A$AP Rocky - LiveLoveA$AP

If you've heard A$AP Rocky and his crew yet, you may have wondered who these guys are and where they suddenly all came from (like me). A$AP Rocky aka. Rakim Mayers, (supposedly after Eric B. & Rakim) was born in the Bronx, raised in Harlem, and thus has some ingredients to be a legit street rapper... yet he has much more momentum than usual for his position. The A$AP crew has a story for all this buzz though, as Rakim has recently landed one of the biggest deals for an unsigned artist, with Sony/RCA giving him a 3 million dollar budget to sign his crew, A$AP Worldwide, to an album and to make a solo project for himself. It may be offsetting to see a seemingly unknown artist get so much given to him when he hasn't been proven yet, but that's the route the industry has taken these days - people are hungry for new material. Download A$AP Rocky's first mixtape, LiveLoveA$AP and keep an eye out for the groups full album, these guys are still a question mark. It seems if you want something great to happen you need to take a risk sometimes.

A$AP Rocky provides a little insight into his life in his interview with Fader, where they follow him around his newly claimed neighborhood in NYC. ASAP was originally named the Always Strive and Prosper crew, but it's not until they start talking about what it means to them that Rakim shows that he's a little deeper than he comes off, stating,

"[A$AP] stands for Acronym Symbolizing Any Purpose, that's why my shit say asap life, cause my shit is acronym symbolizing any purpose to life. You know what i mean, asap means life that's why the name of my album is liveloveasap. livelovelife. asap is life. everything is asap."

Hear a few tracks below from his mixtape and look out for A$AP Worldwide to be making things happen... they've got the money for it and producers are starting to flock.

A$AP Rocky - Kissin' Pink (Feat. A$AP Ferg)

A$AP Rocky - Trilla (Feat. A$AP Twelvy & A$AP Nast)

A$AP Rocky - Peso