NYT: Asap Rocky - Thinking Globally, Rapping Locally
“I would not consider myself to be a quote unquote real New York rapper,” ASAP Rocky said in an interview last month. “I don’t even like New York rappers.”
In hip-hop only New York, cocky and accomplished and obstinate, casts a shadow this long. The burden of history is especially heavy here, in rap’s birthplace, which is why generations of rappers have done their part to protect the fort. Old styles become sacred texts used for indoctrination. Progress is acceptable, within the lines.
