I’m a sentimental fool for anything that reminds me of carefree times, risks survived, friends from past lifetimes….
So this ASAP Rocky video had me on the illegal dirtbike wheelie-ing down a Harlem intersection (blip at the 0:12 mark).
But aside from that, the song is a good one….flashy enough for all of ASAP’s Uptown-meets-Harmony Korine kids, mixed-genre enough for the music snobs and ignorant enough for hipster fascination.

“Peso” was previewed on ASAP Rocky’s previous video “Purple Swag”….which was even more mesmerizing because it’s like a re-animation of that chopped-n-screwed lifestyle that killed folks long enough ago to be edgy rather than sad to kids. Medicated relaxation and an inability to operate heavy machinery is back on top. Hyper is out. (Except in manic short spurts.) But even for opiate lightweights like me, that “Purple Swag” video was super catchy…the hook was in my head for days and Jason Ano’s video direction gave ASAP a deviant but camera-ready-enough-for-primetime aura.

The “Peso” video, directed by Abteen Bagheri, is just as fascinating but maybe even more so because of it’s pure excess. If there’s one Harlem mainstay that carries from Dipset to ASAP Rocky…it’s a love of accessorizing. Harlem has always been the Harajuku of New York:

Headbands, John Lennon glasses, bandanas cowboy style, supreme towels as head blanket, Raf Simmons namecheck, Rick Owens namecheck, portwine stains, 40 Below boots, 2 and 3-finger rings, Y-3 skullies, manic panic hair dye, mohawks, HERRINGBONES!, bandanas washer-woman style, bandanas robber style, enormous shoelace locks, adorable beltloop tchotchkes, dangerously misshapen teeth.

It’s like sensory overload for a rap fashion history buff like me! Rococo Rap lives…and you don’t need to be a zillionaire to pull it off.

ASAP Rocky’s “Purple Swag” video…after the jump