Black Thought Applauds A$AP Rocky for Shaping a New Era of New York Hip Hop
Black Thought Commends A$AP Rocky for Revolutionizing New York Hip Hop Scene
In a recent exchange with Pitchfork, Black Thought, the eminent face of The Roots, paid tribute to A$AP Rocky’s distinctive contribution to the Hip Hop realm in the early 2010s.
The challenge thrown his way: cherry-pick iconic Hip Hop albums resonating from the past half-century, in honor of Hip Hop’s monumental 50-year celebration.
With a discerning eye, he singled out timeless classics—Big Daddy Kane’s “Long Live The Kane,” Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” and Outkast’s “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below.” Yet, it was A$AP Rocky’s inaugural 2013 release, “LongLiveA$AP,” that earned his applause.
In his words, “This album marked the advent of a fresh era in New York hip-hop. It’s so braggadocious, it’s so macho, it’s so Harlem, it transcended genres. It artfully melded the dwindling New York hip-hop trend with the rising wave of the classics like UGK and 8Ball & MJG. A bridge between the suave and the authentic, Rocky carved a path that was utterly indispensable.”
He added, “Those native New Yorkers, often plagued by creative myopia, suddenly found themselves embracing newfound horizons. Rocky stands as the pioneer of this transformative juncture for me.”
