I do like hip-hop but as I age I find I have less time and less inclination to keep up with newer artists – which is not to say I automatically turn away from them, but just I'm selective. A$AP Rocky was one of those artists where I heard a little and didn't take much from it so really never made the effort to listen to more. Off the back of another film by director Luke Monaghan, I ended up watching this film because I was interested in the director and thought I may as well have a pass at the artist at the same time.
For fans, this film will work well, there is a good mix of talking heads from Rocky and a few key players around him, there is footage from interviews and performances and some video sections. So if you already like him then this will serve you more of the same but stuff you'll like. The problem comes if you fall out of the converted – even if you are interested. Being honest, the music did little for me, it didn't sound hugely different from other artists and lyrically there didn't seem to be much outside of the generic clichés – the couple of tracks would be good if you were playing hip-hop bingo (although with chains, hoes, rims, drugs, sex, chrome and many other buzz words/topics crammed into just a few sentences, I doubt the games would last long before most of the room calls House).
The look of the videos doesn't help since it is pretty much par for the course. In terms of the film though, it goes the same way. Monaghan seems so taken by the image that he fits around it, loving it all. The interviews with the artists really don't offer too much either. Rocky talks about changing hip-hop in the previous 4 months (but no specific example), he smokes a blunt while drinking champagne from the bottle (in the studio during the day) while others talk of hard work, focus etc – ie nothing really insightful, different or specific that would bring you closer to the people in terms of them or their music. To be fair to Monaghan the film looks and sounds very good, nice images, crisp audio and generally a very professional job but, just like I was disappointed with the obviousness of Rocky, so too I was disappointed with the same in the film.
For fans, this film will work well, there is a good mix of talking heads from Rocky and a few key players around him, there is footage from interviews and performances and some video sections. So if you already like him then this will serve you more of the same but stuff you'll like. The problem comes if you fall out of the converted – even if you are interested. Being honest, the music did little for me, it didn't sound hugely different from other artists and lyrically there didn't seem to be much outside of the generic clichés – the couple of tracks would be good if you were playing hip-hop bingo (although with chains, hoes, rims, drugs, sex, chrome and many other buzz words/topics crammed into just a few sentences, I doubt the games would last long before most of the room calls House).
The look of the videos doesn't help since it is pretty much par for the course. In terms of the film though, it goes the same way. Monaghan seems so taken by the image that he fits around it, loving it all. The interviews with the artists really don't offer too much either. Rocky talks about changing hip-hop in the previous 4 months (but no specific example), he smokes a blunt while drinking champagne from the bottle (in the studio during the day) while others talk of hard work, focus etc – ie nothing really insightful, different or specific that would bring you closer to the people in terms of them or their music. To be fair to Monaghan the film looks and sounds very good, nice images, crisp audio and generally a very professional job but, just like I was disappointed with the obviousness of Rocky, so too I was disappointed with the same in the film.