That's not to say Rocky completely stumbled his way into prominence. He carries a charisma that can't be taught, and he's got an admirable, if not slightly detrimental, care for detail. Still, his entire image was designed and promoted for him via Tumblr by the now deceased A$AP Yams, and he's had no problem with taking a backseat, or even locking himself in the trunk, for his best songs. On "1 Train", "Fuckin' Problem" and "Hand On the Wheel", which can basically be chalked up as most successful, and, non-coincidentally, best songs, he's a total non-factor. And look, I get that "Peso" happened, but in four years, that's already aged poorly, so that's not the best argument. You'd probably be able to get me with "Goldie," though.
Rocky must have realized that his songs ultimate work better when he's not in charge, though, as the tracklist is absolutely fucking loaded with guest features. And just like his debut, it looks like he tried to appeal to a wide variety off demographics. This project is littered with weird Internet fascinations (Bones), full-out superstars (Future, Kanye West, Lil Wayne), an obligatory TDE member (ScHoolboy Q), fairly left-field, yet extremely talented rappers (UGK, M.I.A.), high-profile R&B hook-men (James Fauntleroy, Miguel), and whatever the motherfuck you want to call this Joe Fox person. Make of this what you will, but I'd lying if I said I wasn't a little interested to see how Rocky adjusts from the misfires on his debut.
This album also has 18 songs, so I'll just get to the music now, if you don't mind.
1. Holy Ghost (Feat. Joe Fox)
The first track on At. Long. Last. A$AP (a tittle whose gimmick has completely run its course by now), manages to sound appropriately epic and completely boring at the same time. Our host sounds fine, saying nothing of substance, but utilizing a noticeably improved flow. The real problem here is Danger Mouse, a producer whose inclusion I was immediately skeptical of. Solo work aside, he's always seemed like the kind of guy the secretly kinda fucked with that God-awful Linkin Park/Jay-Z Collision album, and the idea of him working on a rap album just spells disaster. His instrumental here is a watery Spaghetti-Western pastiche that sounds alright alone, yet couldn't be a worse fit for A$AP Rocky. A weird way to re-introduce oneself after a two year break, one that doesn't really work at all. Next.
2. Canal St. (Feat. Bones)
Although he didn't produce it, Danger Mouse's spirit carries over to this song with its hazy grand scale. This works much better, though, thanks in major part to A$AP Rocky. His attempts at passing off swagger and confidence as his currency actually work here, and his grim tone matches the protection to perfection. Aside from an uncharacteristically serious few bars, the two verses on here are enjoyably nonchalant (even though his voice tries to convince you otherwise), and he sounds like he's having a good enough time talking shit. I was disappointed with the lack of a Bones verse, but the audio sample is fucking perfect, so it's hardly something I can legitimately complain about. Not bad.
3. Fine Whine (Feat. Future, Joe Fox & M.I.A.)
Sounds like a return to his Live.Love.A$AP mixtape (which remains his best project by a fairly significant margin), and even though our host is all but absent, the song mostly works. M.I.A.'s appearance consists of her basically ad-libing profanity, and I'm still on the fence as to whether its annoying or endearing. With all that considered, the rapping on "Fine Wine" comes down to a single verse from Future, who has kind of been on a role since splitting with Ciara. Can I remember anything he said? Hell no, but his presence saves this song from being some weird purgatorial transition. This also marks the second time Joe Fox has been featured and subsequently the second time that I've completely not noticed that Joe Fox was featured. That might be because I'm tired, but he could actually just be a non-factor. I'll leave the subject alone for now.
4. L$D
"L$D", a lead single, was boring with its video, but without the visual compliments, it's downright excruciating. A.L.L.A. was obviously designed to carry a psychedelic, druggy feel, so it's no surprise that Rocky used this as an introduction. The song itself is a semi-continuation of "Kissin' Pink" without the energy of Ferg, plus Animal Collective vibes. The production and melody hit their peak at the two minute mark, and the rest of the song is simply an escalation to nothing. Rocky has never been one to show too much excitement, but "L$D" is lethargic even by his standards. His performance eventually climaxes with an unexpected falsetto, but nothing he does here is all that interesting or impressive. I mean, if you were to lock me in a room for a couple hours with hallucinogens and a stack of Doors CDs, I'm sure I'd be able produce something similar. As an added bonus, the title actually stands for "Love, Sex, Dreams", and I'm genuinely shocked that Madonna hadn't used that before. This just sucked.
5. Excuse Me
In the accompanying video for the last song, a short snippet was included for this track, and even though it may be a byproduct of juxtaposition, this sounds much better. A$AP's style-over-substance-masquerading-as-substance (which, let me make clear, isn't always a bad thing) rhymes go over nicely over the self-produced instrumental. The song as a whole is more or less a return to the stylistic arrangements of Rocky's debut mixtape, and actually reminds you why you were ever interested in how he would progress. This, curiously like everything else on the album, doesn't have hit-potential, but our host's indifference to radio-play has been an interesting narrative that might pay off as the album progresses.
6. JD
Nothing more than a glorified freestyle, which is needless to say a sketchy decision for someone of A$AP Rocky's technical skills, but it's only a minute and a half, so it doesn't really have time to become annoying. The instrumental feels oddly unfinished, but again, it's a minute and a half. I'd recommend a skip, but it's really not bad enough to completely dismiss.
7. Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2
Terrible title aside, the head-noddingly bombastic "Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2" was easily the most effective single, and will probably find its way to several summer playlists. A$AP Rocky is at his absolute best here, as you can hear the depth of swagger and apathy of each bar in his delivery: it's the audio equivalent of someone moonwalking out of the room while flipping you off. The instrumental, brought to you courtesy of Nez & Rio, sounds like the product of someone falling asleep on a synth board, and it still sounds great. Easily the best song on here so far.
8. Electric Body (Feat. ScHoolboy Q)
This was the most anticipated song on the album for be because, even though I'm not a huge fan of either artist, they're collaborations are simply the tits. (the lone exception would be "PMW", where Q boasted about paying for sex for reasons I'm still trying to understand. I don't know if I should find his honesty refreshing or if I should feel bad that a rapper who boasts about everything else going well in his life has to resort to the exchange of money for goods and services) Anyways, this is a good-not-great track that seems like the one track on the album destined for clubs. The hook, at least, would lead one to that assumption. Disappointing to a degree, but still enjoyable.
9. Jukebox Joints (Feat. Joe Fox & Kanye West)
Upon first listening to this album, this was probably my least favorite song on the entire album, and I swore that Kanye's verse might have been the single worst one he's ever spit. Kanye still sounds like shit, but the song has shockingly grown on me so much that I consider it a peak of the album. Rocky's incredibly shitty (in the sense that he comes off as a horrible person. There's no way to sound like an upstanding individual with that abortion line) content is admittedly entertaining, but all the entertainment of this song roots from Kanye's instrumental, which sounds like some demented hybrid of his early work and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx era RZA. And, obviously, you don't even have to try on the mic to make that shit sound good.
10. Max B (feat. Joe Fox)
This is probably the weirdest occurrence on the entire album: instead of sampling Max B, the New York singer whose fanbase has reached cult status, he samples fucking Leonard Cohen. The violin sample comes from a 1994 performance of "Who By Fire", a song built around Cohen's own meditations on mortality and atoning for his sins. The subject matter aligns with Rocky's on this song, so I doubt it's a coincidence that Cohen appears. That little detail is great, and so would the song had Rocky's rapping not constantly interspersed with Joe Fox's isolated singing. The song is still alright, but it's a somewhat ridiculous misstep.
11. Pharsyde (Feat. Joe Fox)
Danger Mouse (yes, he's back again, because we all know how much I loved that first song) provides a beat that is decent, but in no way does it fit A$AP's overall concept of the song, which apparently consists of abstractly talking about how he grew up poor and how drugs helped him. You know, like ever other rapping in motherfucking existence. But there's nothing celebratory about the musical backing, and the title just reminds me of how much I'd rather be listening to a Pharcyde song. Sigh.
12. Wavybone (Feat. Juicy J & UGK)
Almost in the same sense as "Jukebox Joints", the instrumental of this song, a soulful throwback that I could imagine Kanye throwing together for Scarface for The Fix, completely elevates the song and automatically makes it one of the best on At. Long. Last. A$AP. Juicy J is Juicy J, so you know what you're getting, but I generally enjoy his personality, and he meshes surprisingly well with our host. "Wavybone" definitely isn't without its flaws—the politics of exhuming an unused Pimp C verse are complicated, and neither UGK member's verse is very good—but any song featuring UGK and Juicy J is good in my eyes.
13. West Side Highway (Feat. James Fauntleroy)
I can barely comprehend how someone could manage to make a song this uninteresting.
14. Better Things
Like the last song, this is just about as mundane and unimpressive as it gets. However, unlike "West Sided Highway", this contains some incredibly misogynistic comments against Rita Ora, which is never a good look. The instrumental runs on for a while without ever accomplishing anything, and the rest of Rocky's performance consists of him rambling on about nonsense. Not good.
15. M'$ (feat. Lil Wayne)
A much needed burst of energy after the lethargy of the last two songs. Like "Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2", this song is so in your face that you can't help but enjoy it a bit. In addition, there's a non-awful feature from Lil Wayne, who is a complete wildcard at this point in his career. As a side note, I'd like to mention that most of the people criticizing Young Thug for using Carter/Barter titles are failing to realize that one of Lil Wayne's earlier albums is titled 500 Degreez, a direct reference to Juvenile's 400 Degreez. Not that that has anything to do with the song, which is enjoyable enough.
16. Dreams (Interlude)
This short two-minute transition gave me a quick break to think about all the other psych albums I'd rather be listening to than At. Long. Last. A$AP. Love's Forever Changes comes to mind first, but feel free to ask for more recommendations
17. Everyday (Feat. Miguel & Rod Stewart)
Another single, this one never caught my attention, but I did like the burst of energy as the second verse was introduced. One weird artistic choice that our host has made throughout At. Long. Last. A$AP is seemingly rhyming independent (or in spite of, such as on here) of whatever kind of musical backing he's been provided with, but it's not that he's constantly off-beat: it just gives the listener the impression that A$AP simply speaks this way all the time, talking in rhymes like a drug-dealer court jester, while his producers race against time to record snatches of soliloquys and set them to music just so the label will be happy and to keep our host afloat. This comparison doesn't make all that much sense, I know, but right now I share the same sense of apathy as our host on "Everyday".
18. Back Home (Feat. Mos Def, Acyde, & A$AP Yams)
The final song on At. Long. Last. A$AP features Mos Def (who I guess is going by that moniker again, as there's no credit to "Yasin Bey" anywhere), which is a decision I don't really understand. The transition to his verse is jarring, as our host simply can't match the speed and ease contained by his guest. Mos Def is ten times the rapper Mos Def is, so this isn't surprising, but it makes me wonder why Rocky would chose to end the album with him getting completely washed. To be fair, A$AP sounds good on here, but still. The song itself, though, is highly enjoyable, and A$AP Yams, the architect of A$AP Mob, fittingly ends the show.
Rating: 3/5
At. Long. Last. A$AP is an okay album. Rocky as an artist both progresses in some areas, while declines in other, but the pure entertainment value plateaus with Long. Live. A$AP. First for the good: my biggest complaint in the beginning of the review was that I had no idea who A$AP Rocky was, or if he even had a personality. That's no longer the case. While he still doesn't have a persona as fleshed-out as that of, say, Kendrick Lamar, he sounds like a real fucking person now. He's not a fashionable cipher anymore; he's a person with feelings and fears and resentments. This is an unparalleled achievement in Rocky's progression. Unfortunately, A.L.L.A. is simply way too fucking long. No song on here is all that bad, but none are all that great either. The album would have greatly benefited from the cutting off four or five songs, with the addition of the curiously absent "Multiply". It would be leaner, while still allowing Rocky's persona to grow and explore sonically. The new experimentation, however, is ultimately the album's downfall, as his desire to change his image to a capital-A Artist that creates high concept artistry results in failure. It's no coincidence that the moments of straightforward rap sound the best. Currently, Rocky is neither an eccentric, not is he a genius. He is a traditional rapper being exposed by his own delusions of grandeur and what is surely a cadre of Yes Men. There are many worse fates than being a rapper with an ear for pop hits and a widely dress sense. The sooner he realizes this, the sooner he'll start legitimately progressing.