Like their fellow New Yorkers in the Ramones, the A$AP Mob take their names from the group itself. Thus, its members include A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ferg, A$AP Nast, A$AP Bari and, well, you get the idea.
The lead track from ‘Cozy Tapes Vol 1: Friends-’, Yamborghini High, is derived from the name of the group’s late producer, A$AP Yams, who died of an accidental overdose last year. It is a defiantly swaggering cut that references what A$AP believe is the highest state of drug-infused euphoria and also features the line: ‘Bitches, bitches, bitches, bitches!’. It is safe to say that this is not a record bogged down by sentimentality.
Within the parameters of its essential recent-era hip hop rhetoric, ‘Cozy Tapes Vol 1: Friends-’ is a fun record, full of guile and creative energy, and one that delivers altogether lighter trap-infused content than one might expect from A$AP’s genre cousins down in Atlanta.
It’s a record proud of its diversity and one that utilises a variety of vocal techniques with distinction, from the the joyous call and response on Bachelor to sophisticated texturing on Crazy Brazy and the scratch-come-vocal hook on the ‘90s-influenced Nasty World. The latter channels the likes of Dilated Peoples, Gang Starr or some of Wu-Tang Clan’s less frenetic moments in its swinging, rootsy energy.
Like the crew's previous offering - the 2012 mixtape ‘Lord$ Never Worry’ - the record is rich in influences, tonally versatile and achingly hip. This is emphasised by the 12 minute promo for Money Man/Put That On My Set, co-directed by A$AP Rocky, which takes place in a fantastical butterfly-swamped housing project.
The video - heavily influenced by Matthieu Kassovitz’ 1995 Parisian ghetto drama La Haine - is pretentious, derivative dreck, but it displays an artistic hunger from Rocky that suggests this talented A$AP Mobster is here to stay. The second track in the promo, meanwhile, features London grime hero Skepta. The song itself is fairly unremarkable, but the collaboration demonstrates a degree of international openness and further commercial savvy.
Overall, ‘Cozy Tapes Vol 1: Friends-’ is an exciting record from an unquestionably talented group of creatives. Whether they can pull together long enough to deliver the compendium alluded to in the title remains to be seen. Regardless, this is a release defined by open minds and creative stamina. More please.
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