Sun 14 Aug 2011
ASAP Rocky’s First Major Show at NYC’s ALIFE Store: Is He The Real Deal?
Posted by Mikey Fresh under Videos[15] Comments
Mikey: Rap shows are a dime a dozen in NYC. Literally every night of the week you can see a number of familiar rap blog names taking the stage at SOBs, The Highline, Southpaw, etc, but when sneaker boutique ALIFE courts some hip-hop talent, it’s guaranteed to be memorable. Over the years, I’ve caught Nas there, Three 6 Mafia and Info was at Alife’s Drake session last summer to name a few.
This past Saturday they hosted Harlem’s ASAP Rocky and Detroit’s Danny Brown for their first backyard session of the summer. If you aren’t familiar with the setup, Alife is a tiny hallway sized boutique in the LES, with a backyard maybe half the size of a basketball court. And basically they just invite friends and friends of friends to come hang-out eat, drink, smoke and party with their musical guests of choice. My man Nation got the heads up, so we rolled through on time to beat the door f*ckery which is pretty much a guaranteed thing. The weather was perfect might I add. Upon entering were greeted by the homies (too many to name) and had the pleasure of sharing an herbal treat with Action Bronson, who we’ve been listening to non-stop, since his album Dr. lector dropped. Nick Catchdubs spun the tunes for a couple hours as everyone got inebriated in anticipation of the weirdo rap pairing. ASAP went on first at around 8:00 pm….
continued after the jump…
bringing what seemed like his whole hood on stage with him. The same rowdy, Harlem swag-ed out kids from the “Purple Swag” and “Peso” video were all there acting like maniacs. It really reminded me of Mobb Deep Shows. At times you couldn’t even see ASAP because he was being engulfed by his crew. His mic also seemed to go in and out at times and staying on beat sounded like an issue at times. I mean the energy and drive was there but the inexperience was also clear to me. You could see the hunger in these kids. They clearly just wanted to rep their set and prove that there’s no candy coating who they are.
The ASAP gang is about the life they portray in their music and visual, I don’t doubt that. Like when they felt they weren’t receiving enough crowd participation, they started a hip-hop mosh pit, throwing booze all over, “slam dancing,” and definitely enticing some attendees to want to fight. But things cooled off when Rocky grabbed the mic to speak his peace and offer his thanks to everyone who came to “support his talent.” Overall, his set seemed a little shaky and the audience really didn’t know how to react but I guess if you offended people, left some in awe, confused others and left at least some feeling fulfilled, your first show was a success…
But the downside to the ASAP Rocky’s spectacle was the crowd splitting effect of his set. It seemed like a number of people and definitely most of the females cleared out after ASAP turned the place out. Fools Gold’s Danny Brown was left to rap when everyone was still trying to figure out what just happened. His multiple unhinged flows and pyscho hip-hop bastard subject matter are pretty undeniable but without the full attention from the crowd, things didn’t connect all the way for Brown. Still, Danny’s a dope MC and I think he’ll catch fire after his album, XXX, drops tomorrow.
Big thanks to Crook Robbins/Who Shot Ya for the photos.
Previously: Things I Love: ASAP Rocky’s “Peso” Video…The Glorious Excess of Harlem Accessorizing
August 14th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
Aesop Rock is somewhere trying to figure out if he should call his lawyers.
August 15th, 2011 at 12:15 am
I aint seen NANN Action Bronson/Meyhem Lauren/Outdoorsmen on this site yo. Nice try though.
August 15th, 2011 at 7:29 am
he’s in the second pic, bboycult.
August 15th, 2011 at 11:16 am
Nah Mikey, I’m talkin about individual posts of his/their music..you should’ve/could’ve been uppin Dr. Lector joints AGES ago. C’mon Sun!
August 15th, 2011 at 11:24 am
im completely unconcerned about anyone’s shoulda/coulda. we do things when and why we want.
August 15th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Nice retort,@missinfo. Any press is good press. To quote Whodini,”…you can say what you want,just spell my name right.”
August 15th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
@ Info.. I get that; which is why I haven’t been screamin on this site about it; I’m not his PR rep. My thing is…don’t perpetrate like y’all been “…listenin to non-stop” (c) Mikey Fresh; when I haven’t heard peep 1 until you met him 1 to 1/VIP access and all that garbage. That’s groupie shit; not music writer, not journalism. C’mon Earth!
August 15th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
same shit i was thinking.
dressing like fruits, plagiarism, and lack of talent, seemed to be whats poppin today. and nobody seems to give a shit (acceptance is given to anything that can generate a dime).
these are the kids who’s fathers/(sometimes)mothers werent around to raised them.
August 15th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
HAHAHA. Damn man, ok ok I’ll let you roll next time and I’ll be sure to bring my iPod for ya son dun.
August 15th, 2011 at 1:18 pm
Got them jokes..I’ll give it a rest though; only cause I know you know I’m right. Haha. Peace.
August 15th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
first of all….I’m the one who posted the other videos. I havent met anyone. Even if I do, I don’t think that’s garbage either, because hopefully in our case, when we do get “1 to 1/Vip access” it translates into getting better insight into an artist so that we can bring that to the readers. And if you think any of us here are ever on some “groupie shit” then you are definitely in the wrong place. 1) I wouldnt want you to feel like your wasting your time with a “groupie site” and 2) I don’t want to share with anyone who has the kneejerk reaction to any positive comments as being “groupie” and anything critical as “hater.” That’s patently offensive to me. I’m not claiming to be an expert on anything but my own opinions. And even those, I reserve the right to change at will. So if Mike says he’s been listening to ASAP Rocky non-stop, I don’t need it to be any deeper than….he might even play 1 song on a continuous loop. Knowing Mike….I trust that if he does like someone, he will investigate further. But there are plenty of drawbacks to being first or last on a bandwagon.
August 15th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
Co-sign with info, who cares.. at the end of the day, the artist needs as much exposure as possible.
August 18th, 2011 at 11:45 am
1st and foremost: WATCH YOUR MOUTH!!! Aesop whomever is a totally different spelling, nowhere near the same; just happen to accompany the same letters. 2ndly We are really about this, you probably wear akademic sweat suits with mid cut AF1’s, so don’t judge. continue to observe the climb of ASAP!
August 22nd, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Anyone saw Tupac O_o
December 7th, 2011 at 1:34 am
that’s a long ass explanation for somebody “completely unconcerned about anyone’s shoulda/coulda”
when u have blog or a site of course you care about your reader’s opinion.
anyway I’m a firm believer we’d exchange more if we’d leave the wannalook smart/tough attitude at the comments section door.
As far as I’m concerned Ima go check who that Action Bronson kid is. Better be nice @bboycult! ha
Oh and I like ASAP and I agree 100% w/ that post
“the energy and drive was there but the inexperience was also clear to me. You could see the hunger in these kids. They clearly just wanted to rep their set and prove that there’s no candy coating who they are”
In my eye ASAP Rocky has great talent and charisma.
I believe that what is going to be their challenge to make it to the next step. is to get professional and still keep that raw energy we like them for. Also finding balance w/ everybody’s position in the crew and grow.
“Overall, his set seemed a little shaky and the audience really didn’t know how to react but I guess if you offended people, left some in awe, confused others and left at least some feeling fulfilled, your first show was a success…”
we saw the potential now they need to deliver.