Testing is the third studio album by A$AP Rocky. It had been three years since his last album AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP. I relistened to and reviewed that album on my first Revisit post. Although he hadn't made any solo music before 2018, he didn't disappear. He was the forefront of not one, but two A$AP Mob projects known as the Cozy Tapes series. In late 2017, he began what would be one of the weirdest album rollouts in recent memory. He started by putting out two singles on SoundCloud that were met with resentment from fans, saying he's selling out and moving to a more mainstream trap sound. In late March 2018, he moved his rollout to streaming services as he released "Bad Company" with Memphis up-and-comer BlocBoy JB, which was also met with hate from fans and music critics. The single was clearly going for mainstream appeal but didn't end up charting. His next single, "A$AP Forever," which includes a sample from Moby, actually did chart, but was still very polarizing among fans and critics. Little did we know, those singles were just a test. They were in fact throwaways that didn't make the album. Needless to say, I was excited to find out that we were mostly getting new material.
Positives
A$AP Rocky has one of the best flows in hip-hop right now, and it continues to shine here. The album was appropriately named as A$AP Rocky experiments with, or tests out, different sounds throughout Testing. When artists try to experiment, it can either go extremely well or extremely badly. For the most part, A$AP Rocky executed his experimentation very well. He uses modern hip-hop/trap beats on songs like "Fukk Sleep," "OG Beeper," and "Black Tux, White Collar." He also uses piano-based beats like on the song "Brotha Man" and uses guitars on songs like "Purity." Rocky's beat selection throughout this album is fantastic and very pleasing to the ears, even on the abrasive opener "Distorted Records."
Negatives
While there are parts of his experimentation on Testing that work, there are other parts that fall flat. Let's start with the vocal effects. Rocky has been known to use low-pitched vocal effects on songs like "Goldie" and "Wild For the Night," but he also experiments with different melodies on this album. A$AP Rocky is far from melodic and this album only proves this statement further. Songs like "Brotha Man" and "Changes" were brought down by Rocky's use of autotune, which ironically made him sound worse. He also experimented with his features. There were 9 throughout the album, and many did something that was outside of their comfort zone, which will be elaborated in the next section.
So how were the features?
A$AP Rocky had 9 other artists do verses or maybe even a different task.
1) Moby (A$AP Forever Remix) - Moby is credited for a feature on both the original single and the remix on the album. He's credited because of the sample used, which doesn't even feature his vocals.
Verdict: Invalid
2) T.I. (A$AP Forever Remix) - He just had a spoken word intro and didn't spit any verse whatsoever. I'm kind of glad he didn't because I don't see a rapper like T.I. fitting this beat, but I felt like his part was pointless.
Verdict: Invalid
3) Kid Cudi (A$AP Forever Remix) - If there was any artist that would fit perfectly with this beat, it would be Cudi. You could get lost in his amazing flow and vibrant hums.
Verdict: Liked
4) FKA twigs (Fukk Sleep) - Their feature wasn't much, but she did have a short singing verse. I didn't expect her to fit so well with the instrumental. Those vocals sounded nice and smooth.
Verdict: Liked
5) Skepta (Praise the Lord [Da Shine]) - I liked his production on this song, but I didn't care too much for his vocal contribution. He doesn't deviate from the flow he uses on the hook, which gets old after a few bars.
Verdict: Liked on production, Ehhhh on his verse
6) Kodak Black (CALLDROPS) - Okay, what the actual fuck was that? I would say it was phoned in, but that's literally what his verse was. It was recorded like it was through a phone call. On top of having to hear speakerphone quality, unintelligible vocals, you also have to hear Kodak Black sing. And if there's one thing Kodak Black can't do, it's sing.
Verdict: Disliked
7) Juicy J (Gunz N Butter) - How could you not let Juicy J rap on this song? The production sounds like something he would rap over, but Rocky only has him do ad-libs that you don't even notice unless you look up the lyrics on Genius. The sample from Project Pat and the spoken word Interlude from producer Hector Delgado were bigger contributions to the song than Juicy J.
Verdict: Invalid
8) French Montana (Brotha Man) - There is nothing less exciting than a feature from French Montana. To make matters worse, his only contribution to the song is a chorus that he sings. I never want to hear French Montana attempt to sing ever again.
Verdict: Disliked
9) Frank Ocean (Purity) - He was by far the best feature on the entire project. I loved his rapping and flow throughout his verse. He should rap more often.
Verdict: Liked
I would also like to add that there were many other uncredited features and vocals. Diddy has uncredited vocals and ad-libs on "Tony Tone." Playboi Carti and Smooky MarGielaa have uncredited verses on "Buck Shots." Frank Ocean and Snoop Dogg have uncredited vocals on "Brotha Man." And BlocBoy JB has uncredited vocals and ad-libs on "OG Beeper."
So how were the singles?
None of the singles for Testing made the album, but there was a remix to A$AP Forever that did. However, I will talk about the two promotional singles that he put on streaming services.
1) Bad Company (feat. BlocBoy JB) - Contrary to popular belief, I like this song. The production is very mellow and chill and I also loved the energetic verse from BlocBoy JB. However, I didn't really like Rocky's sleepy autotuned vocals all that much.
Verdict: Liked mostly because of production and BlocBoy.
2) A$AP Forever (feat. Moby) - The solo version of this song took a few listens to grow on me. I didn't like it at first because I thought there were too many instances of "gang" and thought the beat switch and sample were unnecessary. However, after about three listens, this song clicked with me and led me to do a complete 180 in my opinion.
Verdict: Liked
Favorite Tracks
Even with some inconsistencies, I still managed to love many tracks from Testing. This section was very hard for me.
1) A$AP Forever Remix (feat. Moby x T.I. x Kid Cudi) - I think this remix is way better than the original song. It had less repeated instances of the word "gang," which was what annoyed me the most on the original. Kid Cudi's verse was also an amazing contribution that made the song so much better.
2) Buck Shots - This was the best of the trap bangers here. Surprisingly, A$AP Rocky is the weakest link on this track. Playboi Carti uses a more melodic sound for his short verse, which sounded surprisingly good. I also liked Smooky MarGielaa's melodic verse. That was the highlight of the track.
3) Purity (feat. Frank Ocean) - What a beautiful album closer. The guitars sounded beautiful in the production, Frank Ocean steals the show with his verse, and I loved the distorted Lauryn Hill sample.
Least Favorite Track
CALLDROPS (feat. Kodak Black) - This was an incredibly easy pick for me. In my opinion, this song was the best example of where Rocky's experimentation fell flat. Sure, the production gave off a nice vibe, but this song just didn't need to be on here. I already mentioned at length earlier why Kodak Black's verse was terrible and made the song even worse.
Conclusion
This album was a bit inconsistent, but the songs that hit really hit. I think the misses were very few and easy to overlook and the constant experimentation made for an overall enjoyable and interesting listen.
Score: 7/10
I personally don't know where to rank this album. Maybe I'll have a better idea if I end up revisiting this. It definitely seems like the type of album that needs extra listening.
This concludes my ninth review. My next post will be an end of the month write-up which will be coming later tonight at the earliest.
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