Rocky recently signed a deal with Sony/RCA subdivision Polo Grounds Music for a head-spinning $3 million sum, according to the rapper himself ($1.7 million for his solo output and $1.3 million to fund a group label called A$AP Worldwide). To put this into perspective: When Drake signed with Young Money after an intense bidding war in 2009, his reported advance was $2 million.

The PGM deal lays a lot of hopeful industry weight on Rocky, whose government name, Rakim Mayers, is derived from one half of legendary New York hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim– though Rocky wasn’t even born when Paid in Full was originally released in 1987. LIVELOVEA$AP follows a handful of memorable recent tracks, most notably “Peso”, a twinkling, arrogant cut with a mesmerizing video to match. In a matter of weeks this summer, the song made its way to New York’s Hot 97, and the tagline that punctuates its bars– “I be that pretty motherfu*ker”– quickly became the rapper’s signature.

When I sat down to talk to Rocky at PGM’s midtown Manhattan offices earlier this week, he was sipping a mango smoothie and wearing all-black tailored clothing that looked both casual and expensive. At one point, he looked down at his hands and told me he needed to make a trip to the salon to have his nails done once the interview wrapped. He then offered to treat me to a pedicure– the first in a long string of flirtatious comments that I sensed to be pretty standard for him.

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