The label of “overnight sensation” is quickly attributed in the music industry, but rarely rightly so. As the new A$AP C4 documentary demonstrates, success is rarely earned overnight.
Directors Luke Monaghan and James Barber offer up a beautifully realised, in-depth assessment of the motivation, determination and dedication responsible for the success of the A$AP crew and its enigmatic frontman, A$AP Rocky.
A$AP C4 offers rare insight into the minds and processes of Rocky and crew members A$AP Yams and A$AP Twelvyy, as they discuss their meteoric rise to fame and the video for “Peso” (the single that put them in the public eye more than any other), speak candidly of their success and of the years of hard work and uncertainty that bore it, and their artistic process.
What’s most interesting about the documentary is the revelation that, while Rocky has become the face of the outfit, it’s business savvy group member Yams who has been responsible for the groups direction, commercial success and growth.
As Rocky says, A$AP has changed rap - the look, the sound, the ideology of both established and emerging artists - in just four months. “So give me a couple more months,” he jokes. “Maybe like, eight more months.”
Words by Cheryl Billman, check out her street on POSSE.COM
