A$AP Rocky Live at the House of Blues

When I bought my tickets to the A$AP Rocky concert, I never thought that I would end up in the back of his tour bus. I never could have dreamed his producers would let me listen to his upcoming, unreleased album. I couldn’t have fathomed that the man himself would sit down on a couch and freestyle for me. But it all happened.

A$AP Rocky and his crew, A$AP Mob, descended on Boston over the weekend as a part of their Live.Love.A$AP tour, joined by guests Schoolboy Q and Danny Brown. They are all loud, aggressive, and have been banned from several venues across the globe for “inciting riots”. The crowd at the House of Blues seemed far from anything of the kind. In fact, they seemed mellowed combination of the cloud of smoke that hovered over the stage and wafted throughout, and the drinks that were permanently affixed to every patron’s hand. The look ranged from skinny, young white kids in snapbacks to the sixty-three year old gentleman standing next to me. Everyone’s heads bobbed in time to the beat, and rapped along with the A$AP Mob. Rocky performed old favorites off of his first mixtape, LiveLoveA$AP, such as “Peso”, “Wassup”, “Goldie”, and “Purple Kisses”. He even brought out a new remix of the Rihanna’s single “Cockiness”, which he has yet to record. But for me, the best part of the night was after it all ended.

A$AP Ty Beats, the producer for most of the A$AP Mob, is really quiet. So I was shocked that he even responded when I asked if I could talk to the Mob after the show. Let alone his saying yes. He doesn’t talk much, but rather lets his work and success speak for him. As soon as I stepped on the bus, he was quick to introduce me to fellow producer Clams Casino, as well as Hit-Boy, A$AP Nas, and A$AP Atty. We talked about what kind of music we liked, and I learned that these guys actually prefer mellow sounds like MGMT and Frank Ocean. Eventually, they wanted to show off some of their own work. Nas threw on some beats, and each went around in a circle showing off their freestyle skills. Nas then put on an upcoming single off of A$AP Rocky’s new album, and happily said, “This is me on the verse, I’m featured.”

By the time A$AP Rocky showed up, we were all having a great time. The night flew by; before I knew it, it was one in the morning and the Mob needed to get on the road to their next show. We said our goodbyes, and made plans to meet the next time they were around – the sign of a fun, genuine, and talented artist.

By Cerise Castle

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