While he is incredibly talented at delivering raps that drip in swag and charisma, sometimes it feels like the flow and presence is used as a crutch in lieu of substance. One of the main criticisms that has always been given to Rocky is that fans never really get to hear anything under the surface level in his music. A flute-like instrument is the backbone behind the production here and is just as catchy as songs like ‘Mask Off’ that Future implemented to great effect last year. This five track run ends with ‘Praise Da Lord (Da Shine)’, another potential single that brings English rapper Skepta along for the ride. Diddy brings his shit talking to the irresistibly catchy ‘Tony Tone’ which has a flow that embeds itself into your head and fails to leave. Left field collaborations like ‘F**k Sleep’ with R&B Goddess FKA Twigs shares a similar fate of treading the experimental line successfully. Whether it’s the literal distorted bassline that bleeds into Rocky’s vocals seamlessly on opener ‘Distorted Records’ or the beautiful sample of Moby in the latter half of revamped single ‘A$AP Forever’, these are areas where A$AP’s testing of sounds and ideas goes well. In this string of five songs that open the album, the successful experimentation comes to the forefront. It sets expectations extremely high for an album that already had a multitude of hype surrounding it.
![asap rocky forever behind the scenes asap rocky forever behind the scenes](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e5/7c/e4/e57ce4a496867493be57b03d05381884.jpg)
Testing begins on a promising note, arguably one of the strongest runs that A$AP has crafted in his career. It’s time to see if this is another test that Rocky passes with flying colors.Įxperimentation. When you couple his great debut album and impressive follow up with the three year wait between projects, expectations are through the roof. It has been shrouded in mystery and test dummies have been at the forefront of the visual campaign, so how that relates to the actual music is a mystery. Fans are ready for him to stop testing their patience and finally release the long awaited album. Between features and compilation albums with the A$AP mob, there’s been plenty of Rocky music in the midst of the three year drought. A$AP has received criticism for his music seemingly taking a backseat to other endeavors, which may feel valid, but in reality he has been fairly active despite not having a solo project. Rocky has been “Testing” the waters in a sense and after almost exactly three years, he has released a solo project to the world again in the form of Testing. Small hints and teases have been abundant, whether in the form of merch, tweets, interviews, or even mysterious drops on Soundcloud. It’s one of those albums that has felt like it’s been right around the corner forever, yet took forever to arrive. Testing is the perfect word to encapsulate the lead up and release of A$AP Rocky’s new album.