Remix or not, “A$AP Forever Remix” still heavily samples Moby (“Porcelain”). The album is also extremely personal at times. "[27] Kevin Ritchie of Now believed that "Testing's title might suggest experimentation, but it delivers more on tentativeness, with a smattering of solid songs mixed into aesthetically interesting but unresolved experiments", criticizing the lyricism and flows that "aren't as ambitious as the production. On “Purity” he raps about losing loved ones in his life, and on “Changes” he ponders on his previous relationships. His father is from Barbados. The album includes guest appearances from Frank Ocean, Skepta, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Playboi Carti, French Montana, Kodak Black, Dev Hynes and FKA Twigs, among others, and was produced primarily by Hector Delgado and ASAP Rocky himself, alongside a variety of high … "[26] Fred Thomas also provided a mixed review for AllMusic, stating that "While in some ways Testing is more musical than anything we've heard from A$AP Rocky before, it's also more confused, with ideas and musical shifts colliding at times to the point of randomness. Sure, he's pretty good but isn't rly great anywhere. gave it 6.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. [22] Kassandra Guagliardi of Exclaim! I feel like I’m in the middle, you know? Elsewhere, Dev Hynes adds his nostalgic-R&B Blood Orange vibe to “Hund43d.”. [39], sales+streaming figures based on certification alone, Recording Industry Association of America, International Players Anthem (I Choose You), "A$AP Rocky Returns With 'Testing,' His Most Experimental Album to Date", "A$AP Rocky's New Album "TESTING" Out Today! A$AP Rocky delivers a respectable rhythmic flow on the first verse, rapping over the Moby strings and a hard-nosed, … His approach to songcraft on Testing is to mash sounds together and capture the friction. He had an older sister, Erika B. Mayers, Mayers' first name was taken from the hip hop artist Rakim, one half of the Eric B. I’m not really good at self-promoting. People cater more to that because it's a bigger demographic behind that, or it's a guaranteed demographic behind that. The album title itself refers to testing new sounds and pushing in new directions in hopes of growth. "Purity" contains a sample of "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind", written and performed by, Federico "C Sik" Lopez – mixing assistance, This page was last edited on 10 January 2021, at 19:35. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 2018 CDr release of TESTING on Discogs. These marketing platforms (Google Analytics, Google AdWords, Twitter, Facebook) may use cookies and other identifies to track you. Though songs like the gorgeous Frank Ocean collaboration "Purity", or the darkly simmering "Fukk Sleep" featuring FKA Twigs, take risks that push A$AP Rocky to new, exciting territory, some of the experiments that made it onto Testing could have been left bubbling over in the lab rather than weighing down the rest of the album. "[20] Dean Van Nguyen of The Guardian commented that Testing is "completely out of step with any mainstream rap album you're likely to hear this year", but "is a spottier affair" where "too many tracks minimise his strengths". 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart", "Hip Hop Album Sales: Kanye West's "ye" Tops Billboard 200 With 5th-Biggest Week Of 2018", "American album certifications – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "Australiancharts.com – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "Austriancharts.at – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "AAP Rocky Chart History (Canadian Albums)", "Offiziellecharts.de – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "Irish-charts.com – Discography A$AP Rocky", "Italiancharts.com – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "Norwegiancharts.com – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "Swedishcharts.com – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "A$AP Rocky Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)", "Canadian album certifications – A$AP Rocky – Testing", "Danish album certifications – A$AP Rocky – Testing", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Testing_(album)&oldid=999552202, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Album chart usages for BillboardRandBHipHop, Certification Table Entry usages for Canada, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming figures, Certification Table Entry usages for Denmark, Certification Table Entry usages for United States, Pages using certification Table Entry with streaming footnote, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, "ASAP Forever" features background vocals by Khloe Anna, "Tony Tone" features background vocals by, "Fukk Sleep" features background vocals by Hector Delgado, "Calldrops" features background vocals by Acyde and, "Buck Shots" features background vocals by, "Brotha Man" features background vocals by, "OG Beeper" features background vocals by, "Kids Turned Out Fine" features background vocals by Mateo "Teo" Arias, "Black Tux, White Collar" features background vocals by, "Tony Tone" contains a sample of "Man Inside", written and performed by. "Praise the Lord (Da Shine) (featuring Skepta)" contains a sample of "Midsummer Again – Roma Surrectum II", written by Viktor Tärnholm. The album proves to be one of Rocky’s most versatile. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? Testing is a ridiculously solid effort by A$AP Rocky to turn all the sounds he's currently inspired by into a cohesive--although, at first listen, chaotic--body of work. A$AP Rocky has always been a tastemaker with an eclectic palette, and with his third studio album, Testing, he isn't catering to the ears of current hip-hop fans. [23] Nina Hernandez of The A.V. TESTING is the third studio album by Harlem rapper, A$AP Rocky, following his last album AT.LONG.LAST.A$AP released in 2015. Full Review. AWGE: A creative agency founded by A$AP Rocky. From Harlem beginnings, Rocky has risen like his boxer namesake. 2: Too Cozy as part of the rap collective ASAP Mob. [38], Credits adapted from ASAP Rocky's official Twitter account[7] and Tidal. [14][15], Testing was met with generally positive reviews. Racked with … The album's second single, "Praise the Lord (Da Shine)" featuring Skepta, was released to rhythmic and urban contemporary radio on June 26, 2018. That’s why it takes time. "Buck Shots" contains a sample of "The Format", written by, "Gunz n Butter" contains a sample of "Street Type Niggaz", written and performed by, "Brotha Man" contains a sample of "Intermission", written by Leon Michels, Toby Pazner and Jeffrey Silverman, as performed by. Early life. [3] The previous month, ASAP Rocky released Cozy Tapes Vol. Everything about the album … The results are often dismal. [19], In a mixed review, online hip hop publication HipHopDX wrote that "There is no new movement birthed; there is no paradigm shift about the occur; it's simply as the title states: a series of harmonic evaluations meant to gauge audience reaction. Moby) – Single by A$AP Rocky on Apple Music", "Testing by A$AP Rocky Reviews and Tracks", "Father John Misty, LUMP, The Dreebs, and more albums to know about this week", "A$AP Rocky: Testing review – twisted pretty-boy cranks up the weirdness", "Review: A$AP Rocky's "TESTING" Experiment Is A Quiet Fail", "Review: A$AP Rocky's Testing is tentative", "Hip Hop Album Sales: Pusha T's "DAYTONA" & A$AP Rocky's "Testing" Hit Billboard 200 Top 5", "Shawn Mendes Scores No. I ’m not young enough to be a mumble rapper, or old enough to be an old head. [6][7], The cover of Testing features a photo by Houston-based creative director Cary Fagan, in which 10 shadowy figures surround a bold typeface logo. The album was released on May 25th as well as its credits and its tracklist. BlocBoy JB) – Single by A$AP Rocky on Apple Music", "A$AP Forever (feat. The album includes guest appearances from Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi, Skepta, French Montana, Kodak Black, Dev Hynes and FKA Twigs, among others, and was produced primarily by Hector Delgado and ASAP Rocky himself, alongside a variety of high-profile record producers. If any of you follow my posts, you all know by now that I do not listen; or rather barely to, any new music, unless it's by an artist that I'm still willing to validate and listen to. Just new wavelengths. From a cloud-rap mixtape that earnt praise well beyond his New York area and Houston, whose sound ironically he clung onto and re-energised, he’s been constantly stepping forward to the experimental lane of hip-hop rather than the dead-end cul-de-sac of throwaway brag-rap. Rakim Mayers was born on October 3, 1988, in Harlem a neighborhood of Manhattan, New York. stated that the album is "A shedding of the 29-year-old artist's old skin and a rebirth of something more profound and slightly more complicated", complimenting the album's experimental aesthetic and identity. This was taken from Rocky’s interview with Don Diva Magazine in January this year: It’s like one of those albums that niggas been waiting on, but they don’t know they need it. A$AP Rocky's star-studded third effort is a triumph, 'TESTING' is his most ambitious and rewarding project yet - our review. Club said, "Though the finished project is as loose and incohesive as its title might suggest, there's a lot to like about Testing. A$AP Rocky is headed to Japan to host another pop-up shop in support of his 2018 'TESTING' album. The top 100 songs sound a certain way. I don’t just rap – I actually make music. "[24] Similarly, Stephen Kearse of Pitchfork believed there to be flaws in the experimentation, writing: "Rocky is enamored with collision. With the help of T.I., A$AP Rocky shouts out to the gang, revealing at least some of the record’s cards. "OG Beeper" contains a sample of "Street Type Niggaz" and "Shoot to Kill", written and performed by Tommy Wright III; and "Still Get My Dick Sucked", written by Hayword Ivy, as performed by DJ Squeeky. His production choices and vocals really show it on this album with the more calm production but it just doesn't work at all. Testing is an album that really sounds like it was made to test out new concepts and ideas for Rocky. Like any set of experiments, Testing offers some success, some failure, and some moments that can only be met with a blank stare. "Fukk Sleep" contains a sample of "FYM", written by Albert Johnson. After a three-year hiatus, Harlem rapper ASAP Rocky offers up "Testing," an album that prides itself on throwing the "kitchen sink" into the production without focusing much … Vintage Rocky touchstones are still present—the charming sense of invincibility, the dark and plodding production (including a reunion with key early collaborator Clams Casino), and the extended tours of his closet—but Testing is proof positive that the rapper fits in no box. ASAP Rocky is someone i've never really seen the hype for. These sonics represent me. 2017, in my opinion, has been a less-than-stellar year in music, mostly because (realizing that it's a one-sided argument) the music has been so sub-par and one-note, … "[18], Testing debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning 75,000 album-equivalent units with 13,000 copies in pure album sales, becoming ASAP Rocky's third consecutive top-five album on the chart. It does not have the earth-shattering impact of his genre-defining debut, nor does it have any one track with as much immediacy as, say, a "Fuckin' Problems", but it is unequivocally his most thoughtful, most ambitious, and most rewarding project to date", praising the album's production, experimentation, cohesion and guest appearances. TESTING debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 for the week of June 9th, 2018. [21] Andreas Hale of Billboard complimented the album's experimentation but believed that ASAP Rocky is "still style over substance and his efforts at experimentation don't always click like he wants them to". In an interview with GQ , … [9][10] The song, "Bad Company" featuring BlocBoy JB, was released as a promotional single on March 28, 2018.[11]. Testing, Rocky’s third studio album and first outing without the direct oversight of his late friend and counsel A$AP Yams, uses intuition as its guiding force, broadening Rocky’s … So I’m in a position where I want to make music for that medium. His cousin is fellow ASAP Mob member ASAP Nast.. Mayers started rapping at age nine, when he moved to … That's why it takes time. Testing is the third studio album by American rapper ASAP Rocky. [36][37] On October 16, 2019, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States. It has been released on May 25, 2018 by RCA. I like to let the product speak for itself. "Testing" the latest to come out of the A$AP is a fascinating piece of work by an artist whom I believe has suffered a lack of shine in hip-hop due to the current wave in hip-hop music. 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