And this tape played no small role in that. But in the past 10 years, that’s changed. A decade ago, New York was still seen as hip-hop’s mecca, and Nas’s dense storytelling and Jay-Z’s cold and precise flow were still seen as creative heights to aspire to. Never mind that Ja Rule and 50 Cent realized that melody, even if it was coming from two imperfect voices, was the quickest way to chart dominance. Even in 2011, the concept of the New York rapper was a misguided ideal that bordered on a cliché. For example, Drake, a former teen soap-opera star from Toronto, was making odes to Houston like “November 18th.” Tyler, the Creator, a kid from Ladera Heights, California, had his biggest moment thus far lampooning New York rap on his hit single “Yonkers.”Īnd then there was A$AP Rocky, who would become a lightning rod for all of this and more. The idea that coming from a certain locale meant you were beholden to the aesthetics of that region meant less in this new landscape. But most importantly, rap regionalism was becoming less dogmatic. Subgenres like “cloud rap” were popping up. Rigid ideas of authenticity had been collapsing. But upon its release on October 31, 2011, Rocky’s 16-song mixtape felt like a culmination of a certain era of hip-hop.
It’s a low-budget love letter to Tumblr culture that went viral at a time when internet virality in the music industry was still novel. Today, “Purple Swag” and the video that launched it into the stratosphere seem quaint.
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