If A$AP Rocky’s first album was fogged in codeine and cough syrup and chopped up like his influences down South, his new album is a hazey dream on doper hallucinogenics searching for substance. In what is a surprising display of restraint and patience for an artist on a second album, A$AP’s record drifts along while I slowly visualize the world he sees. The world as described isn't all that interesting, but the music sure as hell is.

This is an album that solely rests on its production and A$AP’s flow. I’ve never thought A$AP has said anything all that original or inspiring (and sometimes he says some stupidly misogynistic crap, like "She the type to seek love and make it everlasting / I'm the type to wake up and say you never happened...Left her sleeping on a separate mattress / I think her body makes for better practice."). Rocky constantly relies on his trap rap story from dealing crack to a life of fame, women, and money. As is the case for many artists (and similar to what I said about the lyrics of Brittany Howard in Alabama Shakes), a lot of great music is made without great lyrical content. With rappers specifically, great production and a good flow or memorable voice can be all you need for a really good album.

Rocky’s album begins with a track that could only be described as his entrance song. The guitar strings bend as the drums slowly pave the way for A$AP as I envision him walking down a church aisle, approaching the large cross overhead at the altar, then telling this story. His conversation with the Holy Ghost laments on rappers getting screwed over by their labels, pastors reaping in their riches as their followers fill their coffers, and a general overview that religion, in any form we make it, will not solely save us if we follow blindly.

“Canal St.,” a lullaby of a track and one of my favorites on the album, is his autobiography from selling crack to the success and spoils of his fame. The majority of the song is basically lifted from a track by Bones called "Dirt," (which certainly makes me less impressed with the song - I know so much of rap is sample-based so this happens all the time, but this is like the exact same song), and he raps the memorable hook calling out fake gangster rappers.

The drugged-out mellowness pervades through the first half of the album, from the appropriately named “L$D,” an ode to the his love of women and drugs, to “Excuse Me,” where I'm pretty sure A$AP takes a couple jabs at Drake: "Nowadays these n***** always caught up in they feelings, bruh / But I stay 100 cause you know I keep it trilla, bruh." 0 to 100 real quick!

On the second half of the album, A$AP slowly slides the energy level up. “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 (LPFJ2)” is A$AP at his most raw as a police-like siren envelops all sides and a deep bass beats while A$AP storms all over the track with his rapping and hook.

I love this type of raw rap where the instrumentation is subtle and echoes throughout. It's up to the rapper to make the track, not the other way around, and there's something unique to the simplicity of these type of tracks by A$AP, the ones that roll around a bit and give the listener a feeling like something's in the air. No song better encompasses this than a song released in anticipation of this album "Multiply,"

“M’$,” featuring Lil Wayne, simmers and vibrates until it hits the 2:00 minute mark when it all comes to a boil. Rocky shifts to a soulful beat in "Jukebox Joints" as he and Kanye stupidly boast about their conquests and the women they’ve used and forgotten. A good message for the kids!

The second half of the album might be even stronger than the first half. Some of my favorite tracks, “Wavybone,” “Everyday,” and “Back Home,” each have collaborations with artists of all varieties, from Juicy J, Bun B, and Pimp C, to Mark Ronson, Rod Stewart, Miguel, and Mos Def. Sometimes rappers feature other rappers because it'll sell records, but A$AP's choices of musicians show that he has a real appreciation of all types of music and talents.

The substance of this album isn’t really in Rocky himself, but in his ability to craft and curate an album that sounds like nothing else out there and succeeds at being chill while never boring (except for the only track I don’t like, the MIA assisted, “Fine Whine”). A$AP is a good rapper with a good and sometimes great flow (see his second verse on "Back Home"), but this album is one of my favorite rap albums this year because the production is unique and the collaborators make the songs even better.

Favorite Tracks (in no real order): Wavybone, Canal St., L$D, Back Home, Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2, Max B, M'$, and Everyday

Overall: B