News: A$AP Rocky Covers Billboard, Unveils ‘ALLA’ Release Date
A$AP Rocky covers the latest issue of Billboard Magazine and talks about the release of his upcoming sophomore album ALLA or At.Long.Last.ASAP. A$AP Rocky also revealed to Billboard that his new album will land in stores and on iTunes on May 12th via RCA records. Take a look at some of the interview below and read the full story on Billboard.
1. His Taste in Music Will Surprise You
A$AP Rocky admits he’s only skimmed Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly: “I got about two songs I liked.” On the other hand, he can’t stop talking about all things psychedelic, especially rock and trip-hop. For inspirations, he name-checks Portishead, Massive Attack, Thom Yorke and “old ’60s psychedelic shit” like the Kinks and the Stooges. At one point, he breaks into singing Cream’s “Free” and calls T. Rex’s Electric Warrior “perfection.”
At. Long. Last. A$AP. collaborator Mark Ronson once asked Rocky if he had heard of Tame Impala. “He looked at me like I was crazy,” Ronson tells Billboard. “[He] proceeded to play me a chopped-and-screwed remix that he made of [the band’s] ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.’ He played me a lot of amazing music that I had never heard of.”
2. But Rest Assured, He Has the Respect of the Hip-Hop Game
Since breaking through in 2011, A$AP Rocky has down a masterful job of balancing his left-field taste with money-making, mainstream acceptance. His 2013 debut album Long. Live. ASAP has sold over 518,000 copies to date and featured killer posse cuts like “Fuckin’ Problems” with Drake, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar.
“We’re both into a lot of obscure things that guys from our environment aren’t normally into,” Danny Brown tells Billboard. “What I love about him is he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He knows what he wants and doesn’t compromise for anyone.”
4. He’s Breaking Into Film on His Own Terms
Rocky made his film debut playing a small-time drug dealer in Rick Famuyiwa’s Dope, a smash at Sundance in January. Although he calls it “an amazing movie,” he’s taking his time in choosing his next project. He scoffs at his own past as a dealer and thinks the Dope character is “too typical” for a rapper. “I want something that gives me more of a challenge and is less cliched. Until I find something that feels right, I’m going to stay my ass off the big screen.”
His favorite film right now is Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel. A grid of stills from the film adorn a wall of his apartment, and he says it’s been serving as inspiration for a short film accompanying the new disc.