Album Review: A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP

The natural follow-on from 2011's celebrated Live. Love. A$AP, this full-length debut from the leader of the A$AP Mob tightens everything Rocky already established with his introductory mixtape – confidence, finesse, humour – while the 23-year-old Harlem MC has added many a star turn, the overall package going a long way towards justifying the $3 million label advance that was thrust at him a couple of years ago.

However, even with this pop power within his umbrella – Santigold, Skrillex, Florence Welch – Rocky keeps them in his world rather than venturing into theirs. There's a dogged determination that underpins this entire record, a fact that both helps and hurts the release. By the end you get the feeling that if he was willing to stretch his wings further something revelatory would occur. The New Yorker has some prodigious talent, no doubt, but getting through the entire LP in one spin is akin to carving a roast with a butter knife. With sparse and bleak production a relative constant, the overall listening experience is one that's overtly thick and laboured. When some lights do bounce off the MC's gold teeth, on tracks like Fashion Killa and Wild For The Night, the poppier sounds work with his smooth flow, offering this bright and shade balance that is welcome over the full-flight braggadocio of Goldie or almost a cappella-in-a-sewer Suddenly.

“Pussy, money, weed” might be all Rocky needs – for now – but if he wants to reign from the top of the food chain he's going to have to source some stronger beats and learn to stand on his own two feet. He's nothing if not solid, but don't think you're dropping the needle on a classic.